Book was decent. Prof was great. I loved Con Law and ended up doing better on the final than I anticipated. I walked away from this course even more dBook was decent. Prof was great. I loved Con Law and ended up doing better on the final than I anticipated. I walked away from this course even more disillusioned with American government than I was before, but that's not the fault of this class.
Thank god this class is done. Writing a four-hour final in only three hours? Not my idea of a good time. The book was fine, but the professor made thiThank god this class is done. Writing a four-hour final in only three hours? Not my idea of a good time. The book was fine, but the professor made this course a lot better. Her xeroxed reading supplement blew this casebook out of the water. ...more
The print was way too large in this book. Normally I would thank the publishers, because my eyesight is rapidly fading as a law student. But between tThe print was way too large in this book. Normally I would thank the publishers, because my eyesight is rapidly fading as a law student. But between the giant font and the worthless pictures, this book was twice as large (and twice as expensive) as it should have been. Basically, it's just a glorified restatement of the Model Rules. Nothing special here. Plus the class sucked. ...more
It won't teach you much substantive law, but this book was helpful to me--someone who was about to take his first battery of law exams. Good advice onIt won't teach you much substantive law, but this book was helpful to me--someone who was about to take his first battery of law exams. Good advice on how to spot issues, recognize forks in the law, and make flexible arguments. The book is too long, quickly becomes repetitive, and most of the topics are heavily belabored, but the underlying strategies are fairly important. Additionally, most of the strategies are fairly common sense, but it does help to have experienced law professors point out to you what you probably know but may not consider when approaching a law exam.
In retrospect, I did quite well on my exams, so I have to give this book some credit. ...more
Whew. Just took my CivPro final. This book...eh. It relies too heavily on culling information from cases to demonstrate the various aspects of civil pWhew. Just took my CivPro final. This book...eh. It relies too heavily on culling information from cases to demonstrate the various aspects of civil procedure. This approach works fine for some topics, but with civ pro being so technical, many subjects need to be outlined more directly. This casebook doesn't accomplish that, but it does give a good overview of civil procedure, as long as you're not actually relying on it for actual details of the process. ...more
This book was ok. My course was pretty MPC-dense while this CB is relatively MPC-light. The CB lists some MPC provisions, but that's about all you'll This book was ok. My course was pretty MPC-dense while this CB is relatively MPC-light. The CB lists some MPC provisions, but that's about all you'll get. There was also a common disconnect between the topic discussed and the subsequent case used to present that topic. Countless times I would read a case only to have the professor tell us in class that the case in the book actually presents the law incorrectly. Also, there were way too many insignificant state law cases and not enough federal and supreme court cases on the BIG concepts of criminal law and constitutional limits.
On the plus side, there were plenty of exciting cases about sex, drugs, and violence. Gotta keep the 1Ls entertained somehow, I guess. ...more
This casebook was awful. It doesn't help that my professor was an incredibly poor instructor. You can lecture about the Law and Economics movement untThis casebook was awful. It doesn't help that my professor was an incredibly poor instructor. You can lecture about the Law and Economics movement until the cows come home, but it doesn't mean squat if you never talk about Torts in the first place.
Not bad. Plenty of classic cases. And some good Contracts limericks by Prof. Douglass Boshkoff in the Notes. Too often the text makes (supposedly) impNot bad. Plenty of classic cases. And some good Contracts limericks by Prof. Douglass Boshkoff in the Notes. Too often the text makes (supposedly) important references to specific Restatement sections, without actually printing the contents of that Section. Having to look up the R(S)C in an outside source quickly became annoying. Additionally, this book was FULL of typographical errors and misspellings. A couple of times, the law was actually stated incorrectly--simply because a single word was omitted. For 100 bucks I expect better....more
Not a bad book overall, and a pretty good companion to any 1L Civil Procedure course. Imagine a John Grisham tale, minus the suspense, and with a an eNot a bad book overall, and a pretty good companion to any 1L Civil Procedure course. Imagine a John Grisham tale, minus the suspense, and with a an extra helping of technical elements of the discovery and trial process. It was a quick read and fairly entertaining, though very anticlimactic for the last 100 pages or so. ...more