Starting Off Right in Law School

by Carolyn J. Nygren

The result of eight years of Nygren's work with first-semester students in five different law schools, this book melds information about the legal system usually found in legal methods books with information about study skills usually found in books with a "how to succeed in law school" focus. The book uses one area of law — the implied warranty of merchantability as it applies to food — to illustrate various legal issues and the skills needed to master them. It introduces basic legal concepts and vocabulary in the context of one hypothetical case, and then focuses on the structure of cases and types of reasoning courts use. When finished with the book, readers will have the background they need in order to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of legal materials. A teacher's manual is also available.

Genres: Law

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

Reviews

[alex]

if u ever choke on a bone in your boneless fish fillet call me

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

giving this 4 stars solely for its shoutout to braum's ice cream

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice balance to Planet Law School II, which has been my primary resource in prepping for the way of the barrister. PLS operates from a standpoint of absolute cynicism and considerable paranoia, starting from the premise that law school is designed to frustrate and befuddle to such an extent that students should use primers and a few other aids to teach themselves the entire curriculum before the first day of classes. Seeing as I've never heard anyone dispute that a) first year grades are crucial to future opportunities, and b) students fail to get good first year grades because they waste precious months trying to figure out the game, I have been content to take the PLS "pre-law curriculum" as a worthy goal. The only shortcoming, however, is that full adherence to this method requires treating law prep as a full-time job for a full year prior to the start of classes. The author does offer abridged intineraries, but makes it quite clear that optimal results will only be achieved by those who put in maximum effort.

Here's where Nygren's book makes a valuable contribution. She's all about triage. She avoids the scylla of narrow student rants (see Law School Confidential) as well as the vast body of what the PLS author scornfully terms "law school lite" guides. She acknowledges the need for strategic management of one's studies for optimal results, but unlike PLS, helpfully addresses the realities of the number of hours in the day. She offers streamlined, but not dumbed down, approaches to reading and briefing cases and outlining courses. After skimming a variety of approaches to law school exams that seemed overly gimmicky to me (everybody's got their own acronym or number of steps), I found Nygren's suggestions nicely balanced between efficiency and sophistication.

These best aspects of the book are contained in the last third or so. The first two thirds introduces numerous basic terms and concepts, and uses the UCC rules for implied warranty of merchantability in relation to food product liability cases to demonstrate the basics of lawyerly analysis. This is fairly well done for what it is, but falls far short of the kind of in-depth treatment of such topics available in primers or other short treatise aids.

In summary, the book is a good "reality check" to anyone overwhelmed by the likes of PLS. There are some ideas here I will try to keep in mind through my first semester. By the same token, if you have more than a weekend to do prep reading for law school, you'd be unforgivably lazy not to go beyond this slim text.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a required read for my law school, but I thought it was really good. It is really short (and therefore practical) and explains some of the basic, foundational terms and procedures that would really help beginning law students. I knew a lot of it from previous law school experience, but it was a good refresher and I especially like how she explained how to read a casebook, brief a case, create an outline, and write essay exams. Definitely worth picking up if you are starting law school soon.

[Eliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seemed like good preparation to me (although I can't say for sure yet since I haven't started law school). It's nice that it focuses on one law, so the few cases included seem to cover all the possible issues. It also gives specific notes and test answers that students should arrive at, so you get a feel for the real thing. My only complaint is that it's short.

[Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good little primer on what to expect in Law school for the student thinking about going.

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and interesting, for a book of this title. Enjoyed learning about the implied warranty of merchantability.

[Hunter Starr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't really tell because I have not started school but it was well written and enlightening.

[Jake Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and helpful.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure exactly how to rate it yet. This rating may go up or down.

[Nastaliq · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to law in the USA for the prospective law student.