When to do Leews? Forum

[boom_cs]

At what point in my first semester should I do the Leews program?

I have been told to do it as early as possible and also to wait a little until you are more into the semester

Any tips would be helpful

[lalala21]

I am just a 1L but I did it late in the summer and I have already found it pretty helpful. It has helped me take focused notes during class, and ways to think about topics we are covering. It does take a fair amount of time to get through the CDs so I would do it early at some point in the first half of the semester.

[dood]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

[Redzo]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Came here hoping to see this. I am not disappointed.

[071816]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Came here hoping to see this. I am not disappointed.

+1. I almost did LEEWS. Then I thought to myself "why the fuck would I pay $150 for this crap?"

[Judge Philip Banks]

OP - if you're going to do LEEWS, you should do it as soon as possible so you can get as much practice in as possible before exams.

[pulpfree]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Came here hoping to see this. I am not disappointed.

+1. I almost did LEEWS. Then I thought to myself "why the fuck would I pay $150 for this crap?"

+1. Did LEEWS. Realized it was a huge waste of time after the finals.
Get outlines (from 2L/3Ls who took the same class) and practice with old exams. You'll be fine.

[quiver]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Came here hoping to see this. I am not disappointed.

+1. I almost did LEEWS. Then I thought to myself "why the fuck would I pay $150 for this crap?"

+1. Did LEEWS. Realized it was a huge waste of time after the finals.
Get outlines (from 2L/3Ls who took the same class) and practice with old exams. You'll be fine.

Yup. Agreed.

[JCougar]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Honestly.

The stuff LEEWS teaches you, if anything, could be summarized in 7 minutes. It's all common sense.

Same with Getting to Maybe. The book makes some fairly good points, but you could fit all the valuable information into a 3-page pamphlet. No need to read 300 pages. In a way, it's kind of analogous to your casebook.

[TJISMYHERO]

I just did LEEWS last weekend, and I'm a 1L. We'll see how helpful it was, and although it was somewhat repetitive, I found it insightful.

[spleenworship]

Did half of LEEWS the first week, planning to finish it before midterms.... gotta say though, I am not super impressed. It could be condensed significantly (3-4 hours, max), and GTM seems like a much better resource.

Also, frankly, when I compare his sample answers to the "A" answers provided by my school... I think his are closer to B or B+ answers. The profs at my school seem to prefer an essay that is written in a different style. Certainly the part where he writes the rule out in the beginning seems not to fit, and they seem to want the whole essay integrated in a different way... only vaguely IRAC based, whereas the LEEWS answers seem much more IRAC based. I do plan to use some of the methods in LEEWS at least- breaking down the problem into manageable bits before trying to answer, for example. Also, so far at least, his lack of emphasis on policy- which at least two of my professors seem very into- seems likely keep me from getting an A.

If you have already bought it, it seems to me it is worthwhile to do... My plan is to just take out of it what I like and use common sense for the rest.

[missinglink]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

[Metaread]

Did half of LEEWS the first week, planning to finish it before midterms.... gotta say though, I am not super impressed. It could be condensed significantly (3-4 hours, max), and GTM seems like a much better resource.

Also, frankly, when I compare his sample answers to the "A" answers provided by my school... I think his are closer to B or B+ answers. The profs at my school seem to prefer an essay that is written in a different style. Certainly the part where he writes the rule out in the beginning seems not to fit, and they seem to want the whole essay integrated in a different way... only vaguely IRAC based, whereas the LEEWS answers seem much more IRAC based. I do plan to use some of the methods in LEEWS at least- breaking down the problem into manageable bits before trying to answer, for example. Also, so far at least, his lack of emphasis on policy- which at least two of my professors seem very into- seems likely keep me from getting an A.

If you have already bought it, it seems to me it is worthwhile to do... My plan is to just take out of it what I like and use common sense for the rest.

So why would it be worthwhile to do? Does it have practice questions, or is it the techniques that help?

[FattyMcFatFat]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Same with Getting to Maybe. The book makes some fairly good points, but you could fit all the valuable information into a 3-page pamphlet. No need to read 300 pages. In a way, it's kind of analogous to your casebook.

Speaking of this, are there any gunners out there who outlined GTM that would be willing to share a copy? I'm at MVP if you're worried about helping out the competition.

[Judge Philip Banks]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Same with Getting to Maybe. The book makes some fairly good points, but you could fit all the valuable information into a 3-page pamphlet. No need to read 300 pages. In a way, it's kind of analogous to your casebook.

Speaking of this, are there any gunners out there who outlined GTM that would be willing to share a copy? I'm at MVP if you're worried about helping out the competition.

Just read it. Shouldn't take long.

[FattyMcFatFat]

never; it's a huge fucking waste

Same with Getting to Maybe. The book makes some fairly good points, but you could fit all the valuable information into a 3-page pamphlet. No need to read 300 pages. In a way, it's kind of analogous to your casebook.

Speaking of this, are there any gunners out there who outlined GTM that would be willing to share a copy? I'm at MVP if you're worried about helping out the competition.

Just read it. Shouldn't take long.

If only you knew how lazy I am...

[spleenworship]

So why would it be worthwhile to do? Does it have practice questions, or is it the techniques that help?

Some of the techniques look like they could help you outline thoroughly and quickly. I will try them on midterms and see what happens.

There are a couple other pointers in there like "always look to the call of the question first" and his advice that is worded differently but was basically "apply your law to the facts you extracted" and "break down the question into simple motivations of the parties" that seemed handy. Certainly my contracts prof likes that last piece of advice... he likes it when you answer questions in class with a simple "plaintiff wants money" as opposed to "plaintiff is hoping for damages related the the breach, consisting of blah blah blah." Of course that could be entirely professor specific, but I have found it helps me analyze fact patterns if I think of party motivations/procedural stances/BLL in simple terms.

[tfer2222]

2L, i did the program the summer before 1L started.

I think a lot of people say it's a waste because of the obvious organization skills he takes HOURS to explain, as well as the obvious notion of arguing both sides.

IMHO, i think the program really helped me get a sense of "nit-picking" the facts as much as humanly possible. I know a lot of kids go into exams and see the big issues and dwell on them and drop tons of points on the floor by missing the smaller nuances and opportunities to really "lawyer-up" the facts.

fwiw, i did very well 1L year. Granted a lot more than leews went into doing well, i definitely think it contributed to my success, and was worth it ITE.

my 2 cents

oh, and GTM is good for reinforcing the "fork" theory, so you can spot them as you progress through classes and get good at identifying them. However i think trying to outline the book and actually studying the different types of forks is a waste of time.

gtm is also great for policy questions, if you ever get them during 1L

[spleenworship]

gtm is also great for policy questions, if you ever get them during 1L

See, and one of my Profs is HUGE on policy as far as I can tell from class so far, and another definitely emphasizes it on his previous tests (about 20% of the exam every time seems to consists of a straight up policy question). Maybe that is unusual though, and most profs want just BLL, but not where I am...