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Trying to outline for Criminal Law.

My Casebook sucks. I tried using the index in Dressler's Understanding Criminal Law to build the outline, way too detailed.

Any advice on a good approach or commercial outline from where I can model the outline structure?

I'm not looking to be lazy and simply cut and paste an outline, I just want a structure.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

DocHawkeye wrote:What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

Criminal Law, 2nd edition, Bonnie, Coughlin, Low.

Outline directly from Dressler's understand criminal law, taking out only parts you don't go over in class. That would be my suggestion. Unless there are a lot of policy articles in your casebook so the subject matter is substantially skewed that was as opposed to regular criminal law issues.

It'll end up about a 40pg outline.

Kronk wrote:Outline directly from Dressler's understand criminal law, taking out only parts you don't go over in class. That would be my suggestion. Unless there are a lot of policy articles in your casebook so the subject matter is substantially skewed that was as opposed to regular criminal law issues.

It'll end up about a 40pg outline.

Thank you!!!

The Lexis capsule summary for crim law is seriously good.

leobowski wrote:The Lexis capsule summary for crim law is seriously good.

Thanks for this. I'll check this out too.

leobowski wrote:The Lexis capsule summary for crim law is seriously good.

Are you talking about the free one that you can get on Lexis for law school students?

nelaw2010 wrote:

DocHawkeye wrote:What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

Criminal Law, 2nd edition, Bonnie, Coughlin, Low.

FYI, Low has written a hornbook that is essentially a parallel outline for CL and MPC offenses.

nelaw2010 wrote:

leobowski wrote:The Lexis capsule summary for crim law is seriously good.

Are you talking about the free one that you can get on Lexis for law school students?

Yessir.

Does anyone use the Gardiner casebook?

sundance95 wrote:

nelaw2010 wrote:

DocHawkeye wrote:What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

Criminal Law, 2nd edition, Bonnie, Coughlin, Low.

FYI, Low has written a hornbook that is essentially a parallel outline for CL and MPC offenses.

Yes, TITCR. I used nothing but that supplement as a companion for the casebook. The casebook is actually pretty good, though, I'm not sure what you don't like about it. The notes are particularly helpful for nuanced points of the law -- they are the only squibs and notes I studied extensively for a 1L course.

5ky wrote:

sundance95 wrote:

nelaw2010 wrote:

DocHawkeye wrote:What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

Criminal Law, 2nd edition, Bonnie, Coughlin, Low.

FYI, Low has written a hornbook that is essentially a parallel outline for CL and MPC offenses.

Yes, TITCR. I used nothing but that supplement as a companion for the casebook. The casebook is actually pretty good, though, I'm not sure what you don't like about it. The notes are particularly helpful for nuanced points of the law -- they are the only squibs and notes I studied extensively for a 1L course.

The casebook isn't bad, I just don't like the way it's organized. Maybe I'm being too picky. I find it helpful to pull the structure from an outline, and then fill in with my notes/cases/thoughts.

Thanks for the feedback.

sundance95 wrote:

nelaw2010 wrote:

DocHawkeye wrote:What casebook are you using? I totally feel lost at sea when it comes to starting an outline of crim law.

Criminal Law, 2nd edition, Bonnie, Coughlin, Low.

FYI, Low has written a hornbook that is essentially a parallel outline for CL and MPC offenses.

Good to know. Thank you!

How is your class organized? Ours was organized by specific crimes, so it helped me a lot to do my outline that way. It also helped on the exam as sort of a checklist for everything. Some stuff is easy to see on an exam, but some things, like felony murder or conspiracy, may be more subtle.