Columbia students taking questions Forum

[GoneSouth]

is it okay to buy a previous edition book? 4th edition civ pro vs 5th edition for genty?

Should be fine for Genty's class. He likes to chop things up, and his syllabus will tell you exactly what he wants you to read. None of that "p210-248" junk.

If I were you, I'd get the right book. There will no doubt be new cases added, and you don't want to be trying to figure out what exactly you have to read. I guess you could wait until he posts the syllabus to see how many cases aren't in the fourth edition, but I wouldn't just blindly buy the old edition now.

Also keep in mind that if you buy an old edition for like $100 now, it's probably going to have pretty much zero resale value next year because it's two years away from being the right edition and there will be a number of 5th editions for resale. So it's probably better to just buy it new for $250, sell next year for $100, and you're only $50 behind while having the benefit of having the correct book that doesn't have any highlighting in it

[GoneSouth]

Any recommendations for the best way to sell casebooks online?

I made $300 this summer selling 5 casebooks

On Amazon?

[White Dwarf]

The old edition of the Civ Pro book Genty assigns goes for about $10 used now. I don't think I even bothered selling mine.

Waiting for the syllabus is probably a good idea, but most of Civ Pro is older cases that aren't going to have changed in meaning in the last 8 months.

[RSN]

New CLS homepage? https://web.law.columbia.edu/

Still kind of shitty, though 21st century shitty instead of 20th

[White Dwarf]

For PI-gunning purposes: Is taking 3 substantive law courses and 1 non-law language course okay, or should language courses just be something you add on top of a full law course-load?

[Nebby]

Any recommendations for the best way to sell casebooks online?

I made $300 this summer selling 5 casebooks

On Amazon?

Yeah. I forgot to edit Amazon in, haha

[Nebby]

For PI-gunning purposes: Is taking 3 substantive law courses and 1 non-law language course okay, or should language courses just be something you add on top of a full law course-load?

It's fine to do 3 and 1

[cbbinnyc]

NYU interloper here. Anybody have any insights about Richard R.W. Brooks for Contracts - any info about what his final exams are like would be particularly helpful? Thanks in advance!

[GoneSouth]

NYU interloper here. Anybody have any insights about Richard R.W. Brooks for Contracts - any info about what his final exams are like would be particularly helpful? Thanks in advance!

Is he teaching Contracts at NYU this year? Didn't know that.

I had Brooks for Contracts. He's the nicest guy in the world and goes out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable in class. But he teaches the class on a very theoretical level. Prepare to be confused often. He also goes super slow for the first half of the semester and then tries to jam 80% of the book into the last half.

If he has office hours down at NYU, GO TO THEM! I think he was my favorite prof to talk to during office hours just because he's so nice and brilliant. He's also pretty much impossible to get ahold of outside of his set office hours, so take advantage of them.

His exam was a traditional issue spotter, but pretty challenging. He LOVES when you cite cases. I felt like the TAs were super useful in telling us what he likes on an exam, so it could be kind of rough if he's teaching without TAs this year. Feel free to PM me closer to exam time and I can give you some tips.

[GreenEggs]

What is a "tutorial seminar"?

[cbbinnyc]

NYU interloper here. Anybody have any insights about Richard R.W. Brooks for Contracts - any info about what his final exams are like would be particularly helpful? Thanks in advance!

Is he teaching Contracts at NYU this year? Didn't know that.

I had Brooks for Contracts. He's the nicest guy in the world and goes out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable in class. But he teaches the class on a very theoretical level. Prepare to be confused often. He also goes super slow for the first half of the semester and then tries to jam 80% of the book into the last half.

If he has office hours down at NYU, GO TO THEM! I think he was my favorite prof to talk to during office hours just because he's so nice and brilliant. He's also pretty much impossible to get ahold of outside of his set office hours, so take advantage of them.

His exam was a traditional issue spotter, but pretty challenging. He LOVES when you cite cases. I felt like the TAs were super useful in telling us what he likes on an exam, so it could be kind of rough if he's teaching without TAs this year. Feel free to PM me closer to exam time and I can give you some tips.

Thanks! Super helpful stuff, much appreciated

[randomanswers]

1L here with a lot of concerns about the upcoming year. I'm still in Legal Methods and I know upperclassmen advised not to worry, but I feel extremely inadequate. I don't even know how to brief correctly (lots of questions about where to put rule, etc.). I don't even know what the professor is asking 75% of the time. Some of my classmates seem brilliant and are fine with the workload already. Can anyone recommend some resources or provide some advice?

[Tiago Splitter]

1L here with a lot of concerns about the upcoming year. I'm still in Legal Methods and I know upperclassmen advised not to worry, but I feel extremely inadequate. I don't even know how to brief correctly (lots of questions about where to put rule, etc.). I don't even know what the professor is asking 75% of the time. Some of my classmates seem brilliant and are fine with the workload already. Can anyone recommend some resources or provide some advice?

If you're concerned about the workload in Legal Methods you are doing too much work. Don't beat yourself up to get all the reading done especially if the professor assigns a lot.

On briefing, you will learn quickly with some practice. And then soon after that, you will stop briefing and just take a few notes here and there on the cases you read. For now just grind through the cases and realize that picking things up from them will get easier. As with everything else your studying will be much more efficient in November than it is in September (not even gonna start with August) so there's no reason to burn yourself out now when you aren't even able to accomplish much.

As for everyone else they should be the least of your worries. There's really no universal truth for how to do well in law school other than to avoid worrying about what everyone else is doing.

[GreenEggs]

1L here with a lot of concerns about the upcoming year. I'm still in Legal Methods and I know upperclassmen advised not to worry, but I feel extremely inadequate. I don't even know how to brief correctly (lots of questions about where to put rule, etc.). I don't even know what the professor is asking 75% of the time. Some of my classmates seem brilliant and are fine with the workload already. Can anyone recommend some resources or provide some advice?

Everything Tiago said. Really, I know it's hard, but just try and chill and enjoy the experience of learning something new for the next 1.5 weeks that you'll never need to know after you pass the LM exam that everyone passes.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on in LM, it freaked me out too, but you'll find that actual classes are much more easier to grapple with.

[dabigchina]

1L here with a lot of concerns about the upcoming year. I'm still in Legal Methods and I know upperclassmen advised not to worry, but I feel extremely inadequate. I don't even know how to brief correctly (lots of questions about where to put rule, etc.). I don't even know what the professor is asking 75% of the time. Some of my classmates seem brilliant and are fine with the workload already. Can anyone recommend some resources or provide some advice?

I was this person last year. Don't worry. Worrying about LM will burn you out for actual classes. Be more like my friends. Just slack off.

[RSN]

1L here with a lot of concerns about the upcoming year. I'm still in Legal Methods and I know upperclassmen advised not to worry, but I feel extremely inadequate. I don't even know how to brief correctly (lots of questions about where to put rule, etc.). I don't even know what the professor is asking 75% of the time. Some of my classmates seem brilliant and are fine with the workload already. Can anyone recommend some resources or provide some advice?

Exactly how I felt in your shoes a year ago. I wasn't even sure if I was cut out for law school -- some of my classmates seemed miles ahead. But have faith that you eventually will figure it out. The beauty of Legal Methods is that it's pretty much solely for you to spend time getting your feet wet reading cases and learning how much you don't know. I promise it will get easier (especially if you're in Strauss, who honestly is well-meaning but shows it in quite an interesting way, i.e. trying to confuse and intimidate you more often than not).

One thing to keep in mind, though, and I was told this a hundred times last year and still didn't believe it but it's true, is that the people who speak the best in class and seem the most on top of their shit (particularly in Legal Methods) are very often not the ones who do best on the exams. So if you're kind of lost right now, or even a few weeks into the semester of real classes, take some deep breaths and keep powering through. Make sure to keep up with the reading and go to TA sessions and office hours, and I'm 100% confident that you'll be fine. They let you in for a reason.

[Nebby]

Your classmates are all striving misanthropes. Go lift in Dodge and pick up an affinity for good bourbon

[RSN]

So I'm pretty sure they're just never announcing the academic awards for 1Ls

[dabigchina]

Your classmates are all striving misanthropes. Go lift in Dodge and pick up an affinity for good bourbon

stop telling people about dodge. it's crowded enough as it is.

[Burlington4174]

Is there a meaningful difference between 13 and 14 credits? Will I have significantly more work taking 14 rather than 13?

[Nebby]

Is there a meaningful difference between 13 and 14 credits? Will I have significantly more work taking 14 rather than 13?

It's highly dependent on the actual classes and professors

Short answer: no

[Burlington4174]

Is there a meaningful difference between 13 and 14 credits? Will I have significantly more work taking 14 rather than 13?

It's highly dependent on the actual classes and professors

Short answer: no

Yeah, that is what I suspected since credits are solely determined by class time but the big time suck is the amount of work required outside of class.

[lnick93]

Does anyone know what the best supplement for Antitrust is?

[jadenkorr]

Another dumb 1L question (actually, can't believe this hasn't been asked): best liquor store in the area?

[LifeGoals]

anyone have a good ponsa outline for con law? there isn't one on the main publicly accessible bank