Stopped Reading the Casebook Forum

[rawrab]

[Transferthrowaway]

I have pretty much given up on reading my casebooks in favor of casenote legal brief books (which I think are amazing) and online briefs. It doesn't seem like I'm missing anything and I completely understand everything the profs talk about in class. Is this a horrible idea? Will this come back to bite me in the ass on the final?

I dunno man, lets get some people on an internet message board to speculate.

[dakatz]

I have pretty much given up on reading my casebooks in favor of casenote legal brief books (which I think are amazing) and online briefs. It doesn't seem like I'm missing anything and I completely understand everything the profs talk about in class. Is this a horrible idea? Will this come back to bite me in the ass on the final?

Yeah, thats a pretty bad idea. You should be sticking with it longer than this. Of course its important to understand what the key points are and how to break down the court's reasoning (as the casenotes do), but equally important is the mental process that allows you to take a complete case and distill it down into its basic parts. By avoiding the process and only seeking out the finished product, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are hindering your ability to do this analysis yourself. There is no casenotes for the exam.

[Cupidity]

I have pretty much given up on reading my casebooks in favor of casenote legal brief books (which I think are amazing) and online briefs. It doesn't seem like I'm missing anything and I completely understand everything the profs talk about in class. Is this a horrible idea? Will this come back to bite me in the ass on the final?

Yeah, thats a pretty bad idea. You should be sticking with it longer than this. Of course its important to understand what the key points are and how to break down the court's reasoning (as the casenotes do), but equally important is the mental process that allows you to take a complete case and distill it down into its basic parts. By avoiding the process and only seeking out the finished product, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are hindering your ability to do this analysis yourself. There is no casenotes for the exam.

+1.

[beach_terror]

I have pretty much given up on reading my casebooks in favor of casenote legal brief books (which I think are amazing) and online briefs. It doesn't seem like I'm missing anything and I completely understand everything the profs talk about in class. Is this a horrible idea? Will this come back to bite me in the ass on the final?

I dunno man, lets get some people on an internet message board to speculate.

lol'd

[rawrab]

By avoiding the process and only seeking out the finished product, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are hindering your ability to do this analysis yourself. There is no casenotes for the exam.

The thing is when I read a case and do a brief myself I don't have any problems figuring out the rule/holding ect. I mostly just stopped reading the casebook because it takes to long and I'm too lazy.

Do most people seriously read the whole case and make a brief? That just seems like a ridiculous waste of time to me.

Also, I go to a TTT if that makes any different.

[Cupidity]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

[beach_terror]

By avoiding the process and only seeking out the finished product, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are hindering your ability to do this analysis yourself. There is no casenotes for the exam.

The thing is when I read a case and do a brief myself I don't have any problems figuring out the rule/holding ect. I mostly just stopped reading the casebook because it takes to long and I'm too lazy.

Do most people seriously read the whole case and make a brief? That just seems like a ridiculous waste of time to me.

Also, I go to a TTT if that makes any different.

I'm a 2L and I still brief. There are definite benefits to briefing, especially when it comes to exam writing.

[FeelTheHeat]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

That is so fucked up but i lol'd

[D'Angelo]

if you are not interested enough in the cases then why are you in law school?

[beach_terror]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

Not necessarily true, but there's a definite presumption of fuckedness.

[rawrab]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

[Gecko of Doom]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

Then why are you wasting any time studying at all?

[LoyalRebel]

Disclaimer: I am currently taking my first classes as a 1L, and as such I probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

Here's my opinion, however, because I toyed with the idea of doing that myself:

Reading the case briefs teaches you how to think. You read countless examples of how judges are applying law to facts. This mental process is what you'll be expected to produce on the exam. Facts and even the legal principals at work in the specific cases are not as important your ability to apply those legal principals to the series of facts given to you on your exam.

If they just wanted you to be able to regurgitate law, they would just type all the laws out on pieces of paper and you would just have to memorize them. By making you read hundreds and hundreds of cases, they're forcing you to follow legal reasoning processes over and over until they become second nature to you.

I would say you're taking a significant risk by not reading the cases because your classmates who are reading the cases are going to have a lot more exposure to the legal reasoning process than you.

2 and 3L's: Can I get an amen?

[johansantana21]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

If you have a full scholly and a guaranteed job, who cares?

[bport hopeful]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

Then why are you wasting any time studying at all?

It all seems so simple now.

[dakatz]

By avoiding the process and only seeking out the finished product, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are hindering your ability to do this analysis yourself. There is no casenotes for the exam.

The thing is when I read a case and do a brief myself I don't have any problems figuring out the rule/holding ect. I mostly just stopped reading the casebook because it takes to long and I'm too lazy.

Do most people seriously read the whole case and make a brief? That just seems like a ridiculous waste of time to me.

Also, I go to a TTT if that makes any different.

Well you must be quite the brilliant prodigy then. Sure. Coast by and laugh at your classmates who slave over the reading. Then compare grades at the end of the semester. Trust me when I say that it won't be you laughing then.

Knowing the holding is not the end all. It is easy to know what the holding is. The bigger picture requires you to understand the reasoning behind it. It also requires that you see the input to understand the output. Two cases might have incredibly similar factual situations, yet come out to different holding. You need to understand what about the factual situation or circumstances lead to the difference. The holding itself is obvious. The real question is WHY is there a difference in holding.

[FeelTheHeat]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

Your family must be proud

[rawrab]

Then why are you wasting any time studying at all?

I have to maintain a B average to keep the $$$

[D'Angelo]

Then why are you wasting any time studying at all?

I have to maintain a B average to keep the $$$

well in the amount of time you spent here you could have briefed at least one case!

[Gecko of Doom]

Then why are you wasting any time studying at all?

I have to maintain a B average to keep the $$$

Search the cases on Wikipedia and skim the articles. You'll probably be fine.

If they don't have Wikipedia articles, they're probably not worth reading in the first place.

[Naked Dude]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

except I have a full scholly and family job lined up

Your family must be proud

not too proud to be giving him a job...:rimshot:

meh, i'll do better next time.

[shoeshine]

if you go to a TTT who cares, your fucked anyway.

+1

[bk1]

I have pretty much given up on reading my casebooks in favor of casenote legal brief books (which I think are amazing) and online briefs. It doesn't seem like I'm missing anything and I completely understand everything the profs talk about in class. Is this a horrible idea? Will this come back to bite me in the ass on the final?

I dunno man, lets get some people on an internet message board to speculate.

lol'd

[target]

I can see the future of OP this thread.