The following are a list of helpful websites that were instrumental in my law school success. As noted before, there is no need to recreate the wheel. Many of the tools we need to succeed in law school already exist. We just need to harness those tools for our own use. Some of these sites were more helpful than others, but they were all a great resource. Each one has been permanently bookmarked in my browser, and many I still use to this day! Good luck and enjoy!
Law School help – is a page filed with Law School Tutorials and Outlines that Emphasize the Fundamentals
Federal Rules of Evidence – is a great resource provided by Cornell University Law School. This site was very helpful for quickly looking rules of evidence
Uniform Commercial Code – is another great recourse provided by Cornell University Law School. This site was very helpful for quickly looking up UCC rules for Contracts and Commercial law classes
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is another great recourse provided by Cornell University Law School. This site was very helpful for quickly looking federal rules for civil procedure. Trust me, you’ll reference this site many times both during law school and in practice.
Past Exams & Answers – is one of the most helpful tools I’ve encountered throughout law school. Quite frankly, if you’re not using past exams and model answers to learn how to write exam answers, you’re doing law school wrong! Most established professors have exam banks with past exams and model answers, however as a part-time evening student, most of my professors were adjunct with little or no exam history to pour over.
Online/Mobile Flash Cards – I don’t know how you learn, but I would have been helpless without flash cards for repetitive memorization skills. This site allows you to use a free smart phone app for creating and sharing flash cards. Either create your own, or search user’s cards others have created.
Flash Card Machine – is another helpful site for creating flash cards. It also lets you search and utilize previously created flash cards.
Law School Case briefs – was a godsend, both when I would read a case and have no clue what they were talking about, and when I didn’t read a case and needed to understand what the case talked about. Though I highly suggest buying a case-brief book keyed to your class book, if you can’t find one, this site fills that gap
Law School and Bar Exam info – is another great resource to meet other law students similarly situated looking for and sharing resources. It’s especially resourceful for when taking the bar exam. Bar prep becomes like a brotherhood of very protective bar-sitters all looking out for each other. I frequent the site now as I prepare for my own bar exam.
All things Top Law Schools – is a forum where everything pertaining to law school is discussed from admissions, bar prep, and employment opportunities. I frequent this site. It’s primarily used for the coveted “T-14” law school info and students, however anyone who has a brain, can navigate the site and benefit from the useful input. There are several threads where students share their experiences at succeeding during their first years. It was a great help
Mike Scheckets Law School Page – is another site dedicated to the author’s law school experience. Mike documented and shared just about everything he could from law school. It covers a wide range of law school topics. It does not appear to be continually updated; however it has some nuggets of great info nestled within the site.
Law School Briefs – is a great source for case-briefs. You can never have enough case-briefs in law school! You can read the cases till the cows come home but, unless you brief the cases (which I found was a waste of time), you’ll undoubtedly need to reference case briefs from time to time.
ABA Rules of Professional Conduct – is a great resource provided by Cornell University Law School. This site was very helpful for quickly looking up rules of professional conduct. Though they’ve discontinued updating the professional rules, not much has changed.
4LawNotes.com – is a great resource for just about every topic you’ll ever cover in law school. It’s a web forum and users contribute to various categories depending upon their interest.
Free Outlines – yes you read that correct, free outlines is a site dedicated to sharing outlines. It’s dedicated to providing free law school outlines for law students. These have all been donated by students. It can be a great resource when compiling information for your own outlines. Personally I never really created outlines in law school, I used flash cards instead. Creating flash cards from existing outlines can be very helpful.
Mnemonic Phrase Generator – This site helps you create phrases from letters for important information that you need to memorize or retain. Simply type in the first letter of each word and it’ll create a funky phrase easily capable of remembering.
Mnemonic Word Generator – This site is basically a word generator for playing games such as scrabble and words with friends. However, it is a very powerful tool when it comes to creating mnemonics for memorization. You simply enter the first letter of each phrase you need to remember to generate a helpful mnemonic to jog your memory.
Property Flow Charts – Unfortunately, property is one of the tougher subjects to crack. It can be very confusing understanding life estates, future estates along with indefeasible fee’s, and reverters. Honestly, its downright brain numbing. Even preparing for the bar, I struggled with future interests. Luckily, only a portion is tested on the bar, however the same cannot be said for law school. The aforementioned flow-charts help put things into perspective both for visual learners and those who just plain found it confusing. I collected all the flow charts I could find and stuck them in one place. Let me know if the link ever stops working.
