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Hey guys, any good suggestions for these three courses? I already have Chemerinsky and Emanuel for conlaw, and Understanding Property Law (Sprankling) and Emanuel for property, as these were handed down to me by a 2L. Nothing yet for crim.

(Not trying to read over break, just trying to get a sense of what I might find useful before school starts...)

Thanks.

It can depend on the professor, but Dressler's Understanding Criminal law is awesome.

I think usually the best way to choose supplements is to see if there is one that corresponds to the casebook you have for class or otherwise is recommended by your particular professor.

Chemerinsky is all you'll need for Con Law.

I thought Dressler was the best for crim

Criminal Law - Dressler in general is the best, but it's hornbook-ish. I also suggest you guys purchase the Siegel's Criminal Law (for essay + MC practice) and Glannon Criminal Law (for MC practice).

Property - Gilbert's Property written by Krier. However, it doesn't really allow you to practice on future interests and a bunch of that other stuff. E & E is okay but lacks a lot of information for reviewing. Linda Edward's Future Interest book is the best for Future interest prep. Sprankling is okay, but again, that's a horn book. I suggest you purchase Siegel's Property to get some MC practice and essay practice. Looking at old exams definitely helps too. But yeah, my main picks are Gilberts + Linda Edwards.

Con Law - enough said. Chemerinsky. Also, BarBRI has Chemerinsky lectures so it's good just to hear him yap on and on to you. His voice isn't that very interesting though FYI.

ericng314 wrote:Con Law - enough said. Chemerinsky. Also, BarBRI has Chemerinsky lectures so it's good just to hear him yap on and on to you. His voice isn't that very interesting though FYI.

Just FYI- I bought Chemerinsky and hated it. Wasn't any clearer to me than the textbook. I used the two E&E's and loved them; I found that they were just easier to read and digest than Chemerinsky.

Oh and for Crim Law, my professor put Dressler on the required reading, and I'm glad she did. I used it and got an A in the course (closed book exam too, so it really must have made sense).

OP, my professor recommended Dressler's Understanding Criminal Law (even applied various parts of it to her lecture) and it helped quite a lot for policy arguments on my exam. For different elements of different crimes, I relied on Acing Criminal Law. Read that the evening and morning before the exam and was golden. Also, from what I saw, the Glannon Guide gave just the right amount of explanation for topics.

Riles246 wrote: Just FYI- I bought Chemerinsky and hated it. Wasn't any clearer to me than the textbook. I used the two E&E's and loved them; I found that they were just easier to read and digest than Chemerinsky.

I'm taking Con Law this semester and I've purchased Chemerinsky and the two E&Es with the intention of keeping the one that's easier to read and understand. From the skimming and comparisons I've done, the E&Es are definitely winning out. However, I'm not discounting Chemerinsky. I'm finding that it does a better job than the Sullivan casebook at organizing topics.

Thanks for all the recommendations guys.

I bought the Dressler and will definitely keep in mind the other recs (Siegel's for crim, BarBRI/E&Es for Conlaw) if I run into any problems.

Hope everyone has a great second semester.

Richie Tenenbaum wrote:It can depend on the professor, but Dressler's Understanding Criminal law is awesome.

Credited.

For Property, I like Understanding Property. My casebook is thin on detail, so it's proven to be invaluable so far. Organization of chapters and the explanations are very good.

Chem for Conlaw is a decent choice. It's dense, however, so you'll have to make some time to use it in addition to your assigned reading. The E&E is pretty blah. Most of the "examples" are just summaries of major Supreme Court cases, with some minor details changed. It's also not as clearly written as some of the other E&Es.