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Hey All!

I am new to the whole law school textbook game and would appreciate advice on whether or not I should buy the older version of the assigned textbooks. What is your opinion on this practice? I figured I could just look up the new cases that aren't in the old textbook version.

It's pretty easy to get by in classes where the law isn't rapidly changing, which is very few classes (MAYBE don't do it for con law and civ pro or crim pro).

The best strategy is to buy the old edition, and then on the first day of class take pictures of each page of the table of contents for the new edition, so you'll know how to match up. I did this for classes like evidence with a $1 old edition I got on Amazon and it worked great.

goodolgil wrote:It's pretty easy to get by in classes where the law isn't rapidly changing, which is very few classes (MAYBE don't do it for con law and civ pro or crim pro).

The best strategy is to buy the old edition, and then on the first day of class take pictures of each page of the table of contents for the new edition, so you'll know how to match up. I did this for classes like evidence with a $1 old edition I got on Amazon and it worked great.

Yep, this is what I did.

Hell my Con law book didn't even have ANY new cases.

thanks for the advice! I am definitely going to do this. the old versions are selling for $15 a pop, while the new ones are going for over $200.

For most 1L subjects, this should be mostly OK. But for Crim Pro or Con Law, I'd be more hesitant.

Downside: I had to read Twombly via westlaw which was a huge mistake.

Your library will have the new version on reserve, just read the new shit there and the 95% of the repeat stuff in the old book.

@2014, thanks! I wasn't sure if that would be the case but that puts me at ease.

It's a catch 22, yes you save money with older editions, however it requires more effort to ascertain whether you covered all the material. I personally do not purchase books anymore, but I'm a 3L and wouldn't recommend it for 1L's until you have a firm grasp of your abilities.
That said, I never purchased a new book in LS before, you'll find some good deals out there on used books!

If your school has a book scanner that will scan pages into a searchable PDF, do that.