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In preparation for law school I've been reading through Law School Confidential. The author recommends against written briefs, and instead advocates for briefing inside the casebook itself by highlighting. Specifically, he recommends using differently colored highlighters, one each for facts, legal reasoning, holdings, precedents cited, and dissenting remarks. He then recommends writing very brief margin notes where necessary.

I've read stickies on how to actually brief (the written way), but I wanted to see wich method most law students recommend. Which one do you suggest?

Thanks for the help.

I didn't like the highlighter method. Too cumbersome. I highlighted a couple of main points in the case, but I made written briefs. I type a lot faster than I write, and my handwriting looks like chicken scratch.

For the love of god man do some searches. Briefing in general is dumb because it has no bearing on the test and highlighter briefing is just a way to look better when called on which also has no bearing on the test and is thus a waste of time.

You should read the case and have a one sentence summary of the facts and the holding of the case. Outline after each large section. Take practice exams. Ace the course.

If you want more advice please look through the past 1,000 posts on this subject and look for Arrow's guide to test taking and classwork.

SteelReserve wrote:You should read the case and have a one sentence summary of the facts and the holding of the case.

This (but conlaw)

First Semester: I read every case, then went back and re-read/briefed the reading. I highlighted the first time through, but not in the color coded fashion recommended in LSC (I tried but found it too cumbersome). I didn't take a lot of notes during class, but added to my briefs if they were deficient (or if the prof particularly highlighted some point).

Second Semester: I read every case once, highlighting and making notes in the margins. In class as "notes" I briefed each case as we discussed it.

I did well first semester. I don't have second semester grades back yet, but I think I did OK second semester too. I was probably more prepared for exams first semester (after reading everything twice and doing full briefs).

nm

Royal wrote:In preparation for law school I've been reading through Law School Confidential. The author recommends against written briefs, and instead advocates for briefing inside the casebook itself by highlighting. Specifically, he recommends using differently colored highlighters, one each for facts, legal reasoning, holdings, precedents cited, and dissenting remarks. He then recommends writing very brief margin notes where necessary.

I've read stickies on how to actually brief (the written way), but I wanted to see wich method most law students recommend. Which one do you suggest?

Thanks for the help.

If you brief in technicolor, your classmates will point and laugh at you.

written brief vs. highlighting? None of the above. Be willing to look stupid in class in exchange for extra time to study what actually matters. It's a good bargain.

Dude-just get the High Court Case Summaries keyed to your casebook. If not, write out the briefs and incorporate them into your outline. It's easier in my opinion to search through written briefs on an open-book exam than it is to flip through the casebook.