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Guide to Buying Supplements & Study Aids
· Overview of Supplements
· How to Select Study Aids
· Rule Extraction
· Big Picture
· Analysis & Application
· Course Outlines
· Examples & Explanations
· Flashcards & Audiotapes
· Law School Exams & Law School Success
· Aids for Elective Courses
· General Reference
· Pre-Law Guides

Selected Titles From the Examples & Explanations Series:
Below is a list of some of  the popular titles from the Examples & Explanations Series. If you don’t see the title of a course you’re looking for, try searching for the title, since this series does cover virtually every major law school subject. Because new editions are frequently issued, the links below may take you to older editions of the books. Please be sure to check for the latest editions.

· Agency and Partnership, by Daniel S. Kleinberger
· Bankruptcy and
  Debtor/Creditor, by Brian A. 
  Blum 
· Civil Procedure, by Joseph W. Glannon
· Criminal Law, by Richard G. Singer, John Q. LaFond
· Constitutional Law: National Power and Federalism, by Christopher N. May, Allan Ides
(This is good for Constitutional Law I.)
· Constitutional Law: Individual Rights, by Allan Ides, Christopher N. May (This is good for Constitutional Law II.)
· Constitutional Criminal Procedure, by R. Bloom
· Contracts, by Brian Blum
· Corporations, by Lewis D. Solomon, Alan R. Palmiter
· Corporate Taxation, by Cheryl D. Block
· Evidence, by Arthur Best
· Federal Income Tax, by Joseph Bankman, et al
· The Law of Torts, by Joseph W. Glannon
· Wills, Trusts, and Estates, by Gerry W. Beyer
· Search for other titles

Selected Titles From the Hornbook Series:
Some popular titles from the Hornbook Series are listed below. If you don’t see the title of a course you’re looking for, try searching for the title, since this series does cover virtually every major law school subject. Because new editions are frequently issued, the links below may take you to older editions of the books. Please be sure to check for the latest editions.

· Civil Procedure, by Jack H. Friedenthal, et al
· The Law of Contracts, by John D. Calamari, Joseph M. Perillo
· Constitutional Law Principles and Policies, by Erwin Chemerinsky
· Constitutional Law, by John E. Nowak, Ronald D. Rotunda
· Criminal Law, by Wayne R. LaFave, A.W. Scott
· McCormick on Evidence, John William Strong, ed.
· How to Find the Law, Morris L. Cohen
· International Business Transactions, by Ralph H. Folsom
· Search for other titles

Selected Titles From the Nutshell Series:
Some popular titles from the Nutshell Series are listed below. If you don’t see the title of a course you’re looking for, try searching for the title, since this series does cover virtually every major law school subject. Because new editions are frequently issued, the links below may take you to older editions of the books. Please be sure to check for the latest editions.

· Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law in a Nutshell, by Kenneth F. Hegland
· Introduction to Law Study and Law Examinations in a Nutshell, by Stanley Kinyon
· Contracts in a Nutshell, by Claude D. Rohwer
· Criminal Law in a Nutshell, by Arnold H. Loewy
· Constitutional Law in a Nutshell, by Jerome A. Barron, C. Thomas Dienes
· Public International Law in a Nutshell, by Thomas Buergenthal
· Civil Procedure in a Nutshell, by Mary Kay Kane
· Torts in a Nutshell, by Edward J. Kionka

Selected Titles From the Black Letter Series:
Some popular titles from the Black Letter Series are listed below. If you don’t see the title of a course you’re looking for, try searching for the title, since this series does cover virtually every major law school subject. Because new editions are frequently issued, the links below may take you to older editions of the books. Please be sure to check for the latest editions.

· Civil Procedure, by Kevin M. Clermont
· Contracts, by John D. Calamari, et al
· Corporations, by Robert W. Hamilton
· Criminal Law, by Peter W. Low
· Basic Criminal Procedure, by Stephen A. Saltzburg
· Evidence, by Kenneth S. Broun, Walker J. Blakely
· Professional Responsibility, by Ronald D. Rotunda
· Property, by Ann M. Burkhart, Robert H. Bernhardt
· Torts, by Edward J. Kionka
· Search for other titles

Biographies
· Dennis S. Higa
· Thuy N. Bui

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IMPORTANT NOTE:
LawTutorial.COM materials are designed for California law schools and the California bar examination. We recognize that many courses, especially core multi-state subjects, are very similar substantively regardless of jurisdiction. Students enrolled in law schools outside of California can therefore adapt materials to their jurisdictions if they wish, but should be aware that hypotheticals and practice exam questions given in our course materials may not reflect laws in jurisdictions outside of California.

GUIDE TO SUPPLEMENTS & STUDY AIDS 

Overview of Supplemental Materials
For every “core curriculum” law school course, there are no less than five different supplemental study guides to accompany the course. For virtually all required classes, you can usually find hornbooks, course outlines such as Legalines and Emannuel, case briefs from Casenote Law Outlines, law summaries from Gilbert  and Black Letter Series, in-depth explanations from Examples & Explanations, and overview of the subject from the Nutshell Series. This is not counting flashcards, audiotapes, off-campus fee-based workshops, summary charts, and a whole multitude of other study aids.  The same goes for many elective courses, unless you choose a very specialized course for which the usual supplements have not been developed.

The book-buying process for supplemental materials thus becomes difficult. First, do you even need a supplement to your required casebook? Do supplements help? How do you know which one to choose? Do you need more than one? If you do buy more than one, how do you know which ones will complement each other instead of overlapping?  This Guide to Supplements & Study Aids hopes to answer some of those question and make your book selection process easier.

TROUBLE SPOT #1: RULE EXTRACTION
You can't identify the rule of law from the cases, and when you do, you're not sure if you've extracted the right rules.

This is the scenario where you read and read and brief and re-read the cases and class reading assignments religiously, but can’t seem to decipher what’s important and what’s not. More importantly, you don’t know what to remember from the cases: what is the rule of law, when different cases seem to say different things?

Our Recommendations: The Black Letter Series does exactly what its title says, it gives you the "black letter law." The series summarizes the rules from the cases you read into short, digestible formats, and is available for almost all law school subjects. (Click here for a listing of all Black Letter Series titles on Amazon.com.)

Another supplement that is good for rule extraction is the Gilbert Law Summaries series. If you need to know, in no certain terms, what the rule is for a particular issue of law, a Gilbert book lays it out for you.

One word of caution: the author makes a BIG difference in the quality of the law summaries. Sometimes the professor who penned your casebook will also have written a law summary. If s/he has, that’s the summary you want, for it will have less “mistakes” and will reflect the more important notes from the casebook.  Check both Gilbert and Black Letter Series carefully to select the best author possible.

TROUBLE SPOT #2: BIG PICTURE
You understand the cases, but get frustrated because you don't see where they're going. You need a "big picture" overview or a "road map" in order to make sense of all the cases and the reading materials.

If you’re in this situation, there are many supplements to which you could turn. In our opinion, the most time-efficient resource would be the Nutshell Series, which gives you an overview of the entire subject area in a tiny paperback. In about an hour or two, depending on your reading pace, you can get a complete overview of your subject, giving the detailed case readings more context, hence increasing your understanding.  You can read the Nutshells before you begin the class, review its particular sections whenever your feel lost, or read it as a review to the course prior to exam time. Like Gilbert or Black Letter Series, Nutshell Series are available for virtually every law school subject.  (Click here for a complete listing of all Nutshell Series titles on Amazon.com.)

TROUBLE SPOT #3: ANALYSIS & APPLICATION
You understand the cases and the readings on the surface, but don't seem to grasp their deeper significance in order to apply them to classroom discussions, in hypothetical problems, on homework assignments, or on exams.

For deeper understandings of the cases and class readings, we suggest you consult the hornbooks. These look rather ominous in their hard-bound green covers, but are quite accessible if you use the table of contents or index to find and read only the sections in which you’re having difficulty.  Hornbooks provide you with greater discussion of the significance of the particular issues in which you’re interested, and often give you examples to deepen your analytical understanding of those issues. Hornbooks are available for most core law school subjects, but do range on the more expensive end as far as supplements go. (Click here for a complete listing of all hornbooks titles on Amazon.com.)

For exam preparation, homework assignments, or to prepare for classroom discussions, we highly recommend the Examples & Explanations Series if you’re having trouble applying what you learn to factual situations. Please see our description of the Examples & Explanations Series, below, or click here for a complete listing of all Examples & Explanations Series on Amazon.com.

In sum, when choosing a study guide, you should first be cognizant of your needs – i.e. what you’re looking for in a supplement – in order to choose the best supplement for you. Pay attention to your study habits in order to identify your needs. For example, do you tend to skim the reading before you can really focus? Do you stop paying attention after a page or two and catch yourself just glossing over the words? If so, you may want to invest in a nutshell or law summary to give you the big picture, so that the case readings look familiar even on first reading. Knowing what you’re looking for can make all the difference in helping you stay focused. 

Below are some descriptions of specific study guides and books written to help you succeed in law school and on law school exams. We hope our summaries help make your decision process more productive.

COURSE OUTLINES
Just as different students outline their course materials differently, so different commercial course outlines present materials in distinctive ways. Gilbert Law Summaries are referred to as course outlines by many people, since they do summarize, in an outline format, the rules of law. We recommend Gilbert for focusing on the black letter law. If you’re looking for a supplement that will guide you through class on a daily basis and that will help you start formulating your own outline, however, Gilbert may not do the trick.

For daily help with class reading of cases, or for help with briefing your cases, consider Casenote Law Outlines as a supplement. Casenotes track each different casebook (by author and edition), and give you “mini-briefs” of the cases in your assigned reading. The downside: information can be “wrong” at times, and casenotes may not highlight what your professor considers important in the readings.  (Click here for a complete listing of all Casenote Law Outlines on Amazon.com.) 

Other options include Legalines and Emanuel Law Outlines. Like Casenotes, these outlines track the specific casebooks by subject, author, and edition.  Unlike Casenotes, Legalines and Emanuel provide you with more than just casebriefs. They synthesize the course materials into outline formats, give a brief introduction to each major issue, then track the minor issues and cases as they are presented in the casebook.  They also give you “mini-briefs” of the more important cases, though Legalines usually present these mini-briefs in a more detailed format than Emanuel. It’s difficult to say whether one is better than the other: some students prefer one format to the other and will buy that series for all their classes. We recommend that you borrow both (if possible), try them out for the same class for a week or two, and then see which one fits your learning style more.  Once you’ve developed a preference, it is better to use the same series for all your courses, since the consistency will help make your study time more effective.

Reminder: as with all study aids, the author makes a big difference in the quality of the supplement. If you’re undecided between supplements, choose the best author possible. Obviously, if the author of the supplement is also the author of your casebook, that’s the supplement you want. If your professor penned a supplement, buy that one. Otherwise, check up on biographies of your authors and go with the more reputable ones.

EXAMPLES & EXPLANATIONS SERIES
We’re dedicating a whole separate section to the Examples & Explanations Series because we really, REALLY like this series. (No, we’re not being paid for highlighting this series!) Examples & Explanations come in paperback form, smaller than your casebook but pretty substantial in size. They cost a little more than Legalines, Emanuel, or Casenote Law Outlines, but they’re worth the extra cost.  They do not track the different casebooks – there’s only one version of Examples & Explanations per subject, but they are very well written and the authors are usually very well respected professors. 

Examples & Explanations are written in chapters, walking you through the subject matter methodically, providing you with explanations to the issues and analytical process for those issues, then giving you a bunch of examples to help you fully understand the analysis (hence the name). At the end of each section or chapter, you also get a series of problems to work through and test your understanding. These problems are fully answered and explained, so they don’t leave you frustrated and wondering if you’ve gotten the right answer. Of all the supplements, this one is probably the best for your money, since you get an overview, in-depth explanations, case highlights, and problem sets all in one. (Click here for a complete listing of all Examples & Explanations series on Amazon.com.)

FLASHCARDS & AUDIOTAPES
If you’re the type of person who gets overwhelmed by all the details that can appear in an outline, flashcards may be the better way to go.  Flashcards give you concise definitions of the rules of law or concepts that you need to remember, thus they make for good review prior to exams. If you’re tempted to purchase flashcards only because you have trouble memorizing rules, consider making your own flashcards. You’re much more likely to retain the information from having created the flashcards yourself, and reviewing them amounts to reviewing your own work. The downside, of course, is that you should be certain that you’ve written down the correct rules and definitions. Also, making them can be time-consuming.

You can even get flashcards for legal terminology, not just for specific subjects. Some recommendations for flashcards are:

• Legal Terminology with Flash Cards, by Cathy J. Okrent
• Criminal Law Flash Cards, by Cliff Mariani

Audiotapes are time-effective for those with long commutes, helping you make the most out of time spent in the car (perhaps even in the gym). They are especially useful for auditory learners, for those who commit information to memory more quickly from hearing that information repeated aloud rather than from repeated reading.  You can select different series of audiotapes for specific courses, as an overview to a subject area, or those that walk you through deeper analysis of specific issues.

One word of caution on using audiotapes: you may be better off giving yourself some “down” time in the car – listening to music, having a bit of peace and quiet, or catching up on the news – than cramming information into your head while driving from work to class and from class to home. Don’t over-use the tapes, or they can do you more harm than good.

GUIDES TO LAW SCHOOL EXAMS AND LAW SCHOOL SUCCESS
Just as there are many horror stories about law schools as “cut-throat” institutions, there are many books dedicated to guiding you through the tough years of law school, particular the first year (almost unanimously agreed upon as the worst year of law school). Below are some notable books to help you navigate your way to success, whether you’re just starting law school, or starting to be serious about your grades in law school. New editions come out all the time - please be sure to check for the latest edition.

• Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success, by Helene S. Shapo, Marshall Shapo
• The Secrets to Success in Law School: A Professor’s Strategies for Straight A’s, by Theodore Silver
• Strategies & Tactics for the First Year Law Student, by Lazar Emanuel
• Law School Rules: 115 Survival Strategies to Make the Challenges of Law School Seem Like “Small Stuff”, by Marion Lewis, T.D. Lewis
• Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams, by Richard M. Fischl, Jeremy Paul
• How to Do Your Best on Law School Exams, by John Delaney.
• How to Study the Law and Take Law Exams (Nutshell Series), by Ann M. Burkhart, Robert A. Stein

SOURCES FOR ELECTIVE COURSES
Most of the supplements described above are available for elective courses as well as core curriculum courses. Even if you’re taking Antitrust Law, Administrative Law, or International Human Rights Law, Nutshell Series and/or Examples & Explanations are usually available. Course outlines such as Legalines and Emanuel are more limited, but you should check for availability if you like the format. Most supplements are available for virtually all courses. 

GENERAL SUPPLEMENTS & REFERENCE MATERIALS
Supplements such as a good law dictionary are so essential to law studies, they are often required in the first-year legal research & writing courses.  Listed below are some reference materials that every law student should have, as well as some books that will make your legal writing class assignments much less painful.

• Black’s Law Dictionary, by Henry Black, et al. (hardcover).
• Black’s Law Dictionary, Bryan A. Garner (editor), et al (paperback).
• Gilbert’s Pocket Size Law Dictionary, Gilbert Law Summaries (paperback).
• The Legal Research Manual : A Game Plan for Legal Research and Analysis, Jill Robinson Wren, Christopher G., Wren
• The Elements of Legal Style, by Bryan A. Garner
• A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, by Bryan A. Garner
• The Winning Brief : 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Court, by Bryan A. Garner
• Elements of Style, by William Strunk, White E. B., E. B. White

PRE-LAW GUIDES
If you’re thinking about law school or are getting ready to tackle the application process, the following books can help you find the school that’s right for you, or fine-tune your personal statement and application for successful admission to law school. New editions come out all the time - please be sure to check for the latest edition.

• The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools: From the Producers of the LSAT, by The Law School Admission Council.
• Essays That Worked for Law Schools: 35 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation’s Top Law Schools, Boykin Curry (editor).
• Getting into Law School Today (3rd ed), by Thomas H. Martinson, David P. Waldherr.

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