What cases should 0L's start reading in preparation? Forum

[awesomepossum]

reading cases is a way to get behind! If you notice from a lot of the top "how to succeed in law school" guides around here. Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

If you believe that, you're insane.

[LoyolaLaw2012]

The only cases you should read before classes are the ones the professor assigns for first class assignments. However, you should read some books to prepare you for law school. I recommend reading A Civil Action before Civ Pro, and Gideon's Trumpet before Criminal Law. Also, check out Helter Skelter and Outrage, both by Vincent Bugliosi. You should look for reading material that describes the technical side of the law. Reading random cases will probably not be very beneficial.

[kimber1028]

Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

This would have spelled disaster for you in 3/4 of my classes.

If anything, I'll pay slightly MORE attention to cases in my second semester. Never discount the possibility of a professor throwing an exam question that requires your knowledge of case facts or has very similar issues to a case you've seen.

+1. I don't write briefs out, but I definitely read all of the cases and bookbrief them. I'm sure I would have performed poorly had I ignored them.

[YCrevolution]

..

[ToTransferOrNot]

Er, not reading cases=absolutely retarded. I don't think many people actually advocate skipping them completely. What many of us do is spend less (or no) time briefing them--that doesn't mean we don't read them. FFS. Yeah, go through Civ Pro without reading Twombly.

Also, OP... just... no.

[2009 Prospective]

The only cases you should read before classes are the ones the professor assigns for first class assignments. However, you should read some books to prepare you for law school. I recommend reading A Civil Action before Civ Pro, and Gideon's Trumpet before Criminal Law. Also, check out Helter Skelter and Outrage, both by Vincent Bugliosi. You should look for reading material that describes the technical side of the law. Reading random cases will probably not be very beneficial.

I would second Civil Action and Gideon's Trumpet. Both were good reads. Honestly, I think it's a waste to even read the E&Es beforehand, but to each their own. Reading random cases over the summer is just plain preposterous.

[jelizabeth88]

One of my classes in undergrad had sulivan and gunther first amendment casebook as the sole book for the class. it was an awesome class, i learned a lot, but I really don't think knowing those cases (if I can even remember them) is going to help me out at all. If interests you go for it but definitely don't think it's something that you need to do and realize that it will probably have limited "benefits" to your course of study. That said, I am all for mentally preparing yourself for law school. If this is what you're after, you might try some of the books mentioned in this thread and others like it.

[98234872348]

reading cases is a way to get behind! If you notice from a lot of the top "how to succeed in law school" guides around here. Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

If you believe that, you're insane.

[Thirteen]

The only cases you should read before classes are the ones the professor assigns for first class assignments. However, you should read some books to prepare you for law school. I recommend reading A Civil Action before Civ Pro, and Gideon's Trumpet before Criminal Law. Also, check out Helter Skelter and Outrage, both by Vincent Bugliosi. You should look for reading material that describes the technical side of the law. Reading random cases will probably not be very beneficial.

Thanks, I'll take a look at these.

[Oban]

reading cases is a way to get behind! If you notice from a lot of the top "how to succeed in law school" guides around here. Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

If you believe that, you're insane.

I AM insane!

[TTT-LS]

.

[nealric]

The following case is required reading for all 0Ls:

Anneliese Lenz v Finanzlandesdirektion für Tirol (ECJ July 15, 2004, C-315/02).

I promise, you will refer to it every day for the rest of your life.

[Space_Cowboy]

reading cases is a way to get behind! If you notice from a lot of the top "how to succeed in law school" guides around here. Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

If you believe that, you're insane.

Its a good thing the TLS "Success in Law School" article recommends not briefing cases. Not disagreeing with you. I'm a 0L and don't know shit. Just saying....

I do not recommend briefing cases. If I am assigned a fifty-page reading in contracts, I will treat it differently than the rest of the class. The rest of the class will go home and read all fifty pages. They will brief all cases, and spend a lot of time taking notes, highlighting, and writing in the margins. They will spend some time thinking about some of the proposed line of questions.

I thought Wahoo1Ls post on this topic was pretty solid (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =2&t=78769)

[ToTransferOrNot]

"Don't brief" and "don't read the cases at all" are two remarkably different statements.

[fonzerelli]

Dear OP: don't do it. You'll realize why later on.

Sincerely,

TTTLS

It can't be that great a waste of time! - Can it? I mean, even picking up on subtle esoteric lingo, etc, which reading a few cases here and there would do is surely worth it I would think.

Maybe I should have asked... "what landmark supreme court cases should a 0L scan over in preparation for 1L?"

In any case, there seems to be some good suggestions here with regards to investigating some of the more technical sides to our legal system and dynamics. Good stuff. I'll give some of it a read.

[ToTransferOrNot]

I like how (most) of the people posting in this thread that have had some success in law school are saying "no, it is a waste of time," yet we aren't considered as authoritative on the subject as, say, PLS

And no, there is absolutely nothing you can possibly gain out of trying to read cases before school starts. Giving E&Es a cursory look--MAYBE, but probably not. Reading Getting to Maybe is probably a good idea. Anything else = retarded.

[2009 Prospective]

Dear OP: don't do it. You'll realize why later on.

Sincerely,

TTTLS

It can't be that great a waste of time! - Can it? I mean, even picking up on subtle esoteric lingo, etc, which reading a few cases here and there would do is surely worth it I would think.

Maybe I should have asked... "what landmark supreme court cases should a 0L scan over in preparation for 1L?"

In any case, there seems to be some good suggestions here with regards to investigating some of the more technical sides to our legal system and dynamics. Good stuff. I'll give some of it a read.

Read the Queen v. Dudley and Stephens, it'll teach you everything you need to know about the law and how to live life in general....

[nealric]

Read the Queen v. Dudley and Stephens, it'll teach you everything you need to know about the law and how to live life in general....

Anneliese Lenz v Finanzlandesdirektion für Tirol is FAR superior in that regard.

[Oban]

"Don't brief" and "don't read the cases at all" are two remarkably different statements.

The OP doesnt need to read anything to get head.

[2009 Prospective]

"Don't brief" and "don't read the cases at all" are two remarkably different statements.

The OP doesnt need to read anything to get head.

What about being able to crack the computer code in less than a minute??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUY8HysB ... re=related

[98234872348]

"Don't brief" and "don't read the cases at all" are two remarkably different statements.

The OP doesnt need to read anything to get head.

Probably true...

But, if that was just a typo, you recommended earlier that he did not need to read or brief cases at all; that is extremely bad advice.

[nealric]

The OP doesnt need to read anything to get head.

No, No. You have it backwards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJCHoEDNgs

[awesomepossum]

reading cases is a way to get behind! If you notice from a lot of the top "how to succeed in law school" guides around here. Most say dont read/brief ANY cases.

If you believe that, you're insane.

Its a good thing the TLS "Success in Law School" article recommends not briefing cases. Not disagreeing with you. I'm a 0L and don't know shit. Just saying....

I think briefing cases is good to start law school but it's not necessarily essential.

Reading cases on the other hand....pretty crucial.

Good luck passing con law without reading any cases.

[nealric]

Good luck passing con law without reading any cases.

All you need is Chemerisnsky dude. I know plenty of people who didn't read for conlaw.

[Aeroplane]

For me personally, if I could do the summer over, I would have read more books, period. If you did little to no reading/writing in your UG studies (engineer or similar), worked full-time for a few years during which your reading has consisted mainly of news, blogs, and airport convenience store detective novels AND you are somewhat ADD-ish by nature, you should try to ease your way back into reading stuff that requires more attention span. I don't know if reading more over the summer would have made my grades (which I don't have back yet) any better, but it would have made the immersion into dense reading less unpleasant.