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Any past law students who did a law preview course or similar course/ law students who did not thoughts?

I am taking paralegal courses and find them to be interesting and u can get a certification instead give money for prep courses

jarofsoup wrote:I am taking paralegal courses and find them to be interesting and u can get a certification instead give money for prep courses

Mind linking me to this? What exactly do you learn in paralegal courses?

To write briefs, basic legal vocab such as what is a cause of action, precedent, some latin words, different types of venue, how to you lexis nexus just the basics.

I feel like I would just go into law school knowing How to Write a Brief and some vocab, but still hit the ground running.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Lega ... 343&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Wills-Trusts-Esta ... 445&sr=1-1

These are two of the books. Its kinda dumbed down law, but if anything it has made me study much harder for the LSAT.

bump

pokerlaw wrote:http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =3&t=30021

Read that, but it doesn't seem to jive with what students who have actually taken the course say (here), or what practicing attorneys who took the course say (here). They also seem to have a few law firms backing them as well by providing scholarships to the class (see here). Not sure that I'm willing to shell out that kind of money on my own, but I'd definitely consider doing it if someone else paid my way . . .

SHarry3666 wrote:

pokerlaw wrote:http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =3&t=30021

Read that, but it doesn't seem to jive with what students who have actually taken the course say (here), or what practicing attorneys who took the course say (here). They also seem to have a few law firms backing them as well by providing scholarships to the class (see here). Not sure that I'm willing to shell out that kind of money on my own, but I'd definitely consider doing it if someone else paid my way . . .

(1) The sources you cite supporting lawpreview are all on the lawpreview website. This makes them per se unreliable.

(2) Firms offer scholarships as advertisements, not because they 'believe' in the program.

I guess your first point could be true, but I'm assuming those testimonials are all real otherwise I don't think they could post them.

As for the firms who offer scholarships, the quotes from the partners seem to say that they did so (in part) because of the feedback they received from their associates who attended the class see: here, here and here.

Who knows, but I'm guessing that these days firms could probably find better ways to spend their advertising dollars (especially when they don't really need to advertise to recruit law students). From those quotes, and the fact that they are offering scholarships to the class, it certainly sounds like they "believe" in it. Jus sayin . . .

SHarry3666 wrote:I guess your first point could be true, but I'm assuming those testimonials are all real otherwise I don't think they could post them.

As for the firms who offer scholarships, the quotes from the partners seem to say that they did so (in part) because of the feedback they received from their associates who attended the class see: here, here and here.

Who knows, but I'm guessing that these days firms could probably find better ways to spend their advertising dollars (especially when they don't really need to advertise to recruit law students). From those quotes, and the fact that they are offering scholarships to the class, it certainly sounds like they "believe" in it. Jus sayin . . .

Again, the provided quotes originate from the product's website. This is like relying on the movie poster's review quotes to decide whether or not a movie is worth seeing.

Look, my point is this - you'll be hard pressed to find any really positive support for the law preview programs outside of the programs themselves.

Also, firms do have to advertise to recruit law students. They have to advertise a lot, in fact. Here's the thing, they're all trying to recruit the same students - so they do everything they can to get their name out there.

FWIW, I'm a 2L who has done well. I did not waste my money on a law preview class and I certainly would not encourage anyone else to do that either.

Really, save your money and more importantly your time.

Doing well in law school isn't rocket science. It's hard and it takes a lot of work, but none of these courses are going to teach you "the secret." When I was getting ready to start, I had the same anxiety about wanting to do everything I could to be in the most competitive position as possible come August.

But I didn't, and I'm doing well. Relax.

This is the type of program that preys on the insecurity and confusion of 0L students. There is no need for such a program at all. There is nothing substantive you should learn prior to law school. And anything about briefing and legal reasoning isn't something you need to develop beforehand. Don't waste your money on a program that is blatantly aimed at taking advantage of your confusion.

RE law preview and para courses:

Please, save your time and money. If you MUST prep, buy a few books in the Examples and Explanations series and have at it. At least you will use those in law school.

nealric wrote:RE law preview and para courses:

Please, save your time and money. If you MUST prep, buy a few books in the Examples and Explanations series and have at it. At least you will use those in law school.

It's just useless to use E&Es without knowing at least the basics of the relevant law/vocab ect.

Getting to Maybe is all I would suggest if OP is really stressed.

It's just useless to use E&Es without knowing at least the basics of the relevant law/vocab ect.

Getting to Maybe is all I would suggest if OP is really stressed.

Anything you do is pointless. But E+E's explain things about as basically as can be explained. If you don't have the vocab to read those, I'm not sure how you would get into law school.

nealric wrote:

It's just useless to use E&Es without knowing at least the basics of the relevant law/vocab ect.

Getting to Maybe is all I would suggest if OP is really stressed.

Anything you do is pointless. But E+E's explain things about as basically as can be explained. If you don't have the vocab to read those, I'm not sure how you would get into law school.

Yeah, that's a good point but I still think it would be a colossal waste of time.