Customer Reviews

Gilbert Law Summaries: Property

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As you may already know, Dukeminier (the author of this supplement) is the author of the premier textbook on Property, used by 90% of law schools in the country. If that right there doesn't convince you that this supplement is AWESOME, let me further explain. This book is a MUST HAVE for any student looking to fully understand the concepts of Property Law. It provides concise explanations of the rules derived from the cases in the casebook, and gives WONDERFUL charts and graphs to show the relationship of one concept to another (like future interests, equitable servitudes and easements, etc.). Additionally, he provides examples and explanations of how to get to the answers and the answers themselves. I think I would've lost my mind in Property if it weren't for this book, and with this book, you will not need to invest in any other supplements. Trust me on this one...this book is essential.

As other reviewers have mentioned, Dukeminier's textbook is the most common book for property, leading one to believe that his outline should be a natural choice.

In light of how much I pay for law school tuition, I decided to get some insurance by purchasing Gilbert's and Emanuel's outlines for most classes, and use the best of each for my course work.

As a side effect of that, I was able to do a comparison between the two and I was surprised that Emanuel's consistently gave deeper and broader treatment of subjects, especially in Property and Contracts.

Although Duke's outline is certainly useful, I strongly believe that you can do better with Emanuel's, which is also keyed to Duke's textbook.

I felt this was a great reference tool for my 1L property class, more concise than the Treatise, better black letter than the case briefs. Would recommend it as help with a very heavy subject.

Absolutely beautiful book.
My property professor covered about 1,100 pages of Dukeminier's textbook this semester, and she kept raving about how well the textbook was written and how she loved it.
Now, studying for the final, I cannot imagine a better book to review/re-learn some of this stuff.
Even if you didn't read his textbook, he covers literally EVERYTHING of importance. And, he has a handy section in the front that tells you what pages to focus on, depending on what textbook you read.
I love you Mr. Dukeminier, keep up the good work.

Gilbert Law Summaries: Property is one of the better Gilbert commercial outlines.

My property professor did not use Dukeminier's textbook, yet, this outline still seemed to flow pretty well chronologically with what we were studying. This was really helpful. I imagine that if your professor uses Dukeminier's textbook this resource would be even more invaluable.

Like any other Gilbert's this outline has a TON of information. Much much more information than you will likely cover in your class. And, as always, the outline is fairly specific in its coverage. It lists all of the exceptions to the exceptions which will likely bog you down if you do not have a good understanding of the general framework of the property law you are studying. And which will likely not be tested on your exams...but they are always good to know.

All-in-all I used this book to supplement my studies and found that it covered everything I needed and more. I didn't find any inconsistencies or conflicts with anything my professor said. Too bad property law in itself is killer.

You should definitely get this if you are using Dukeminier's case book. The outline is written by Dukeminier, and lays everything out in a way that is much easier to study.

A great aid for any law student! Covers a vast amount of subject material in a very easy to understand way that will help any law student with their outlining.

The only problem I found was when trying to do the questions and the essays, it covered so much material and my class had failed to cover all of it that the questions were often not helpful.

the "Casenote Law Outline" for property by Kurtz & Cain is better organized and presented. This one is not too well organized. It mixes and matches property issues when property can be confusing enough.

If your property professor follows the majority trend and decides to use the Dukeminier/Krier casebook, Gilbert's law summaries will be an absolute godsend. I actually really liked the casebook (what can I say; the occasional interjections of bitter self-awareness really lightened up what could have otherwise been an intolerably ponderous subject), but found it to be simply too dense at times, especially in those areas of property that collide unpleasantly with reality. Future Interests, for example, is a notoriously difficult subject to grasp, and I found the D/K casebook's approach to be a little too historical and a little too rich...

...making this outline exactly what I needed. Dukeminier's historically based focus is still in evidence here, and you really still get everything that's present in the textbook, but it's conveyed in a far more comprehensible, far less intimidating fashion. If you missed the finer distinctions between an EI and a CR, you'll definitely find the explanations here to be illuminating.

The outline fares less well in its discussions of the more doctrinally gray/heavy areas of a 1L property course (e.g. zoning, regulatory takings), but this shouldn't come as a surprise.

All in all, if you have a Property professor who uses the DK casebook and whose approach follows the historically grounded construction of property, you'll find this particular Gilbert's outline to be an invaluable reference and clarifying tool throughout the semester.

As a new 1L, I asked the 2L's and 3L's if commercial outlines and study guides were worth the cost. Some said yes, some didn't - it's totally a personal preference. Across the board, professors weren't excited about them, so I didn't look into them until late in the first semester. I wish I would have purchased earlier. The property Gilbert's helped answer some questions I had about the big picture and specific elements. I purchased Gilbert's for all of my 2nd semester classes and there were very helpful for me throughout the courses and at final exam time.