Archive for the 'Books' Category

Top 10 Law Student Books of the Moment: Starter Edition

Published
by
Michael Law
on May 12, 2008
in Books, Law School and Law Students
. 4 Comments

We’re unveiling something new here at Law Vibe that has the promisings to be a regular feature: the hottest law school related books that you, the LawVibe community, have been buying over the last three months!

The LawVibe team is able to get a sneak peak into what our readers like in terms of law school books via Amazon. Now, we don’t know what any specific person buys so don’t worry about that. We just know in general what the collective LawVibe readership base likes to buy and finds interesting. It gives us a good vibe on what’s hot in law school books right now.

We’re going to arrange this list starting with the most bought item on the list over the past 3 months. The first line after the link is my personal comment on the book. The second line, in italics, is a clipping from the Amazon review.

  1. Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History
    Yes, the book most ordered by law students is the one most unrelated to law school! Read the LawVibe book sample to get a taste of what to expect.
    “Sit back and enjoy a collection of verbatim exchanges from the halls of justice, where defendants and plaintiffs, lawyers and witnesses, juries and judges, collide to produce memorably insane comedy.”
  2. Getting To Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams
    The classic book on perfecting your law school exams - preparing and excelling.
    “A study aid that takes legal theory seriously…Students who master these lessons will surely write better exams. More importantly, they will also learn to be better lawyers”
  3. Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student
    Excellent first-hand recounting of a very nervous law student, Martha Kimes, in Columbia Law School - check out the LawVibe book review.
    “The self-deprecating wit, catty observations and healthy sense of the absurd with which Kimes describes her approach-avoidance reactions to the world of law school raise the book above the ordinary.”
  4. Law School Confidential (Revised Edition): A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
    Walks you from the decision to go into law school all the way to the bar exam.
    “Miller covers every aspect of the law school experience-from surviving the first semester to seeking summer internships-which makes this book unique.”
  5. One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School
    The infamous story of Scott Turow’s first year as a Harvard law student.
    “Even though we know he goes on to fabulous success as both a lawyer and a writer, Turow’s initial ego is beautifully subdued by the end of his year as a One L.”
  6. Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won’t Learn in Class
    Solid book with easy-to-read tips on better outlining, legal research, writing, and more.
    “This book will teach you how to stand head and shoulders above your colleagues in law school, and succeed in your most critical year of law school, the first year.”
  7. The Elements of Legal Style
    An intelligent approach to legal writing style - while still keeping itself firmly grounded.
    “A decade after the key first edition, Garner, editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary and other works on legal writing, provides expanded coverage of appropriate legal prose and common errors in legal language, with the goal of encouraging clarity in legal writing.”
  8. The Law School Breakthrough: Graduate In The Top 10% Of Your Class, Even If You’re Not A First-Rate Student
    Breaks down the mysteries of law school, including outlining, creating a study schedule, and taking exams in your law classes.
    “The Law School Breakthrough provides a comprehensive, holistic approach to surviving law school-both inside and outside the classroom.”
  9. The Complete Law School Companion: How to Excel at America’s Most Demanding Post-Graduate Curriculum
    Gives you specific systems to excel in law school - making law school life easier through organization.
    “Offers complete, accessible information on every topic of concern to law students ranging from the LSAT, the Bar Exam, Law Review, computerized research and videotape study aids to obtaining that important clerkship or job.”
  10. How to Succeed in Law School
    More of a jack-of-all-trades book, it gives you a little bit of everything in law school without going too deep into any one subject - a good overview of life in legal education.
    “The author offers advice on taking good lecture notes, effective study methods, library research, test-taking, handling the inevitable stresses of law school, and much more.”
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How to Read Efficiently and Effectively

Published
by
Michael Law
on May 2, 2008
in Books and Law Students
. 0 Comments

Time to write on a topic that’s dear to my heart: craziness when it comes to knowing what to read and how to read. Maybe you’re looking to read about the latest advances in law, like second life law firms. Perhaps you’re interested in finding out about the most recent law school rankings.

Internet Information Overload

Books | Old Law Casebooks

If you have an active internet lifestyle, then you know that there is a wealth of information at the click of your mouse. There are just literally thousands and thousands of information and articles on any given topic and it’s sometimes it can be very hard to choose which one to read and which ones are worth your attention. Like me, you may also be guilty of jumping from one article to another, skimming the page a few seconds and moving on to another one that also catches your attention. I usually open multi-tabs in my browser in the hope of saving and making the most of my internet time.

The problem for me at least is that I don’t seem to get the maximum information I feel is possible when I use this method. I end up feeling tired of going from one page to another and my eyes begin to strain, and I haven’t finished even one article. It’s a HUGE time-waster I must admit, and hinders my overall productivity. For a long time I never really put much thought about this inconvenience, until the stack of books and articles accumulated that I’ve never gotten around to read reached astronomical levels!

A Method to the Information Overload Madness

Book | Reading Hispanic Comicbook

It’s not really the information overload that makes our online reading ineffective, but it’s the way or the method in which we do our online reading. Our inability to focus in choosing articles or information that is worth reading makes us a victim of our own curiosity and thereby we waste a lot of our time in the process. Curiosity of course should always be present; it stimulates our learning and broadens our horizons, but what we should do is learn to choose the right information in order to maximize our learning.

So it’s time for a new to focus in on our reading. How? It’s fairly simply really. The first part is put together a list of what you actually want to read. At this stage you don’t have to be selective, and whatever caught your interest is good enough to be bookmarked, however you should fight your tendency to start reading in this stage. It’s best to schedule a specific time for you to do this - so you can perform online searches, skim your RSS feeds, follow interesting links and so on. When you’re done bookmarking, you can save them into different folders in your bookmarks, making it easier for you to get back to them.

Next you’re going to want to decide what you will read. You must schedule a time to do the actual reading of the things you’ve accumulated. When you schedule, decide what you will read on that particular time. This way, your reading will be more focused and your productivity level will greatly improve. Instead of reading five or more articles on the same topic on different days, you can read them in one session providing you more ideas and inspiration. Focused attention brings clarity.

Lastly, you’re going to want to trash whatever you feel won’t be useful for you to read. This is plain and simple and is self explanatory. Schedule a time when you’ll check your folders for any items that you feel are no longer useful and delete them. When in doubt, throw it out. If it’s really important, there’s an almost 100% chance someone else will have a copy or will bring it to your attention.

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Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student

Published
by
Michael Law
on October 7, 2007
in Books, Law Jobs, Law School and Law Students
. 0 Comments

I recently read a book called Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student by Martha Kimes. This is an excellent book following Martha through her trials and tribulations as a first-year, second-year, and third-year law student at Columbia Law School in New York. I highly recommend it to anyone that plans to go to law school, has gone to law school in the past, or is just interested in the captivating tales of those involved in law.

I pulled up the listing for this book on Amazon.com and it currently has received a 5 star rating from 24 out of 36 reviewers. This book really does deserve these high accolades. In fact, you can now add me to those people that rate this book 5 stars.

Although I get many books from publishers related to law, some I really can’t recommend. I can definitely recommend Ivy Briefs. Martha adds humor, comedy, wit, insight, and endearing self-deprecation to her writing that really makes you feel that you’re inside Columbia Law School and she’s your best friend, confiding her inner-most thoughts with you.

Profile of Author Martha Kimes | Sante Kimes? No. Kenneth Kimes? No.What I liked most about Ivy Briefs was that I felt like I was actually there in Columbia Law School with Martha. She gives a great look inside her personal life (friends, family, and romantic relationship) and how law school has influenced those relationships. Some in positive ways, and some, well, in not so positive ways : )

I found the way that Martha wrote to be very unique in the world of law-related books. She writes in a very personal way, as if she’s speaking directly to you. At times, I found myself rooting her on or maybe thinking of some advice to give her until I realized, oh yeah, I’m just reading a book, she can’t really hear me. : ) But that’s how it is when you’re reading Ivy Briefs, you’ll feel like Martha’s a close friend when you finish reading and you cannot put it down. Most law books are either too boring or border too much on intense dramatics, of how “impossible” law school is. Rubbish. This book tells it like it is. It’s hard, yes, but definitely achievable for the average person as long as they keep a positive mindset, work hard, and have great people giving support and encouragement.

Ivy Briefs has a lot of humor – funny anecdotes and stories abound. Here’s an example from the book when she goes interviewing for a summer associate position at a law firm:

“You know I went to law school here,” he said, “and my classmates were all a bunch of asswipes. The professors, too. Ah, well, screw ‘em all, that’s what I say.”

Oh. Okaaaaaaaaay. That’s not really a question. How does one respond to vitriol in an interview? I know, I’ll give off a little laugh in hopes that he was just joking! I’ll show that I’m lighthearted and humorous! “Hee hee hee!”

My laughter was met with total silence on his part.

Okay, not a joke. Just a crazy person interviewing me.

Just a short example of the many humorous situations Martha gets into : )

It’s not just comedy either. Martha shares some of the advice she’s received from people in her law school journey. Some relates to studying in law school (outlines!), some relates to summer associate positions , and some relate to having lucky charms for tests (lucky pencil!)

Here’s an interesting portion when she speaks with Colin, her office mate:

Curious, I asked Colin about his Lavish Law Firm plans when he came in later that morning. Did he hope to make partner? Did he plan to stay for the long term? If not, then what?

“Hell no, dude. I’m serving my time for three years to the day, then I’m out of here. I’ll go in-house at Goldman Sachs or Credit Suisse First Boston or something. Investment banking is where it’s at. This shit is for suckers.”

“Suckers like me?” I asked.

“No. That’s not what I meant. Because, really, this gig isn’t so bad. If you’re not a Jerome worried about making partner, it’s easy enough to let yourself fall between the cracks. Take it easy. Do the work they give you, but don’t do more than you have to. I mean, no one ever gets fired. Sure, if you’re a sixth-year associate and they have no intention of ever making you partner, they’ll find a gentle way to usher you toward the door, but for the first few years, it’s a piece of cake. And everyone gets paid the same – your salary just depends on what graduating class you were in. Whether you bill eighteen hundred hours per year or twenty-eight hundred hours, the same paycheck goes in your pocket. So why be one of the twenty-eight hundred-hour suckers?”

Legal Briefs? No. Ivy Briefs. Pick it up. Now.This is no hard-nosed, lose all hope all ye who enter law school, type books. And at the same time, this isn’t all, “isn’t life peachy” books either.

This is real life. This is how life is at law school and at law firms. You can tell you need hard work to get where you want to go. But it also proves you can have a social life at the same . It recognizes that you NEED to have a social life because these people around you that care about you allow you to unwind, release your tensions, and have someone to celebrate your successes with.

I highly recommend Ivy Briefs, whether or not you’re a law student or you’re in the legal profession. It gives you a great glimpse into the author’s life, with a great deal of insightful commentary, humor, and heartfelt stories. Set your coffee pot going now, because you’re not going to want to put this book down until you finish.

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