Transcript
00:00
advice about what you should do in law
00:01
school are like butts everybody has one
00:04
and most of them stink today we’re gonna
00:07
talk about some of the worst advice you
00:09
can possibly get about what to do in law
00:11
school and how to avoid it so stick
00:13
around I was chatting with some of my
00:20
fellow lawyers about some of the worst
00:21
advice that they had gotten before they
00:24
went to law school and I realized that
00:26
there is a lot of bad advice out there
00:28
so I want to make sure that you don’t
00:31
suffer from that same advice this way
00:33
that some of my friends did so I want to
00:35
talk to you about some of the worst
00:36
advice that’s out there and why you
00:38
should ignore it in no particular order
00:40
the first thing that you should not
00:42
listen to is the advice that says you
00:45
don’t need to go to class or pay
00:47
attention once you get there this is
00:49
terrible advice every professor is
00:52
different they’re gonna have their own
00:53
slant on the law they may actually teach
00:56
you different black-letter law than is
00:58
the law in most states they may have a
01:01
different philosophical bent then other
01:04
people do they may have a pet issue that
01:07
they go into a huge amount of depth
01:09
whereas other professors just skip over
01:12
it or simply cover it from a cursory
01:14
point of view you want to understand
01:16
what idiosyncrasies your professor has
01:18
and the only way you can do that is to
01:21
go to class you shouldn’t go to class
01:23
expecting that you’re going to
01:25
understand all the substantive law in
01:27
fact most of the time you’re gonna learn
01:29
the substantive law on your own when you
01:31
go back and you compile and synthesize
01:34
the information from your class notes
01:36
with your commercial outlines into your
01:38
personal outline that’s where you really
01:40
understand and learn the law but make no
01:44
mistake it is vital that you go to class
01:46
because as I said your professor is
01:48
gonna have their own individual spin on
01:51
the law and if you don’t go to class
01:52
you’re gonna miss out on what that is
01:55
the second example of really horrible
01:58
terrible advice is that you should brief
02:00
every case you read I don’t know why but
02:04
when students get to law school often
02:07
their own law school faculty will tell
02:10
them that they need to case brief every
02:12
single
02:13
case a case brief is it’s almost like a
02:16
book report you’re summarizing every
02:18
individual portion of the case that you
02:20
read this is a huge waste of time most
02:23
of what you learn from a case will not
02:25
go into the final exam really the only
02:28
things that you can use from a case
02:29
include the facts of that particular
02:31
case and perhaps the black letter law
02:34
that is gleaned from that particular
02:36
case most of the information in the case
02:39
the procedural posture the dissenting
02:42
opinion the dicta all of that is
02:44
irrelevant for the purposes of your
02:46
final exam so all at that time that you
02:49
put in to case briefing is a total waste
02:51
of time
02:52
don’t fall into the trap of case
02:54
briefing every case that you read by and
02:56
large it’s a huge waste of time don’t
02:59
feel like you need to do that for every
03:00
case or perhaps even any of your cases
03:03
the third example of some really
03:05
terrible advice is that you should not
03:08
use commercial outlines or some people
03:09
even say using commercial outlines is
03:12
cheating this is terrible advice
03:15
commercial outlines are great they’re
03:17
not a substitute for doing your own
03:18
outlines you’re certainly going to have
03:20
to put the time into making your own
03:22
personal outline yourself but they are
03:25
invaluable to summarizing really
03:27
abstract and arcane types of law for you
03:31
most of the time in law school what you
03:33
need are simple statements of the law
03:37
most of law school is going to be
03:39
incredibly confusing but using a
03:41
commercial outline to get to the heart
03:43
of matters will really help out you can
03:45
use commercial outlines to prepare for
03:47
class in fact one thing I recommend is
03:49
to read the section of commercial
03:52
outline on the subject that’s going to
03:54
be covered in class so that you have
03:56
primed yourself with a cursory
03:57
understanding so that when you go into
03:59
the nuance in class you’ve already
04:02
primed yourself to understand commercial
04:03
outlines are great you will use them
04:06
hand in hand with your class notes when
04:09
you go back and synthesize the law and
04:11
compile everything into a personal
04:14
outline for yourself don’t feel like
04:16
it’s cheating when you practice in the
04:17
law you’ll learn that everybody uses
04:19
practice guides and Westlaw headnotes
04:22
for summaries few people have the time
04:24
to read
04:26
every single case front to back when
04:29
they’re researching Wilton yet real
04:31
lawyers use all the shortcuts that they
04:33
can get and as a law student you should
04:35
too
04:35
the fourth piece of some really terrible
04:37
advice this one is really gonna hurt
04:39
your pocketbook if you follow it buy all
04:41
of your case books new because you’ll
04:44
use them in practice a couple things
04:47
that are wrong here
04:47
one just because your case book has some
04:50
highlighting and some underlining in it
04:52
that doesn’t change its usefulness a
04:54
case book really is just a compilation
04:57
of cases that are in the public domain
04:59
there’s really no benefit to getting a
05:03
new case book except if you are really
05:05
unable to get past some notes that are
05:08
in the book for the most part I think
05:10
people can see past the highlighting and
05:13
if someone has already highlighted it
05:14
maybe they did a good job and you can
05:16
skip that entirely but the second half
05:19
of this advice is just insane no one
05:21
will ever use a case book in practice
05:24
they are totally useless first of all
05:27
who knows if you’ll be even be
05:29
practicing in the same state as the
05:32
cases in your case book and more to the
05:34
point it’s going to be outdated it’s
05:36
probably outdated by the time it’s
05:37
published so you’re certainly not going
05:39
to be using your case book either in
05:41
practice or for studying the bar the
05:44
second year class ends you will never
05:46
pick up that case book again
05:48
the fifth piece of really terrible
05:49
advice is to wait until the end of the
05:52
semester to do your outlines I think
05:54
this is a horrible idea one of the best
05:56
pieces of advice I ever got was to do
05:59
your outlines every week set aside time
06:01
every weekend to synthesize all of the
06:03
substantive law and your case notes and
06:05
put it into an outline it’s gonna save
06:07
you a huge amount of time people say
06:09
that you need context to understand
06:11
that’s total crap you will forget what
06:14
is covered so it’s better to create your
06:15
outlines while it’s still fresh in your
06:17
mind and just get it over with when the
06:19
semester is over if you need to redo
06:22
parts of your outline it’s much easier
06:24
to redo the outline than it is to start
06:26
from scratch and most likely what will
06:29
happen is that if you do it every week
06:31
instead of waiting till the end you will
06:33
have an entire outline that’s done so
06:36
that you can hit the ground running with
06:37
practice tests and memorizing
06:39
during your study period instead of
06:42
starting from scratch on your outlines
06:44
it’ll save you a huge amount of time
06:46
context is overrated just start and
06:49
iterate from there people say that you
06:52
study by building your outline and while
06:54
that’s true it’s not like you’re
06:55
ignoring that work by doing the your
06:58
outline every single week you’re just
07:00
getting that done ahead of time so you
07:02
can put more time into memorizing the
07:04
law and doing your practice tests so
07:07
you’ll be way ahead of everybody else
07:09
who waits till the end of the semester
07:11
to do their outline if you like this
07:13
video please click like and subscribe
07:15
for more law school crushing tips also
07:17
please download the checklist below for
07:20
more good advice so you can avoid all of
07:22
the terrible advice that’s out there
07:24
thanks for stopping by
07:26
[Music]
advice about what you should do in law
00:01
school are like butts everybody has one
00:04
and most of them stink today we’re gonna
00:07
talk about some of the worst advice you
00:09
can possibly get about what to do in law
00:11
school and how to avoid it so stick
00:13
around I was chatting with some of my
00:20
fellow lawyers about some of the worst
00:21
advice that they had gotten before they
00:24
went to law school and I realized that
00:26
there is a lot of bad advice out there
00:28
so I want to make sure that you don’t
00:31
suffer from that same advice this way
00:33
that some of my friends did so I want to
00:35
talk to you about some of the worst
00:36
advice that’s out there and why you
00:38
should ignore it in no particular order
00:40
the first thing that you should not
00:42
listen to is the advice that says you
00:45
don’t need to go to class or pay
00:47
attention once you get there this is
00:49
terrible advice every professor is
00:52
different they’re gonna have their own
00:53
slant on the law they may actually teach
00:56
you different black-letter law than is
00:58
the law in most states they may have a
01:01
different philosophical bent then other
01:04
people do they may have a pet issue that
01:07
they go into a huge amount of depth
01:09
whereas other professors just skip over
01:12
it or simply cover it from a cursory
01:14
point of view you want to understand
01:16
what idiosyncrasies your professor has
01:18
and the only way you can do that is to
01:21
go to class you shouldn’t go to class
01:23
expecting that you’re going to
01:25
understand all the substantive law in
01:27
fact most of the time you’re gonna learn
01:29
the substantive law on your own when you
01:31
go back and you compile and synthesize
01:34
the information from your class notes
01:36
with your commercial outlines into your
01:38
personal outline that’s where you really
01:40
understand and learn the law but make no
01:44
mistake it is vital that you go to class
01:46
because as I said your professor is
01:48
gonna have their own individual spin on
01:51
the law and if you don’t go to class
01:52
you’re gonna miss out on what that is
01:55
the second example of really horrible
01:58
terrible advice is that you should brief
02:00
every case you read I don’t know why but
02:04
when students get to law school often
02:07
their own law school faculty will tell
02:10
them that they need to case brief every
02:12
single
02:13
case a case brief is it’s almost like a
02:16
book report you’re summarizing every
02:18
individual portion of the case that you
02:20
read this is a huge waste of time most
02:23
of what you learn from a case will not
02:25
go into the final exam really the only
02:28
things that you can use from a case
02:29
include the facts of that particular
02:31
case and perhaps the black letter law
02:34
that is gleaned from that particular
02:36
case most of the information in the case
02:39
the procedural posture the dissenting
02:42
opinion the dicta all of that is
02:44
irrelevant for the purposes of your
02:46
final exam so all at that time that you
02:49
put in to case briefing is a total waste
02:51
of time
02:52
don’t fall into the trap of case
02:54
briefing every case that you read by and
02:56
large it’s a huge waste of time don’t
02:59
feel like you need to do that for every
03:00
case or perhaps even any of your cases
03:03
the third example of some really
03:05
terrible advice is that you should not
03:08
use commercial outlines or some people
03:09
even say using commercial outlines is
03:12
cheating this is terrible advice
03:15
commercial outlines are great they’re
03:17
not a substitute for doing your own
03:18
outlines you’re certainly going to have
03:20
to put the time into making your own
03:22
personal outline yourself but they are
03:25
invaluable to summarizing really
03:27
abstract and arcane types of law for you
03:31
most of the time in law school what you
03:33
need are simple statements of the law
03:37
most of law school is going to be
03:39
incredibly confusing but using a
03:41
commercial outline to get to the heart
03:43
of matters will really help out you can
03:45
use commercial outlines to prepare for
03:47
class in fact one thing I recommend is
03:49
to read the section of commercial
03:52
outline on the subject that’s going to
03:54
be covered in class so that you have
03:56
primed yourself with a cursory
03:57
understanding so that when you go into
03:59
the nuance in class you’ve already
04:02
primed yourself to understand commercial
04:03
outlines are great you will use them
04:06
hand in hand with your class notes when
04:09
you go back and synthesize the law and
04:11
compile everything into a personal
04:14
outline for yourself don’t feel like
04:16
it’s cheating when you practice in the
04:17
law you’ll learn that everybody uses
04:19
practice guides and Westlaw headnotes
04:22
for summaries few people have the time
04:24
to read
04:26
every single case front to back when
04:29
they’re researching Wilton yet real
04:31
lawyers use all the shortcuts that they
04:33
can get and as a law student you should
04:35
too
04:35
the fourth piece of some really terrible
04:37
advice this one is really gonna hurt
04:39
your pocketbook if you follow it buy all
04:41
of your case books new because you’ll
04:44
use them in practice a couple things
04:47
that are wrong here
04:47
one just because your case book has some
04:50
highlighting and some underlining in it
04:52
that doesn’t change its usefulness a
04:54
case book really is just a compilation
04:57
of cases that are in the public domain
04:59
there’s really no benefit to getting a
05:03
new case book except if you are really
05:05
unable to get past some notes that are
05:08
in the book for the most part I think
05:10
people can see past the highlighting and
05:13
if someone has already highlighted it
05:14
maybe they did a good job and you can
05:16
skip that entirely but the second half
05:19
of this advice is just insane no one
05:21
will ever use a case book in practice
05:24
they are totally useless first of all
05:27
who knows if you’ll be even be
05:29
practicing in the same state as the
05:32
cases in your case book and more to the
05:34
point it’s going to be outdated it’s
05:36
probably outdated by the time it’s
05:37
published so you’re certainly not going
05:39
to be using your case book either in
05:41
practice or for studying the bar the
05:44
second year class ends you will never
05:46
pick up that case book again
05:48
the fifth piece of really terrible
05:49
advice is to wait until the end of the
05:52
semester to do your outlines I think
05:54
this is a horrible idea one of the best
05:56
pieces of advice I ever got was to do
05:59
your outlines every week set aside time
06:01
every weekend to synthesize all of the
06:03
substantive law and your case notes and
06:05
put it into an outline it’s gonna save
06:07
you a huge amount of time people say
06:09
that you need context to understand
06:11
that’s total crap you will forget what
06:14
is covered so it’s better to create your
06:15
outlines while it’s still fresh in your
06:17
mind and just get it over with when the
06:19
semester is over if you need to redo
06:22
parts of your outline it’s much easier
06:24
to redo the outline than it is to start
06:26
from scratch and most likely what will
06:29
happen is that if you do it every week
06:31
instead of waiting till the end you will
06:33
have an entire outline that’s done so
06:36
that you can hit the ground running with
06:37
practice tests and memorizing
06:39
during your study period instead of
06:42
starting from scratch on your outlines
06:44
it’ll save you a huge amount of time
06:46
context is overrated just start and
06:49
iterate from there people say that you
06:52
study by building your outline and while
06:54
that’s true it’s not like you’re
06:55
ignoring that work by doing the your
06:58
outline every single week you’re just
07:00
getting that done ahead of time so you
07:02
can put more time into memorizing the
07:04
law and doing your practice tests so
07:07
you’ll be way ahead of everybody else
07:09
who waits till the end of the semester
07:11
to do their outline if you like this
07:13
video please click like and subscribe
07:15
for more law school crushing tips also
07:17
please download the checklist below for
07:20
more good advice so you can avoid all of
07:22
the terrible advice that’s out there
07:24
thanks for stopping by
07:26
[Music]
