West Law Forum

[melo13]

Starting in school in the fall, anyone know how I can get access to the lawschool westlaw.com site. I called them, and was told I had to speak with the school, where Im not yet enrolled

[kalvano]

As in doing legal research? First off, why? Second, you probably won't get an access ID until after school begins. Westlaw is extraordinarily expensive.

[Bikeflip]

Could also be for trying to learn 1L material, which is also a mistake. A secondary source on contracts won't be of much help in understanding how your prof teaches contracts.

[melo13]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

[melo13]

And, how is reading ever a mistake!!!!!

[philosoraptor]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

[SFSpartan]

You aren't getting into Westlaw until you actually get to school. If you really want to read legal material, go to Justia or the Oyez project.

That said, doing legal research and reading legal material, such as a contracts treatise, before starting law school is a mistake. Certain topics are covered in extraordinary detail within a treatise, but will be broken down in a specific way by your professor. By reading things your professor didn't assign, you will likely confuse yourself. Additionally, cases in your casebook will be edited to make them easy to understand, while full cases on Westlaw often have sections where multiple areas of law converge on each other. Without proper context, these will also cause confusion.

The bottom line is that your professors will grade your exam, not the person that writes a treatise. Therefore, you need to focus on the way that person teaches the subject. Since you can't do that until you are actually in class, enjoy your summer off.

[Bikeflip]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

Good point. Read this next. Then read this. Do it in that order.

[doctoroflaw91]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

Good point. Read this next. Then read this. Do it in that order.

Pure evil.

[mushybrain]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

Good point. Read this next. Then read this. Do it in that order.

Agreed, can't tell you how much a difference it made to have these down before starting 1L

[nebula666]

I've seen some stupid 0L summer plans but this just deserves

[WhiteyCakes]

In before Mal starts his mockery of this thread

[It's A Lion]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

+1. Also, this if you're looking for brevity in an opinion, I'd highly recommend: McConnell v. Federal Election Commission.

[sd5289]

just been out school for a few years, wanted to get practice reading legal material instead of fiction

Better start with this: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal ... /case.html. HTH.

Good point. Read this next. Then read this. Do it in that order.

That was mean (especially the ordering of the links).

ETA: there's also this guy.

[Hipster but Athletic]

If you have your school email account already you can get bloomberglaw.com to give you an account.

[S. Goodman]

Wow, lol.

[It's A Lion]

Your law library may be willing to give you a password for Cali. You may want to try some Cali lessons. But don't gun too hard over the summer. Cali or reading case law might teach you one phrase and your prof might prefer/demand entirely different terminology. Also, unless you can obtain an outline for the prof, you will not be able to determine what your prof will focus on. You might spend time over the summer leaning about trover only to find out that your professor entirely ignores that topic in property.

[BigRob]

OP can get a jump on his classmates by reading a few standard negligence cases. Duty, breach, causation, damages -- pretty vanilla, and I'd be surprised if a professor could find a way to teach it differently. I've heard of some mixing up the order for some inexplicable reason, but #yolo.

FWIW, OP, case books and professors tend to give attention to Second Circuit case law (which makes sense because NY is the best state in the best country in the world), so that's a good place to start.

[NotMyRealName09]

And, how is reading ever a mistake!!!!!

When you don't understand what is important to know and what is fluff. But if you're dying to read something, read 8 Secrets to Top Law School Exam Performance. Then maybe read Getting to Maybe (never read it, but people seem to recommend it). But even then, those might go over your head.

The key is you could spend all summer reading cases but -- this sounds haughty -- you need to be taught to read legal writing before you'll grasp the nuance. It's technical writing. It might seem like it reads like a story, but until know why an opinion is structured how it is, you won't really be able to draw out the lessons that you need to know for an exam -- and the EXAM is all you need to know.

So it's good that you're eager, but honestly, enjoy your summer. There really isn't any point to try and "read ahead" without guidance, so just enjoy your last stress free summer ever.

[melo13]

Thank a million for the good advice, I see how one could easily get confused.

[Pneumonia]

"West law"