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1L here. I agree briefing is not necessary, by the way. I gather that if the professor assigns a case where the judge took 30 pages to arrive at "an action which causes minor emotional upset (e.g. anxiety, annoyance, etc.) is not considered to be a disturbance," nothing is important except:

1.) The above quoted line.
2.) The policy arguments used to get there.
3.) A very brief summary of the case facts, to give your mind a jolt in the future if needed.

Right?

All my profs assign me nothing but cases for reading (there is no textbook). So all you ppl who are saying LS is a lot of work... I gather you're either working through supplements (e.g. treatises) like mad, or actually reading/briefing through these cases even though it's not necessary?

Thanks, guys.

sighsigh wrote:1L here. I agree briefing is not necessary, by the way. I gather that if the professor assigns a case where the judge took 30 pages to arrive at "an action which causes minor emotional upset (e.g. anxiety, annoyance, etc.) is not considered to be a disturbance," nothing is important except:

1.) The above quoted line.
2.) The policy arguments used to get there.
3.) A very brief summary of the case facts, to give your mind a jolt in the future if needed.

Right?

All my profs assign me nothing but cases for reading (there is no textbook). So all you ppl who are saying LS is a lot of work... I gather you're either working through supplements (e.g. treatises) like mad, or actually reading/briefing through these cases even though it's not necessary?

Thanks, guys.

Like everything, it depends. I have no idea how you'd use a policy argument for Contracts, for example, but if you're not using policy arguments on Criminal Law, you're probably missing out on some low-hanging fruit points. In Constitutional Law, Chemerinsky (if you're using the Chem) blends policy and law.

I don't even bother with case names, personally. If it helps you tie a rule to a set of facts, great. Your professor probably won't give you additional points for citing the case name, and even if they do want you to cite to a case, you can always just cite to "that case with the boat and the monkey" (assuming this is a real case ) and I doubt anyone's going to beat you up for it.

edit> For what it's worth, I have done a total of 20 hours of work outside of class at this point, and 16 of those hours were for a graded LRW class. We'll see if my laziness pays off in a few months.

Why is policy off limits in contracts??

twenty wrote: I don't even bother with case names, personally. If it helps you tie a rule to a set of facts, great. Your professor probably won't give you additional points for citing the case name, and even if they do want you to cite to a case, you can always just cite to "that case with the boat and the monkey" (assuming this is a real case ) and I doubt anyone's going to beat you up for it.

Why wouldn't you just cite the case at this point? You're spending precious time/words on a longer description that is subjective rather than writing one or two words that gets the exact idea across.

My professors have said that they give points for citing the authority, be it the case name, restatement section, UCC, etc.
Completely anecdotal, just figured it worth mentioning. It's worth checking with your professors to see if they want you to know the case names.

Mal Reynolds wrote:

twenty wrote: I don't even bother with case names, personally. If it helps you tie a rule to a set of facts, great. Your professor probably won't give you additional points for citing the case name, and even if they do want you to cite to a case, you can always just cite to "that case with the boat and the monkey" (assuming this is a real case ) and I doubt anyone's going to beat you up for it.

Why wouldn't you just cite the case at this point? You're spending precious time/words on a longer description that is subjective rather than writing one or two words that gets the exact idea across.

+1 Case names are so convenient for citing.

Mal Reynolds wrote:Why is policy off limits in contracts??

Maybe just my class, but no one seems to give a shit about policy. all the exams I've come across don't exactly push policy, either. Again, not saying you shouldn't, just that I have no idea how to do it when neither your professor nor supplements cover policy arguments (which is the case in what I presume is most contracts classes)

Mal Reynolds wrote:

twenty wrote: I don't even bother with case names, personally. If it helps you tie a rule to a set of facts, great. Your professor probably won't give you additional points for citing the case name, and even if they do want you to cite to a case, you can always just cite to "that case with the boat and the monkey" (assuming this is a real case ) and I doubt anyone's going to beat you up for it.

Why wouldn't you just cite the case at this point? You're spending precious time/words on a longer description that is subjective rather than writing one or two words that gets the exact idea across.

Alternatively, why make law school bullshit-work for yourself memorizing case names? Not only do none of my professors care/give points for it, I would be inclined to believe that those who do care about it are in the vast minority/will explicitly tell you.

You can definitely mention policy in contracts to emphasize your point. But the bigger problem is you seem to be confusing class-specific nuances for general advice for all schools and professors.

And typing out a long descriptor that might be misinterpreted is just the wrong way to go about citing a case. It's not hard to memorize or control F.

The biggest issue is that you're already looking at exams and passing off your advice as someone who hasn't even taken a law school exam yet. Just lol.

How many schools actually let students access their outlines on their computer (i.e. control-f)? We used Examsoft and almost all profs shut out access to anything on the computer other than the exam. Can you cut and paste from the outline, too?

Mal Reynolds wrote:You can definitely mention policy in contracts to emphasize your point. But the bigger problem is you seem to be confusing class-specific nuances for general advice for all schools and professors.

And typing out a long descriptor that might be misinterpreted is just the wrong way to go about citing a case. It's not hard to memorize or control F.

The biggest issue is that you're already looking at exams and passing off your advice as someone who hasn't even taken a law school exam yet. Just lol.

This is accurate, but don't feel so bad because not long ago, mal was giving advice about 2loling. Ie, before he was a 2l. So self-aggrandizement is nothing uncommon here.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:How many schools actually let students access their outlines on their computer (i.e. control-f)? We used Examsoft and almost all profs shut out access to anything on the computer other than the exam. Can you cut and paste from the outline, too?

We used examsoft and the only thing we couldn't do is copy and paste or access the internet. Full access to our outlines was the norm.

Just curious. I'm sure it happens other places but the only people I've seen reference control-f-ing (that I can remember) go/went to Chicago, weirdly enough.

I would be shocked if the t14 limited access to outlines.

Yeah, full disclosure, it's blind leading the blind as far as my advice is concerned. There's a strong possibility I look back on this in a few months and kick myself. I was in OP's situation a month ago and was flipping out because I felt like I wasn't doing enough work, whereas now I feel pretty good about the fact I'm doing no work.

I dunno.

Policy is crucial but you probably haven't studied enough to realize where it's proper to mention.

Which rights are you vindicating and are there transaction cost or over reliance tradeoffs? What damages measurement is proper? There might be a time when you can offer expectation damages and reliance costs. How do you navigate between the two? What is the right limit to the promissory estoppel doctrine? There is a huge incentive to rely on a promise once you receive it under a PE regime. Does it make sense to enforce contracts in the family or just arms length bargaining?

These all depend on policy judgments that can help flesh out your answer. And I think you're confusing a good exam answer for being an exhaustive exam answer.

You should be briefing as a 1L.

Trust me, I was the laziest law student ever. I basically stopped briefing / reading / studying (except during reading period) and I am telling you to brief 1L. Its the only year that your sheer intelligence wont get you by because you don't have a foundation yet.

I still graduated near the top 25%.

Mal Reynolds wrote:I would be shocked if the t14 limited access to outlines.

UT limited access to outlines and I only had one open book exam so you're probably right to draw the line right there. I can't remember ever making a policy argument, and only had like 1 true issue spotter out of 6 exams. I don't know WTF kind of exams we took. I do remember a lot of multiple choice questions.

lol@ UTTT

I've never even heard of that Coase dude until today

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Just curious. I'm sure it happens other places but the only people I've seen reference control-f-ing (that I can remember) go/went to Chicago, weirdly enough.

NU also allows access to outlines generally. We actually only use examsoft to download/upload the exam within the time limit, we don't actually install the full program that limits computer usage.

ETA:

Aren't the below 3 points exactly what you put in a case brief?

sighsigh wrote:nothing is important except:

1.) The above quoted line.
2.) The policy arguments used to get there.
3.) A very brief summary of the case facts, to give your mind a jolt in the future if needed.

Kikero wrote: Aren't the below 3 points exactly what you put in a case brief?

sighsigh wrote:nothing is important except:

1.) The above quoted line.
2.) The policy arguments used to get there.
3.) A very brief summary of the case facts, to give your mind a jolt in the future if needed.

yea i was thinking the same thing. just get that info for each case and keep it organized so you can use it to build out your outlines later. and then play xbox until thanksgiving. who cares if you're technically "case briefing" or not.