Top Law Schools

I'm about to begin con law. Any tips, suggestions, or pointers on how to approach it would be fab. Thank you!

Yvonnella wrote:I'm about to begin con law. Any tips, suggestions, or pointers on how to approach it would be fab. Thank you!

The Con Law Bible: http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-La ... supplement

Flips88 wrote:

Yvonnella wrote:I'm about to begin con law. Any tips, suggestions, or pointers on how to approach it would be fab. Thank you!

The Con Law Bible: http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-La ... supplement

+1. I would also find out as early as you can if your prof cares about the make-up of the Court/whether or not you need to know who wrote which decisions or how close (5-4, 6-3, etc.) they were.

Con law is the most important class in which to figure out what your prof will test you on (IMO). You could waste a lot of time learning things he doesn't care if you know or not, and vice versa.

homestyle28 wrote:

Flips88 wrote:

Yvonnella wrote:I'm about to begin con law. Any tips, suggestions, or pointers on how to approach it would be fab. Thank you!

The Con Law Bible: http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-La ... supplement

+1. I would also find out as early as you can if your prof cares about the make-up of the Court/whether or not you need to know who wrote which decisions or how close (5-4, 6-3, etc.) they were.

Haha I had a prof like this. One of the TWO sample answers he gave us had a "if the makeup of the Court remains the same it should turn out this way. If not..." about every other line. Me and my study buddy just about cried when we read the answer a day before the fucking exam, since we of course studied historic cases for about 9/10ths of the semester. Con law trolls hard.

zomginternets wrote:Con law is the most important class in which to figure out what your prof will test you on (IMO). You could waste a lot of time learning things he doesn't care if you know or not, and vice versa.

This. Con law was my weirdest exam and I didn't realize how the professor was going to test us until two weeks before the exam. I think the most helpful thing I did in that class was reading his law review articles. His open notes rule actually let me print off key passages from them which was fairly helpful on the final to use his exact phrases for things, etc.

Thank you for the nice suggestions! I'll definitely be keeping them in mind.

chemerinsky

Obviously no one tip is going to grantee you an A. But I found it really helpful the night before my exam to graph out everything on a white board. Basically, I graphed out all the concepts and where they applied. One of the main things to understand and keep straight in Con Law is how all the doctrines relate to one another, and to which parts of the government they apply.

You'll hopefully understand what I'm talking about better when you take the class.

LOLyer wrote:Obviously no one tip is going to grantee you an A. But I found it really helpful the night before my exam to graph out everything on a white board. Basically, I graphed out all the concepts and where they applied. One of the main things to understand and keep straight in Con Law is how all the doctrines relate to one another, and to which parts of the government they apply.

You'll hopefully understand what I'm talking about better when you take the class.

Interesting idea. Very interesting, actually. I'll remember this. Thanks so much!

My prof used the Chem book. I got the supplement and noticed that she basically taught us the supplement for each section. I read the supplement heavily, skimmed the cases, wrote out tons of practice tests, and the booked class.

Chemerinsky is the assigned casebook for my con law class. And hello, it's big!

Yvonnella wrote:Chemerinsky is the assigned casebook for my con law class. And hello, it's big!

Flippin' huge! Debating whether to get the supplement or not.

1. Know what a standard of review is. Have a general idea what strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis are. It will help provide a framework in your mind going in.

2. This applied to my professor, but if there is a major constitutional issue going on right now, it could be fodder for an exam (or at least it's good practice). Affirmative action is coming up. Commerce clause issues were the big thing from the past year because of health care.

3. Know how to apply one case that you read about to something you haven't seen before. For example, if you talk about Casey (i.e. abortion) in class, think how it might apply to cloning or mandatory requirements to listen to a child's heartbeat before undergoing an abortion.

4. This also just applied to my professor, but be sure to identify what the court has NOT decided in a case. Sometimes, it is just as important as the holding.

wuduhel wrote:

Yvonnella wrote:Chemerinsky is the assigned casebook for my con law class. And hello, it's big!

Flippin' huge! Debating whether to get the supplement or not.

Even if you never use another supplement, get this one.

TheFactor wrote:

wuduhel wrote:

Yvonnella wrote:Chemerinsky is the assigned casebook for my con law class. And hello, it's big!

Flippin' huge! Debating whether to get the supplement or not.

Even if you never use another supplement, get this one.

+1. Read maybe 3 or 4 of the assigned cases from the Chemerinsky casebook, but read/outlined from the relevant sections in the supplement. Got an A. There was a policy question on my exam that was literally 100% analyzed and answered in a section of the Chemerinsky supplement.

zomginternets wrote:

TheFactor wrote:

wuduhel wrote:

Yvonnella wrote:Chemerinsky is the assigned casebook for my con law class. And hello, it's big!

Flippin' huge! Debating whether to get the supplement or not.

Even if you never use another supplement, get this one.

+1. Read maybe 3 or 4 of the assigned cases from the Chemerinsky casebook, but read/outlined from the relevant sections in the supplement. Got an A. There was a policy question on my exam that was literally 100% analyzed and answered in a section of the Chemerinsky supplement.

Sweet. Ordered and on the way.

Thanks!

the chemerinsky supplement will be your best friend. towards the end of the semester i just read out of it instead of the casebook, and did very well in con law.

my con law professor is not using the chemerinsky casebook, but is the chemerinsky supplement still the best plan?