Law school outlines
|
|
Law school outlines are books directed at students in law school. They typically provide specific and direct statements of the law in a particular area, organized according to law school courses (Contracts, Torts, etc.).
Many students use outlines because of the way the primary course material is presented. In the United States, legal education emphasizes the case method, pioneered by Christopher Columbus Langdell in the late ninteteenth century, in which students read reported judicial decisions to extract from them the legal principles involved. This process emulates an important part of what lawyers do in practice. The educational philosophy is that teaching specific rules of law is not enough, because those rules can change, and new ones can be added, over the course of a lawyer's career. Instead, the case method is part of teaching the student to "think like a lawyer," a skill that will always be useful.
Regardless of the merit of this philosophy, it leaves many students feeling frustrated, or at least feeling that their exam scores will be better if they can prepare by consulting a book that lays out the legal principles in a particular area. The outlines are sold to that market. They are popular even though many law professors strongly recommend against their use. Outlines are available from several different commercial publishers, especially for the courses most commonly taught in the first year of law school.