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I used the E&E for Crim and didn't find it very helpful, but I thought it was helpful for Torts and Civ Pro. Any thoughts on the usefulness of E&E for Con Law? Or any better recommendations? I just want practice problems to work with throughout the semester.

Meh, Chemerinsky + practice exams is all you need for con law.

traehekat wrote:Meh, Chemerinsky + practice exams is all you need for con law.

Are practice problems not as important for understanding Con Law? I thought doing the small problems in the E&E for Civ Pro helped me solidify a lot of smaller concepts so I could better see the overall picture.

jjlaw wrote:

traehekat wrote:Meh, Chemerinsky + practice exams is all you need for con law.

Are practice problems not as important for understanding Con Law? I thought doing the small problems in the E&E for Civ Pro helped me solidify a lot of smaller concepts so I could better see the overall picture.

i think civ pro/torts exams are usually pretty standard, but con law exams can differ a lot from professor to professor. as a result i think practice problems are less beneficial. i would just hold off and see what your prof recommends if anything and how he/she approaches the class.

The major consensus on TLS is Chemerinsky. I ordered it myself for this upcoming semester and was in shock at the length, especially for a "supplement." But hopefully it is worth it.

i know a guy who read it before the semester started. he said it was helpful.

I bought Chemerinsky halfway through the semester and I WISH I had bought it sooner. We didn't use his text but it didn't matter, because it was like my prof was teaching right out of that supplement even though our book was different. If I could go back in time, I'd buy that at the start and preread the chemerinsky passages before reading the assignments out of our text.

Explained things really clearly.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:The major consensus on TLS is Chemerinsky. I ordered it myself for this upcoming semester and was in shock at the length, especially for a "supplement." But hopefully it is worth it.

i read chemerinsky hornbook in about 3 days instead of doing any of the reading from the casebook (which was admittedly chemerinsky's as well). did fine in the class. it is probably the most credited supplement of all time.

Thanks all. I have chemerinsky on the list, so I'll just stick to that and old exams.

You dont need to read your text book if you're willing to read Chemerinsky instead.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:The major consensus on TLS is Chemerinsky. I ordered it myself for this upcoming semester and was in shock at the length, especially for a "supplement." But hopefully it is worth it.

The odds are low that you'll even need to read half of it. Only read what your class goes through, not the entire book cover to cover.

I have Con Law II next semester...which Chemerinsky book is this? Principles & Policies?

Yes, that one. It basically covers all of constitutional law aside from Criminal Procedure and section 1983 stuff.

kalvano wrote:I have Con Law II next semester...which Chemerinsky book is this? Principles & Policies?

There are two editions, the one from 2005 and the one published this year. The one from 2005 you can get for around 20.00 and the new one is around 60.00. It is more of a hornbook than a supplement for exam prep. Take a look at the syllabus for the class and unless the professor is focusing on the newer cases the 2005 edition should be fine.

Constitutional Law: Principles And Policies

Played poker in class all semester once it devolved into a political debate every day, read relevant Chemerinsky sections for the 3 days prior to exam, got A. Don't resist it, embrace it.

wiseowl wrote:Played poker in class all semester once it devolved into a political debate every day, read relevant Chemerinsky sections for the 3 days prior to exam, got A. Don't resist it, embrace it.

Exactly this, except replace "poker" with "online shopping."

i bought chemerinsky (sic?), but found it PAINFULLY superficial. i used it only when i was too lazy to read for class, but still wanted to follow the lecture.

my con law experience suggests that the casebook + good old outlines >>>>>>>>> any dumbed down generic supplement. ymmv.

APimpNamedSlickback wrote:i bought chemerinsky (sic?), but found it PAINFULLY superficial. i used it only when i was too lazy to read for class, but still wanted to follow the lecture.

my con law experience suggests that the casebook + good old outlines >>>>>>>>> any dumbed down generic supplement. ymmv.

+1

I found Chemerinsky good for seeing the overall picture and progression of the law, as well as making sense of those infuriating 1790 opinions that are practically written in another language.

Did anyone use the casebook by Brest? We're required to buy the 2011 supplement as well. Is it less or more helpful than Chemerinsky?

I've got the E&E and Chem. I was planning on reading the E&E before the semester begins, then using Chem throughout (our casebook is also by him). Probably won't use the E&E much throughout, but I could be wrong. I found it helpful to have read the E&E's for my first semester classes prior to class. It gives a decent overview of course direction/likely big topics/etc.

You don't need anything other than Chemerinsky for con law, just like you don't need anything but Dressler for crim.

shock259 wrote:I've got the E&E and Chem. I was planning on reading the E&E before the semester begins, then using Chem throughout (our casebook is also by him). Probably won't use the E&E much throughout, but I could be wrong. I found it helpful to have read the E&E's for my first semester classes prior to class. It gives a decent overview of course direction/likely big topics/etc.

Gunner!

I had to use the E&E because my professor wrote it... Not that it helped much.

hawkeye22 wrote:You don't need anything other than Chemerinsky for con law, just like you don't need anything but Dressler for crim.

you don't actually need to use any supplement, and for some classes supplements are at best a waste of time and at worst harmful. that said, i give the dressler book high marks.