Top Law Schools

I was thinking I may want to read my abridged cases on my laptop (e.g., import the abridged case directly into OneNote or use a note-briefing app), so I can type notes directly in the margins/highlight using my computer. Have any of you tried this? In your experience, do the abridged cases from online sources vary substantially from the ones in the casebook? I don't want to attempt this if it means I may miss something important from the case. Thanks!

I don't think this is a good use of your time. There may be differences (you professor selected your casebook for some reason, and the edits may be part of that), but more importantly the cases just aren't that important. Beyond their ability to help you learn & understand the black letter law, don't worry about it (this does not apply to the few professors that will request factually analogies between cases on exams. These professors will become immediately apparent).

Which online sources (or what abridged cases are you talking about)? Do you mean some kind of electronic form of the casebook? Casebook versions of cases are usually heavily edited, so while you can certainly find online versions of the cases, they will probably include a lot of material you won't be covering in class. But I'm not sure what you mean by an abridged case that isn't a brief.

The one issue with this is you may miss why the case book / professor chose that case. Look at NFIB v. Sebelius, Hennigsen v. Bloomfield Motors, or Eastern Air Lines v. Gulf Oil. Henningsen can be used for contracts or torts, Eastern Air Lines has multiple themes for contracts, and Sebelius has a million issues in it.

You aren't guaranteed to find an abridged version that matches what your case book / professor intended.

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't think this is a good use of your time. There may be differences (you professor selected your casebook for some reason, and the edits may be part of that), but more importantly the cases just aren't that important. Beyond their ability to help you learn & understand the black letter law, don't worry about it (this does not apply to the few professors that will request factually analogies between cases on exams. These professors will become immediately apparent).

Yeah, that's what I was worried about. Thanks for the input.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Which online sources (or what abridged cases are you talking about)? Do you mean some kind of electronic form of the casebook? Casebook versions of cases are usually heavily edited, so while you can certainly find online versions of the cases, they will probably include a lot of material you won't be covering in class. But I'm not sure what you mean by an abridged case that isn't a brief.

Well, I was contemplating using a case-briefing "app" like LearnLeo. At this point, I'm pretty sure briefing cases may actually be beneficial for one of my classes (just based on what I've heard about the exam structure - identifying and quoting the correct case for each question is essential), but I don't want to spend too much time on it either. I'm the type of person who tends to over-do it when it comes to taking notes, so I was trying to see what I could do to simplify the process. Supposedly, LearnLeo has abridged cases, similar to what you would find in your casebook, which you read and highlight (and add notes, if you'd like), essentially using the highlighting method in LSC, but you do it on your computer. Then, you click a button, and the app uses your highlights and/or notes to generate a brief.

At face-value, I'm not attracted to the LSC highlighting method of briefing cases, because you don't have a neatly organized end-product that you can keep separate from your cases or use to copy/paste into your notes/outline. The idea of a briefing app that separates the information for you, based on what you identified as important, appeals to me a bit more.

slayerhn wrote:You aren't guaranteed to find an abridged version that matches what your case book / professor intended.

Definitely my primary reservation. If there's likely to be substantial variation between the different sources, then I guess I'll just stick to my casebook. Thanks for the input.