(Part 2) Best products from r/LawSchool

Hi! Just took the CA Bar and am about to start packing out of my on campus apartment, so I'm feeling a bit whimsical and some of this may be more directed at her.

Writing, Notetaking, and Organization

If you're particular about writing instruments, which some people are, it will take trial and error to find your right fit. This was my go-to, and it got me through three years of time, four years of credits, and three different employers.

Sharpie Liquid Highlighters, Chisel Tip, 5 Colors


Pros

• Great color, easy grip, chisel tip allows full line highlighting and underlining.
  
• Pen format works well in almost every bag or organizer.
  
• Five colors allows you to book brief (she will know what that means, and probably shouldn't do it until she knows how to craft a good one page case brief) in FIRAC format.
  
  Cons
  
  
• Getting harder and more expensive to find.
  
• Go through ink fairly quickly.
  
  
  uni-ball Jetstream RT Ballpoint Pens, Bold Point (1.0mm)
  
  Pros
  
  
• I mainly used the capped .07mm, but the retractable .07mm work well too.
  
  Cons
  
  
• This is less of a Con and more of a comment. Things like line width, pressure, and paper type make a solid rec hard to make here. There's so much personal preference. My general rule of thumb is it should cost enough that you can rely on it without being expensive enough to make you think too hard about losing one occasionally.
  
  Freeleaf® Yellow Annotation Ruled Pads Letter
  
  Pros
  
  
• Excellent weight, color, and ink retention.
  
• Pre-formatted organization structure, so you know what everything is if it gets mixed up before you file it.
  
  Cons
  
  
• It's $7 a pad. You're not going to find good quality pads for that much cheaper, but you fill find stuff that will get the job done cheaper. I maybe spent $200 during law school on pads, because I hand wrote notes. There's empirical studies that show it helps to write notes, but it was dying out at my school and I'd be surprised if my class would show any correlation between rank and note taking style.
  
  Ticonderoga Pencils, Wood-Cased, Graphite #2 HB Soft, Black
  
  Pros
  
  
• Best quality pencil for the price, hands down.
  
  Cons
  
  
• You could spend more on Blackwing, but the marginal utility is nil outside an artistry context, if then. Save the money for other things.
  
  BIC 4-Color Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point (1.0mm)
  
  Pros
  
  
• Great quality, incredibly durable, great form factor.
  
• Makes grading papers (self grading, or if she becomes a TA) turned in via hard copy a bit simpler. I had my own system that I maintained so that students could understand (Green - Good, Red - Rework, Blue - Style, Black - Final Comments)
  
  
  
  
  Since I am pickiest about those things, I will give more general comments about the rest.
  
  
• Battery phone case, back up laptop charger, extra phone cables all work wonders. Having an extra on hand lets you not stress about the tools you need to succeed.
  
  
• A good padfolio is both useful and a nod to the history of our profession in some circles. I went with Levenger, but everyone has their preferences.
  
  
• The best bookstand on the market, in my humble opinion.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is more general, and beyond the scope of what you asked, but I felt like giving unasked for advice so you can take it or leave it.
  Sleeping & Home Life
  
  
• The surliest 2L will casually throw around comments about sleep being for the weak, but there is literally no other way to get the kind of rest your mind and body needs. Invest in the things and habits that make great sleep possible, whatever that may be for her. And do the best you can to never be a barrier to it.
  
• Sundays should be for rest and keeping everying not-school related on track. Need to visit friends or family? A few hours on Sunday is a great time to do that. Pre-plan meals and do bulk cooking to keep work down during the week. Get all the laundry done, get the kitchen clean, make sure you don't run out of toothpaste on Wednesday morning. Sunday evening you can get your reading done for Monday, but finish the night doing something restful so you don't go into Monday feeling you're jumping off a cliff.
  
• Low-effort acts of kindness do a lot of work. Writing a note, leaving a message, suprising her with a small and thoughtful gift are all great ways to show you care without imposing too much on her time and autonomy. Date night is important, and keeping a running list of things you can do at a drop of a hat for different amounts of time and money is helpful, but keeping your relationship strong through what in all likelihood will be a time of incredible change and transformation is about putting in the effort without demanding an equal or greater act of reciprocation. Even when the thank you text gets delayed more than it should, or she snaps at you unfairly, the body of love you show will find its way through to the end. The best way to show you love her is to enable her success and let her respond in ways that make sense while she figures this whole thing out.
  
• This is a very personal area that I will not spend too much time on, but here it goes. You may think you are a good lover now, and I hope you are. Try to be the best version of that for her now, in whatever form that takes. It helps a lot, proportionately to how much it's important to your relationship.
  
  Health & Wellness
  
  
• This is not a gendered comment, even and especially coming from the perspective of a guy who had some bad habits he broke before and took into law school. Any habits you thought were hard to break before law school are going to be multiples harder in law school. Dealing with this may be damage control, or require more work, depending on what it is. A caffiene fiend is going to reach unparalled heights. None of my friends who smoked going into law school found a way to quit. The moderate drinkers became heavy drinkers. Some people took up the gym as a new religion, but most stayed true to form. The only real way to know how to handle this is to either stop it quick or find an adult and productive way to keeps things reasonable.
  
  
• For the love of all that is holy, exercise. It is proven to help brain function whether in cognitive skills or emotional health or stress reduction. If it's nonexistent now, start small and try to build up to some routine of significance while it can become a habit and before the midsemester crunch hits.

Hang in there dude(tte). My first piece of advice is to follow 3point1415987's piece of advice. But if you are dead-set on lawschool, and you don't need a bunch of internet strangers venting their personal anecdotes as to why it's not a good idea, then buckle down, take some more practice tests and go back fighting.

I've never been very studious, but I usually test pretty well (at least in standardized tests). But this is reddit, don't we all? I read the PowerScore series, which I HIGHLY recommend, did the questions in the book, took a practice test or two, and thought that I was ready for the LSAT. It might have been nerves, or maybe I just hadn't mastered the art of managing one's time, but I scored a 156. Ehh, not the end of the world, but with my GPA, that 156 wouldn't get me far (read: my gpa wasn't very hot).

I found a study partner (I don't want to say this is "good advice" but I was rather attracted to my study partner and believe that motivated me to study harder), we scheduled practice tests together, went over each others' scores and explained why and how we came to a particular answer one got right and the other wrong, and we did this for 2 months straight. Honestly, it was an overall positive experience. And as I'm sure you can imagine, otherwise this story would be shit, I did pretty well. I know it's generally not cool to reveal your LSAT if it's decent, but no one knows me, and this is meant to convey that improvement is possible for retakers: I got a 174. The first time is NOT necessarily indicative of the next. Once you get over the fact that the LSAT is a rather unique test, and it's ALL about practice over knowledge (it's not actually studying ANY knowledge) and you apply that to your study methods (take as many practice tests as you can, and find a way that makes it rewarding--I found a study partner with which I enjoyed spending time).

Good luck to you! I only wish I could have followed my advice to study for the bar :\

Experience doesn't necessarily make him a great writer. Still, don't let him bring you down or demoralize you. Especially since you're trying to improve your writing. It sounds like a normal control thing; in my experience, lawyers rewrite things for no reason except that it's what they learned in law school or it's just what's worked for them in the past. And lawyers hate changing their writing style—since Bryan Garner's tips from TWB are the "new" style that most practicing lawyers don't really care for, he may disagree with some of it. Ask him for recommended reading and see what he says. (I had a similar experience and I can understand how it's incredibly frustrating.)

But in the short term:

1. Keep in mind that random briefs (on random topics) for one attorney during one summer don't reflect your entire writing ability. Nor is his judgment of your writing necessarily accurate. If you can, ask someone else (friend/atty not at the office) to look at a copy of an early draft that you think is good and see what they say.
   
   
2. Figure out however he wants you to write, in whatever format, and stick to it. Don't bother trying to change his mind. (Sounds obvious, I know, but the point is that you can write how he wants you to at work, and develop your own style on your own.)
   
   Long term, I recommend these for improving brief-writing skills:
   
   
3. The best book on brief writing is Winning on Appeal by Ruggero Aldisert--a fed app judge
   
   
4. For some of the best examples, read the Solicitor General's briefs that are all available online
   
   
5. I found the no-longer-secret Supreme Court Style Guide to be helpful and interesting
   
   
6. Also, not super helpful, but interesting is the OSG Citation Manual
   
   
7. Another good resource is The Art of Advocacy
   
   
8. And Plain English for Lawyers
   
   Good luck!

I totally concur with OP, supplements are supplements, not replacements. Read the case book, then read the relevant chapter from the supplement to ensure you got everything you were supposed to get out of it. Once you are getting everything out of the casebook in the first pass, you can discard supplements entirely if you like.

Best supplements, in my opinion:

• Introduction to Civil Procedure by Richard Freer
  
  
• Understanding Contracts by Richard Ferriell
  
  
• Understanding Property by John Sprankling
  
  
• Constitutional Law by Erwin Chemerinsky
  
  
• Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler
  
  
• E&E for Torts
  
  You can quibble on some, but any law student worth his salt will recognize Dressler on crim and Chemerinsky on con law as the best. Freer on Civ Pro is very well recognized as well. I like the Understanding series for contracts and property because they are still succinct yet more in-depth than the E&E's. I like the E&E for torts because the Understanding book for that class isn't especially good.
  
  If you don't like any of the above, the respective E&E would be my second choice.

The short and happy guides are the best supplements I’ve used.

It really dumbs down everything and is a great quick reference to all of the major topics.

I especially liked the property one, but they are all good.

A lot of the supplements out there can be hundreds of pages, and it’s just not worth it to me.

A Short & Happy Guide to Property, 2d (Short & Happy Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0314282416/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_yuirDbTH0B87S

Great. I was a TA for Business Associations last semester. My professor's teaching style was different than any other law school class I have taken, but I would imagine the overall concepts are applied the same. There is a Corporations E + E that is okay. When I took the class I used this book http://www.amazon.com/Acing-Business-Associations-Law-School/dp/0314906738. This book is by far the simplest supplement I have used in law school and it covers all of the topics you mentioned. For additional Agency help look at the restatements 3rd on Westlaw. The comments provide excellent examples that will help you understand the concepts better. When analyzing the issues on the exam ask yourself "what type of relationship is this?" (ie agency, partnership, shareholder, organs) and "who is liable?" (ie is a third party suing the principal for an agents actions, is principal suing the agent, is a share holder suing the BoD, ect). As long as you can frame the issue correctly you are halfway to the answer.

One thing to keep in mind is that the offer is yours to lose. If you approach your summer with that mindset, you'll be totally fine. A few Do's and Don'ts from a mid-level associate.

Do: go to summer lunches; go to all the SA events; have a great attitude; get to know the associates and partners; turn around prompt, proof-read work product; go with the flow.

Don't: get wasted at SA events; be weird; brown-nose; work too hard; argue with a partner; send emails that contain typos; have a poor attitude.

If you want to learn how to survive and thrive in Biglaw, pick up a copy of [Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: Professional Advice for the New Attorney] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1888960078/?tag=lawschooltransferguide-20). It's a quick read and an AWESOME resource for every young attorney.

Good luck and have a great SA experience!

P.S. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that your first year as an associate to be anything like your SA experience. What you see is NOT what you get :)

I recently graduated law school and built a home office setup for around $600 (my law firm has a good work from home policy). Details below:

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Desk - DlandHome L-Shaped Desk - $130

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0798JW7FD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The L-shaped desk contains plenty of space for my dual monitor setup and has plenty of extra space on the sides. It was very easy to assemble (unlike some IKEA desks) and ships in a manageable flat box. I keep it in the corner of my room and it is very sturdy and doesn't shake.

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Chair - AmazonBasics Office Chair -$50

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D7P5BFS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cheap and comfortable.

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Monitors - 2x HP 23.8 in Monitors - 2x $110

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072M34RQC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These can rotate both horizontally and vertically, which makes them perfect for work. Also VESA compatible. The quality of these are pretty good, but I only use them for word processing and web browsing. Not sure how good they are for movies or gaming.

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Laptop Dock - Dell Universal Dock - $130

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071YTQBXM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Compatible with any laptop with a USB-C port. It charges the laptop as well while plugged in. It works with my work laptop without installing any additional drivers. Supports 2x DP and 1x HDMI. You might need to buy additional DisplayPort to HDMI cables depending on the monitors you use.

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Accessories

Logitech K840 Mechanical Keyboard - $60

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071VHYZ62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anker Wireless Charger - $15

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DBXZZN3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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If anyone requests, I can upload a picture when I get home tonight. Also feel free to ask any questions.

Like most of us, I struggled with transitioning from non-legal, academic writing to legal writing. This book definitely helped me become a much better legal writer and I feel will assist you here. I refer to it regularly and it will be the first book to go in my office this fall (Appellate Practice).

>The ideas she gave including manipulating our facts so our case could apply to strong caselaw.

While other responses here are correct in that some feedback from professors is definitely stylistic and shouldn't be treated like objective truth, it sounds like your analysis lacks advocacy which does require some creativity. Being able to concede a "bad fact" but place it in a context supporting your legal point is a skill which will strengthen your overall brief.

THIS helped me tremendously. It's super short and super useful. I recommend it.

I was in the same boat as you.

The cases will show you the evolution of how law evolved. Oyez was a good resource to get a sense of the case and how the judges fell on different issues.

I would try to make a small flowchart for cases & their holdings. I found a good outline that incorporated some charts - i'll try to find it (please DM me if I don't post).

I used the Emmanuel Crunchtime guide to help breakdown the concepts.

Having to take this class as a Canadian, I didn't understand some of the history either so I used this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143118102/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It has a good summary of why certain provisions were enacted.

Day 1 of bar prep: Ok, cool, this isn't so bad--look, I can even work ahead!

Day 2: Woo, already done with today's work, now let's do half of tomorrow's!

Day 3: MBE questions, ok, this won't be that bad, I'm on a roll. Wait. Fuck. Why do I keep missing these? Did we talk about any of this shit in the lectures? Where are these exceptions coming from? What the hell? Did I learn nothing??

Edit: This item arrived in the mail today and it's already making bar prep so much more enjoyable! I am currently on a bed easily watching lectures; earlier I used it as a table stand to watch it outside in the nice spring weather. Gonna use it on the sofa later to take some practice MBE questions. Highly recommend.

Planet Law School... I don't know. The index is at least funny to flip through (things like Islam, religion of; Nixon, Richard, etc.) I read maybe 100 pages of it, and I'm so glad I didn't take its advice and spend my summer before law school reading the Restatement of Torts. Here's PLS in a nutshell: you won't learn law from the case method and lectures, so be ready to learn it on your own. $20 and 10 hours of your life saved.

Also, if OP is reading, LEEWS is a waste of time too. Outline, address counterarguments, and counter-counterarguments. $300 and 8 hours of your life saved.

The other Delaney book, here, is worth reading. Getting to Maybe is worth a skim.

I was going to say it sounds like anxiety too. I dated a girl who had GAD (general anxiety disorder) and it was my first real exposure to it. At first it was overwhelming for me (as an outsider) so I can't imagine what she (or what you OP) are going through. I went and talked to a friend who is a therapist who specializes in anxiety and she recommended this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Someone-Anxiety-Understanding-Harbinger/dp/1608826112

I read it and got a really clear picture of what was going on with my girlfriend (she had other issues beyond GAD too but that's not the point.) The point is I'd recommend you read the book yourself and get a good understanding of what GAD is to know how to work with your thoughts and feelings that you're experiencing.

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Also, if you ever need anything law school-wise, feel free to reach out. I hated LS and some days regret going, but now that I'm on the flipside, I'd be happy to support a struggling future JD (you're going to do it! Just keep swimming!)

yes! i heard multi colored highlighters are a must! thank you, sticky/tab notes...would like these be good? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ED3GU1I/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00ED3GU1I&linkCode=as2&tag=dealbreaker-20&linkId=EI2NLNRLHB4H3PQX

A second monitor.

A good backpack. Also, make note--the wheeled backpacks that were for losers in high school? They are totally worth consideration in law school. If you can roll your books instead of carrying them--so much easier on your back.

A bookstand --make sure it can support textbooks at least 4 inches thick. You will spend a ton of time reading. If you can reduce the time your neck is craned downward you will be happy.

Dress clothes. You will start wearing them all the time come 1L summer and you really can't even have too many.

I like to outline and stuff on a whiteboard so I have a couple up in my office. If that works with your study style--get some.

Supplements. They are freaking expensive but can be incredibly helpful at times. I would say ask for E&Es for the first year courses but hold off on getting flashcards until you know if you need them or not.

I don't use one only because I haven't gotten around to buying a proper one. I usually prop up my books using other text books, but I wish I had a proper one - I've developed some minor neck pain because I am the ultimate weenie and my body is like "lol, no" when it comes to studying.

It is especially useful if you are reading a book and simultaneously taking notes on it on a computer - instead of having to look down and up constantly, you can look side to side. other redditors may be able to chime in on how useful it is - you can read some comments in this thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/2dtusm/reading_tips_and_techniques/

the following two have been recommended on the law school subreddit in the past:

1. http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Bright-Fold-n-Stow-Book-Holder/dp/1891747401
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009MB1BY2/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Okay so I got A Short & Happy Guide to Property and it is helpful! Essentially the only difference between these two things is that a Condition Subsequent has conditional language and a carve-out for the right to reenter. But calling it a condition subsequent implies that the right to possess ends with the condition, buuuut, they can stay there until the right to reenter is exercised. Am I missing a logical step or is it just kind of loosey-goosey?

Get a bookstand.

It's pretty late now, but if you can have it by Friday, it might still help a little.

Study for the October LSAT. Kill it. Apply as soon as your score comes out (if not before).

Make sure your recommendations are great. These matter more than people think. Make sure your personal statement is great. This matters more than people think.

As far as studying the LSAT, probably get the Powerscore Logical Reasoning Bible and the Powerscore Logical Games Bible to study from. Also get a bunch of preptests. If your score plateaus for a while and you can't seem to get past it, hire a tutor. Starting at a 167 means its unlikely you will need to take a course.

I had the same problem with my business associations professor and ended up getting "Acing Business Associations" by Chaslow. For me, it worked really well. It's not an outline exactly, more similar to an E&E, but it's extremely easy to read and should be enough to get you started. http://www.amazon.com/Acing-Business-Associations-Law-School/dp/0314906738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411832642&sr=8-1&keywords=business+associations+supplement

Don’t know if I’m allowed to post links, but this laptop/book stand (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NV64KJ3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_nHNCDbK1HQFEE) saved me during bar prep over the summer.

Civ Pro was tough for me too. Until I got this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Civil-Procedure-Student-Treatise/dp/1454802227/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416257289&sr=1-1&keywords=freer+civil+procedure&pebp=1416257292246

Also, Freer's BarBri lectures are great

Buy this, it will seriously save you.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Procedure-Edition-Student-Treatise/dp/1454802227/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410131881&sr=8-1&keywords=richard+freer+civil+procedure

Two books I can suggest:

1. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers
   
2. Kuney & Looper, Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting

Here you go buddy: Acing Business Associations (Acing Law School) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0314906738/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XTDNDbF6QST82

Was cheaper when I bought if for myself, but https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Bright-37401-Fold-n-Stow-Holder/dp/1891747401/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496145924&sr=8-2&keywords=folding+cookbook+stand

here you go. It works for all my texts, but it didn't stand up to the Tax Text that my roommate has.

I have this one. It looks a little flimsy, but it's held up to every book I've used in it, and it's significantly less bulky than the wooden ones a lot of my classmates use.

Ditto what they said.

http://www.amazon.com/LSAT-Logical-Reasoning-Bible-Comprehensive/dp/0980178258/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b these things. Kaplan the one LSAT prep group I would avoid, using them actually brought my practice scores down, but powerscore helped me a lot, especially on the logic games, but I guess everybody's different.

> I'm not trolling, I'm genuinely curious, but aren't we supposed to be a little pretentious as lawyers? Isn't that just assumed with the territory?

No, use plain english as much as possible, unless a term of art is unavoidable. Didn't they cover this in your legal writing class?

Check out Plain English for Lawyers by Richard C. Wydick.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Civil-Procedure-Student-Treatise/dp/1454802227/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410148006&sr=1-1&keywords=freer+civil+procedure

No. That one.