If you're taking Evidence this fall and need some extra help with hearsay (and who doesn't?), check out these new CALI lessons:
The Definition of Hearsay and the Federal Rules:
You can also find a complete listing of CALI lessons by subject on the CALI website.
We stopped by the CALI booth at AALL to pick up a list of new CALI lessons just released for the 2007-2008 school year. We'll be featuring a list of selected links to these lessons by subject area throughout the week. What are CALI lessons? They are online, interactive tutorials about specific academic legal subjects by law professors and law librarians. There are a wealth of CALI lessons on first-year and bar topics, and CALI has even created a list of CALI lessons by casebook. If you're a faculty member or currently enrolled student at USF, you can contact any reference librarian to obtain your CALI registration code and start reviewing or taking CALI lessons. If you're an incoming first-year student, you will receive the CALI registration code during orientation week.
First up -- Legal Concepts, Legal Research and Legal Writing:
Even though I've been immersed in New Orleans' restaurant and music scene for the past four days, I was jolted back to my work life in California when I noticed that there were quite a few passengers clutching BAR/BRI study guides on my flight back to San Francisco. The bar exam starts tomorrow, and the Zief staff will be sending good thoughts to all of our recent graduates who begin the exam tomorrow! Good luck to all of you! You can do it!
Every summer, legal bloggers seem to love to give advice to soon-to-be One Ls about what they should read during the summer before law school. ZiefBrief tackled this topic last June, and you can review our 2006 summary of recommended pre-law school reading at this earlier post. Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, readers have been weighing in with their favorites (Volokh's recommendations are here), and one of the commenters, Marina, has started keeping a very helpful list of the books recommended by Volokh Conspiracy readers at Lists of Bests. My recommendation: Richard Kluger's Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality. And of course, we've got Simple Justice at Zief.
Tired of studying for law school exams? Anxious about passing the bar exam? Tempted to chuck it all? Consider this alternative:
This simple product from Mental Floss is said to be "the #1 rated boxed law school in the country!" and it purports to contain, in one small metal box, everything you really need to practice law. It's even got its own diploma ("with real Latin words" - ZiefBrief checked, and it's true!) and a suitably condensed bar exam.
So enough with the $100,000 in tuition and fees, enough with the exhaustive text-taking tips. For $14.95 the Mental Floss people will give you an escape from academic drudgery and, ah, some unique legal credentials.
As finals approach, Lawsagna, one of ZiefBrief's favorite sources of advice on ways to study and learn, is serving out exam preparation advice.
In Exam Tips, Lawsagna's Anastasia collects links to her previous posts on studying for and taking exams, and also refers readers to other blawgs for more tips, techniques, and advice.
Don't forget the low-tech as well! The Zief Law Library's own Succeeding in Law School< [PDF; 2 pages] handout lists a bunch of — yes, books! — with great material on doing your best in law school finals.
Lawsagna, a blog that's all about innovative and useful ways for law students to study and learn, is talking about briefing cases today.
In her post What's in your brief? Anastasia offers 7 succinct tips on becoming better at briefing cases, and she links to several other useful sites as well. If you'd like to tune up your case-briefing skills, check it out.
Wishing you had a better way to prepare for law school exams? Looking for paths to a successful spring semester? Dish up a heaping serving of Lawsagna, a new blog full of "thoughts, tools, tricks, tips and other ingredients for a successful learning experience in law school and beyond."
Lawsagna's recipe includes advice on learning styles, time management, motivation, memory, food and drink, and much more. Most law students will find intriguing new ideas here.
[Thanks to the Law Librarian Blog for the tip!]
As I was perusing Jon Carroll's column in the San Francisco Chronicle over my cereal this morning, I came across this tale of a highly inventive criminal law exam, which reader Rita Charles e-mailed to Carroll in response to his Oct. 17 column about Hansel and Gretel:
I went to John F. Kennedy University School of Law in Orinda. Back in 1976, Judge Norman Spellberg (now retired) was my instructor in Criminal Law. For our final exam we were given three Golden Books: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Jack and the Beanstalk; Hansel and Gretel. We were told to list all the crimes and defenses. That was the final. . . . I especially liked Snow White -- she co-habited with seven dwarves, and at the end she was kidnapped by a guy on a horse, who had probable unlawful intercourse with her. But I think the most crimes were in Hansel and Gretel. Such adorable children, but they were murderers!"
Perhaps Carroll's column will inspire other criminal law professors to employ this method of examination! There are certainly plenty of other crime-laden children's stories to choose from, including "Rapunzel," "The Robber Bridegroom," and "The Three Little Pigs."
With a name like Getting to Maybe you might just think you have found a book about negotiation, (Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher And William Ury is considered the bible of negotiation by some folks) but not so. The full title is Getting to maybe : how to excel on law school exams by Richard Michael Fischl and Jeremy Paul. There is a lot to be said for books like this one -- most new law students don't have a clue on how to best prepare for and master a law school exam while more experienced students are always looking for that extra edge that will get them a better grade. GTM offers a strategic approach to law school study and exam taking. While this book (or any of the other books in the Zief on the topic) can't guarantee you a better grade, just reading the Chapters on Test Taking Tips could make the difference between a great exam and a mediocre one. Check it out.
