First-Year Tips: CALI Exercises

Even though I was a pretty dedicated law student, there were certain concepts that I had a hard time grasping during my first year of law school.  In Property, the rule against perpetuities gave me fits.  In Contracts, it was the parol evidence rule.   In Civil Procedure, I was bedeviled by joinder rules.  I spent an inordinate amount of time puzzling over these concepts, reviewing hornbooks, commercial exam prep materials, and any other resource that I could get my hands on, hoping that one of these resources would magically make these concepts clearer to me.

These days, first-year law students don't have to struggle quite so much thanks to CALI.  CALI is a non-profit organization comprised of U.S. law school members, and it has over 700 interactive, online tutorials covering almost all of the major legal concepts that you will encounter during your first year of law school and lots of upper-division subjects as well.   Law professors write the tutorials out of the goodness of their hearts to demystify tough legal concepts and help law students test their grasp of these rules.  The CALI Editorial Board reviews each new draft exercise before posting it on the CALI website to help ensure that lessons are accurate and engaging. 

All you need to access CALI lessons online is a USF student registration code, which you can pick up from a USF librarian at the law library reference desk at any time.  Once you register, you've got access to CALI for the rest of your law school career.  We'll also be bringing CALI student access codes to this Friday's first-year orientation fair, along with fabulous free gifts and a chance to win a basket of goodies by playing our trivia game.  Stop by and see us!