Customer Reviews

Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won't Learn in Class

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a recent law school graduate. This book is solid and easy to read. The info on outlining and study guides is generally excellent. I disagree with the authors that you should wait until the semester is half over to start outlining, however. That will lead to unnec. anxiety, too much work at once, and possible procrastination or non-completion of the outline--the worst possible thing a 1L can do. I started outlining right away and made outstanding grades (when I was finally smart enough to outline). At least start by end of the first month. Just look at the syllabus or the textbook's table of contents to see the big picture.
Also, this book excessivley discusses legal research and writing. You will get all you need on that subject from your LRW class. Just keep up, and knock out assignments ahead of time. Your LRW textbook ought to discuss strategies as to timely completion of assignments. That is the most important thing with LRW. Oh, and stop doing research and start writing sooner rather than later. Hand in complete, organized rough drafts, and your instructor will point you in the right direction. You aren't expected to know everyhting as a 1L. Believe in yourself throughout the entire law school experience, reflect daily on your goals and situation, seek to quickly master new challenges, and minimize outside noise and distractions, at home and at school.

When one wonders at the brilliance of a virtuoso pianist, for example, it is very easy to forget that she got to that point by breaking complex pieces down into smaller and smaller pieces and then practicing them until she could perform them exceptionally well. It turns out that it's the same thing with acing the first year of law school, according to Shana and Henry Noyes.

In deceptively simple prose, the Noyeses break down the "first year" experience into its basics: how to read a case, how to brief a case, cite cases, do research, etc. Certainly as important as what they point out as important (which they do with exceptional clarity), is what they point out is a waste of time (the "dicta" at the back of each chapter). Things like recopying notes - a waste of time, they note, that could be put to better use by actually thinking about what went on in that class. (Thinking, they argue, is avoided at all costs by some "first years" who will find anything to keep them busy.)

Some of the strongest chapters are on legal writing - how to organize papers, the conventions of legal writing, what research is necessary and what isn't, and navigating the arcana of legal citations (don't worry about most of the rules until you make Law Review). And capping it off is a modestly offered example of how to write an Outline: their outline of criminal law is a model of elegant simplicity. (These two are good.)

This book came out too late to help most of the first year Class of 2000. Not too late for the son a friend, who purchased it a week before his final exams, and thought it a great investment. Just think how he could have performed if he had this book on the first day.

Shana and Henry Noyes capture the essence of the difficulties that face a first year law student. They've managed to boil down what can be an incredibly intimidating experience into ten easy to read chapters. Students beginning law school should not underestimate the value of being well prepared for their first day of class. High grades received in the first year can catapult a student to a prestigious judicial clerkship or a summer associate position at a well respected law firm. Students who read this book will have a tremendous advantage over others who are not so fortunate. This is a must read for all first years!

I bought this book shortly before beginning law school, and while it seemed adequate at first, it seemed less so once I was actually taking classes. Different professors expect different things: one suggests briefing your cases for "at least the first few weeks of class," not a whole year; another demands that your case briefs be so exhaustively detailed that you wonder why you're bothering to write briefs at all when they end up almost as long as the cases themselves. The case that the authors brief in the book is much shorter and more straightforward than most of the cases I've had to read so far. The authors might have served their audience better if they had also included an example of their approach to a longer, more confusing case.

Another shortcoming of this book is that it gives no advice on multiple-choice exams. Of my four classes this semester, one will have a final exam that is exclusively multiple-choice and another will be half multiple-choice. State bar exams have also moved toward more multiple-choice questions. Including a strategy for taking this type of test would have been helpful to readers.

The rest of the information in this book is appreciated, especially the advice on thinking for yourself, using study aids, outlining, and preparing for essay exams. The dicta columns help you know what not to worry about. The authors' repetition of "You know better" gets a little old, but it doesn't detract too much from the what's valuable in this book.

Follow-up: Waiting until six weeks into the semester to begin outlining is a mistake. It's best to do it weekly, while the information is fresh. It's overwhelming to feel behind on outlining when you've got other pressing things, like writing assignments, to worry about.

Law school is an enormous amount of work. Understanding its complexity and demands requires a substantial body of text. Trying to convey the intensity of the law school experience and the breadth of material you will need to learn is hard to convey in a "follow-these-ten-steps-to-certain-success" format. While most of what this book suggest will likely work for the aspiring law student, it will only work if the aspiring law student has a context in which to apply the suggestions. This sounds a little vague; I suggest reading _Getting to Maybe_ by Richard Fischl and Jeremy Paul. It has the substance and contextual relevance that this book does not.

Having graduated with high honors from one of the top five law schools, I can attest to the book's straight-forward approach to law school exams. I applied the book's approach as follows: (1) read only those assignments provided by the professor (ignore commercial outlines, etc.); (2) take extensive notes of everything the professor says in class (and do not write down any student comments or student answers to Socratic questions); (3) organize your notes of the professor's lectures into your own outline; (4) read the professor's prior exam files, including any student answers selected by the professor as "model answers"; and (5) practice taking the professor's old exams in the few days leading up to exam day. The rationale is that your professor will be looking for you to spot those issues that he or she views as important. The more of these issues you spot, the higher your exam grade will be. Ditch those commercial outlines and study group meetings. In addition to Acing Your First Year of Law School, you should also prepare for law school by conditioning yourself to what its competition will feel like. Two excellent books that accomplish this are Scott Turow's One L (Harvard in the 1970s) and Scott Gaille's The Law Review (2002 book about competition at The University of Chicago Law School). Good luck!

This book teaches you what you need to focus on in your first year of law school, but even better, it points out all the things you should ignore. For example, the author recommends using electronic databases to cross-reference topics for legal research and warns how counter-productive it is to wander through a legal library without first using the databases to narrow your search. The subjects are thoroughly covered and at the end of each chapter there is a "Dicta" column that sums up all the things that rookies waste time trying to learn.
It's a heck of a value and a good guide for your first year preparations.

I am going to law school next fall, so I don't know if the material is "right on" to law school success. However, I have read a few books on the "law school experience" and I enjoyed this one for a couple reasons. First, there is no legalese here -- they write in simple, plain English. As such, it is a very easy read. Second, the strategies are very straight-forward. For example, they outline a 4-step process for briefing cases that is succinct, easy to follow, and describe what to focus on (and, what not to focus on). What strikes me unusual about this book is that is both very informative and very readable. Highly recommended.

Yes, it does have solid info. Yes, it will be helpful, and sure, you can find these things out on your own -- after you've gotten a few bad grades!!! So why let the worst happen when it's all nicely condensed in great format in this book? I suggest adding it to your "pre-law school library" if you can - and to your "law school references" if you're already there!

This book should be required reading for every first year law student. It contains the advice needed to succeed in law school's most important year.The steps to success are clear; a disciplined law student will easily be able to implement them.