Purchasing supplements for your courses is entirely optional (unless your professor says otherwise, of course). For those not already familiar, supplements spell out and distill the black letter law for each course. They are used in conjunction with your assigned case books and class lectures. Supplements can be helpful especially for your first semester because it is often difficult to deduce the rule of law amidst courts' sometimes lengthy opinions. I heavily relied on supplements my first year of law school. In the interest of keeping this post reasonably brief, I have only listed the supplements I found useful for Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Torts:
1. Inside Civil Procedure: What Matters and Why by Howard Erichson. I had Professor Erichson for Civil Procedure and very much enjoyed his teaching style. Inside Civil Procedure explains the law of Civil Procedure on a high level and in a non-pretentious manner. I found the Tables of Rules and Cases at the back of the book useful for quick brush-ups on specific areas. The best part of the supplement, in my opinion, is its inclusion of graphics, charts and summary outlines to boil down complicated topics such as subject matter and personal jurisdiction. I know that law school materials add up quickly so you can always buy an earlier version at a lower price. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Civil-Procedure-What-Matters/dp/1454892528
2. Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler: At least at first, criminal law seemed like the most straightforward of the 1L doctrinal courses until I could not keep up with my classmates’ discussions during lectures. Dressler’s supplement expertly conveys the nuances within each element of a crime and clarifies the key differences between the MPC and common law crimes. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F6QXL12/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
3. Examples and Explanations of the Law of Torts by Joseph Glannon. You can’t go wrong with E&Es for any course. I found the torts version particularly useful. This supplement opens with a recap of the applicable legal topic generally, covering the elements of each tort discussed in the chapter. After the summary of the relevant law, Glannon includes a number of practice questions and model responses. The E&Es are great practice if you are having trouble bridging the gap between learning the law and then applying it to new hypotheticals. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Examples-Explanations-Law-Torts-ebook-dp-B0858LND8Y/dp/B0858LND8Y/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1646604831
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