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I have heard about being able to do get cliff notes type info about cases off LexisNexis and figured I would check out just how useful they are .I have now spent the past hour or so stumbling around and cannot for the life of me figure this website out....anyone who can help a brotha out?

(I tried searching the forums for info about this but could not find anything)

From: http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/con ... &topicid=9

How to Access LexisNexis Case Briefs
1) If you have one case
Simply sign onto the Law School Homepage and click on Research in the upper right hand corner > Click Get a Document tab > Enter in the case citation 504 US 451 > Select Case Brief radio button > Click Get to retrieve a LexisNexis Case Brief.

2) If you have a list of citations
If your professor has given you a list of case citations or you’d like to quickly pull all the note cases at the end of your textbook chapters, you can in one simple step.

Return to the Law School Homepage > Click on Research > Click Get a Document tab > Click Get & Print > Enter all your citations > Select Case Brief in the drop-down box next to the words “Retrieve Citations as” > Select your delivery method > Click Get to submit your request.

a giant thank you

I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

plsgodletmetransfer wrote:I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

hey, just so you know, you suck pretty bad.

Nike6075 wrote:

plsgodletmetransfer wrote:I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

hey, just so you know, you suck pretty bad.

If you are going to insult me, at least be witty. This doesn't even meet the minimal preponderance of evidence requirements. *eye roll of the gayest manner*

Thanks rabbit, for the bulk processing tips.

A kind of related question: is there a way to create "scrapbooks" of cases using either Westlaw or Lexis? I'd like to be able to input citations for cases I read once, and then be able to arrange them into folders and subfolders (all personal jurisdiction cases in a subfolder under civil procedure, say). And then have access to the full text and briefs from the scrapbook page.

Anyone know if anything like that is available?

plsgodletmetransfer wrote:I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

If you are implying that by briefing all your cases you are going to do better than someone that gets their briefs off lexis, I'd beg to differ. I'm not saying that briefing your cases is going to hurt you, but I don't think that you can assume you will do better just because you have briefed yours. Almost every person I know who made top 10% at my school scrapped briefing cases after the first month or so.

And replaced briefing with what? I'm having a hard time figuring out which of the 1000s of details in each case will be tested. Can the important bit of each case be boiled down to 1-2 sentences?

Just remember: they always test you on the third fact given in each case.

And every test is multiple choice.

^^^ Funny, but it's really hard to tell. If you look at the personal jurisdiction line of cases, for example, all of those details could potentially be useful on an essay exam.

In McGee, SCOTUS upheld personal jurisdiction in CA over a nonresident insurance company that assumed a policy belonging to a Californian because the issuing company had deliberately solicited business in CA. But in Hanson, SCOTUS said that FL did not have jurisdiction over a Delaware trustee that transacted business with a FL resident, because the trust was established while the FL resident was a resident of PA, and so the Delaware trustee can't be said to have solicited business in FL.

Here, the NY company over whom jurisdiction in WA is being asserted mailed offer letters to a VA P.O. box that were forwarded to a WA address. Is the NY company subject to jurisdiction in WA because the person in WA accepted the NY company's offer, even though the NY company only sent the offers to a VA address? Under the facts in Hanson... etc. etc.

So it really is hard to know where to draw the line.

^ gunner.

paul1454 wrote:

plsgodletmetransfer wrote:I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

If you are implying that by briefing all your cases you are going to do better than someone that gets their briefs off lexis, I'd beg to differ. I'm not saying that briefing your cases is going to hurt you, but I don't think that you can assume you will do better just because you have briefed yours. Almost every person I know who made top 10% at my school scrapped briefing cases after the first month or so.

I was implying that they weren't doing the reading and just reading off of lexis/west. There is just SO much information in opinions that isn't included in lexis/west. Maybe I just learn better by reading the entire opinion, then typing up the brief. *shrug*

I do have a question. If you are not doing briefs, what are you doing in its stead? That is a substantial amount of time you have freed up.

I replaced that time with reading supplements and doing every sample question that I could get my hands on (essay, short answer, and multiple choice).

If I manage top 10% with my approach I'm going to have to buy Paul some kind of thank you gift.

cannoneer wrote:And replaced briefing with what? I'm having a hard time figuring out which of the 1000s of details in each case will be tested. Can the important bit of each case be boiled down to 1-2 sentences?

I have a hard time believing this isn't flame, especially with the obnoxious gunner-esque "case comparison". In case it isn't:

Tests are typically fact patterns against which you apply rules from cases (which can be distilled into 2-3 sentences), statutes, etc. Tests do not say "name three differences between the respective minivans of the plaintiffs in case Y and case X."

Besides, even if you need to access the facts of a case you should, in theory, be able to simply flip to it in your book and read out the highlighted sections.

Edit:

plsgodletmetransfer wrote:I see people in class who don't do their briefs and just read verbatim from lexis/west when the prof. calls on them and I sort of giggle inside and think, "Sweet! Another one bites the dust."

Only ass-kissing gunners truly care about Socratic. And that's why they waste all their time preparing for class and pull median or lower.

paul1454 wrote:I replaced that time with reading supplements and doing every sample question that I could get my hands on (essay, short answer, and multiple choice).

Me too. MUCH better use of time. I only hardcore brief for the classes (Civ Pro, Torts) where participation counts toward my grade.

how early in the semester do you start taking tests?

I started doing M/C and short answer questions (and E&E questions) within a month after school started. I saved my prof's sample essay questions until the end of the semester.

(lawduck is a 1L who purports to understand CivPro by skimming landmark cases)

And to the general point of discussion, all of these threads/arguments seem to assume that there is no middle ground.

For most people, briefing every case to the point where you are wholeheartedly prepared for your professor's questions is probably not necessary and/or reflective of your final grade. Likewise, ONLY reading the lexis brief without ever reading the case will be hazardous in some courses.

For some people the highlighter method works; for others it does not. Personally, I gain no value from highlighting or writing in my book.

"Briefing a case" means different things to different people. I work best by typing up "briefs." Does his mean I write down EVERYTHING in the case? Of course not, because I understand that in a few months my brief will be converted into a few sentences on an outline. An I am not afraid to reply to a professor if he calls on me "I did not believe that part of the reasoning was essential to the holding"

(also a 1L)

damn you got some monster ballz saying that to miller

I find these briefs disappointingly one-dimensional. And so lacking by way of 'why.'

They aren't designed for law students who want to skip out on reading anything. The summaries are designed for practitioners who are trying to dig through tons of cases to determine which ones are relevant to their case/question. Considering their true purpose, I'd say they do a pretty good job of giving you a nice "brief" that you can cut and paste into your notes.

i use them sometimes on top of outlining my stuff. i've survived my cold calls, nothing to write home about, but enough to not look like an idiot.