Outlines Forum

[alexrodriguez]

I have a 3L friend who has offered to give me his final outlines in a few weeks.

As a 0L how useful will they be to me?

How well do outlines translate from law school to law school?

It's all the same law, right? But won't there be different cases studied at each school?

What exactly is an outline?

[A. Nony Mouse]

They won't be any use to you as an 0L, frankly - there isn't any point in looking at outlines until you're actually taking the class.

After that, depends on the outline. Outlines from people at your school who had the class with your prof are going to be much much much more helpful. If it's a good outline, you could use it for reference, kind of the way you use a commercial outline for reference, especially if the course used the same casebook, but its use would be limited. Often the law is the law, but you're going to be tested by your prof on what they taught, so that's what you want to focus on.

But I also learn badly from other people's outlines. There are others here who only compile from other people's outlines who may have a different perspective on the matter.

[nick417]

Useless.

An outline is only valuable based on what your professor has taught you in class. The only thing the professor is going to teach you on is what he/she taught in class. In fact, on a law school exam, the only thing the professor wants is for you to analyze a fact pattern based on his/her teachings in class. Thus, an outline from someone who didn't have your professor is worthless.

An outline really is helpful as a study tool because it is your class notes summarized. I have found that other people's outlines (even if they had my professor) are not as helpful because they are based on their notes, not mine.

[alexrodriguez]

Thanks.