Just using casebooks Forum

[eagle2a]

If all I do is read the casebook and go to class, would I be okay? Or are supplements necessary to really understanding the law and doing well on exams. thanks

[thesealocust]

Supplements are never necessary. All the law is in the cases.

Check them out to see if they help, but don't fall into the arms race trap of buying them early and expecting magic from devouring them.

[zot1]

It really depends on how you learn. I can tell you that my grades improved after I started using E&Es for certain classes (supplements are not always suitable for all classes to be honest). However, it is entirely possible that I did better later on because I had gotten the hang of the system and was simply doing better.

I think if maybe halfway through the class you feel like you could use the help, then maybe borrow study aids from the library if possible and see if it begins to help. If you feel okay with your grasp of the material though, don't bother.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I only used supplements when I ran into specific parts of the doctrine that I didn't get - so only as needed, not as a consistent addition to the casebook. You can do fine with just the casebook and going to class.

[butlerraider1]

I think it depends on how you learn. I used a supplement only for Civil Procedure out of my whole first year and did very well so it is definitely possible. (disclosure: I go to a tier 3 school though)

[chuckbass]

Yeah to echo what everyone said, it really depends on how you learn. I really liked supplements and thought they really helped me, especially in civ pro, property, and contracts.

[swampman]

I, on average, did much worse in classes where I relied on supplements for anything other than practice questions. Supplements are generally good for teaching you what the law is. Professors expect you to know the law, but their exams will usually focus on nuances and ambiguities that they think are important, and that they've talked about in class. Just knowing the law is probably enough to get a median grade, but if you want better than that you really need to pick up on what the professor thinks is interesting about the law. If you rely on a supplement you'll miss these nuances.

(The caveat about regional schools being more focused on simply testing the law sounds reasonable, so relying on supplements could be a good strategy there).

[trey ohh five]

Unless your professor wrote the E&E or something, they're not necessary.

[pancakes3]

Depends on your prof and to a lesser extent the class. If your prof spoon feeds you the material, you probably won't need one. If your prof is full blown socratic (insane) then you'll probably want to pick one up. Personally, I think you can skate by most 1L classes and do well without supplements as long as you can get your hands on a solid upperclassman's outline but the exception is Property. Property has some stuff that you just have to practice. However, your prof might not even test on the mechanical stuff so...

yeah. There's no real answer here.

[First Offense]

Exception is Tax. That e&e is amazeballs.

[Nebby]

Supplements are never necessary. All the law is in the cases.

Check them out to see if they help, but don't fall into the arms race trap of buying them early and expecting magic from devouring them.

This x100

[whats an updog]

The only time I used them was when I was studying for exams and then I just used the ones that the library had on reserve. The exception being the CivPro E&E. I used that throughout the course, focusing just on the questions and found it pretty useful though not absolutely necessary.

[eagle2a]

Thanks for the advise

[BVest]

Supplements are generally not necessary. Exceptions are where you're having trouble with an area (just use the library's) or where the prof has recommended a particular supplement and included the suggested readings on the supplement (because exam questions can often look identical to the hypos in that supplement).

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

Yeah to echo what everyone said, it really depends on how you learn. I really liked supplements and thought they really helped me, especially in civ pro, property, and contracts.

any suggestions for a contracts supp?

[chuckbass]

Yeah to echo what everyone said, it really depends on how you learn. I really liked supplements and thought they really helped me, especially in civ pro, property, and contracts.

any suggestions for a contracts supp?

I really liked Acing Contracts

[Traynor Brah]

casebooks aren't even necessary

[Traynor Brah]

Yeah to echo what everyone said, it really depends on how you learn. I really liked supplements and thought they really helped me, especially in civ pro, property, and contracts.

any suggestions for a contracts supp?

chirlstien is pretty good. can read it in a short amount of time and get a really solid overview of what's going on. read it earlier than later.

[AReasonableMan]

Only thing I'd say is if you just use casebooks you are relying on being better at law school exams than most people to get over median (probably much better if a significant number use other materials too). If you are and don't lose the forest for the trees than great.

Personally, I'd go so far as to say you don't even have to buy the casebook to do well in any class. An hour in understanding property is always better than an hour in the property textbook. In the 1L classes I got A's in I didn't do a single reading but kept up in my own little way. In the 1L ones I didn't I didn't use hornbooks as much as the casebook I mostly got median.

[banjo]

Definitely not necessary, but I've used supplements in every class in law school (now a 3L). They law out the doctrine and big picture rather nicely. Give them a try.

[star fox]

My general advice is that supplements don't hurt and can definitely help. I really liked E&Es for a couple reasons

A) They sort through the BS and get right to the point. This is the law/standard that you will need to apply on a law school exam.
B) The Examples at the end of the chapter: just reading the casebook doesn't really give you the chance to actually wrestle and apply the law to specific fact patterns. E&Es break down specific parts of the legal doctrine and force you to apply them. In a way, it's like a rough portion of an actual exam. They allow you to view how that issue may come up in a fact pattern. Most importantly, you can compare your response to the Explanation given and see how it lines up. Applying law is a difficult and unfamiliar process, if you're practicing typing out responses throughout the semester I think you're in a better position than someone who is doing it for the first time a week before the exam on a practice test. You can't take a practice exam a few weeks into the semester (seriously, don't try), and I think E&Es are the most helpful way to get that sort of practice.

It's ultimately up to you. It can be a bit time consuming especially if you're doing it for every class, on top of everything else you have to do, but I found it incredibly helpful.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

i wish casebooks just said A CONTRACT IS... AN OFFER IS... but no. i have to learn to ~think like a lawyer~

[UnicornHunter]

I found supplements to be very useful for Civ pro, almost useless for torts, and somewhere in-between for the other courses. Moynihan's intro to the law of real property was amazing for property, but that's only because my professor was the type who cared more about the feudal origins of property law than about modern property law. The book would have been borderline useful if I had the other prof.

If I were doing 1L over again, I would buy 2 supps for sure: acing civil procedure and the civpro E&E.

[BVest]

It's also useful to look at your syllabus to see what, if any, supplements your prof recommends. If none are listed, ask after class if they have any recommendations. Generally they'll recommend a supplement that has the same emphases as they have.

[AReasonableMan]

i wish casebooks just said A CONTRACT IS... AN OFFER IS... but no. i have to learn to ~think like a lawyer~

I think the value of cases is that you aren't reading random cases, but ones that evolved the law into what it is today. Generally, judges are taking the black letter law and applying it to a non-black letter case. To do this, they get into the core of what the law is really about and how it applies to this novel situation. On most law school exams you are expected to do the same thing so an understanding of how to structure your legal opinion can be crucial, but it's the kind of thing that once you get it there's little benefit in reading full cases.

This is why people say briefing is useless, because (1) just because you can brief a case doesn't mean you understand the logic of the opinion and (2) once you understand how opinions are written, you don't really have to brief. Insofar as exams are concerned, you rarely need to know more than one sentence about a case, and if you can't break a case down into one sentence then you don't understand it.

The reason why hornbooks are useful is they are written in such a way that you're just given the whole analysis in easy english.