Law Student Research Corner: 10 1L Resources

Welcome to the Law Student Research Corner! This is a resource created by law students, for law students. I’m a 3L at King Hall, and periodically I’ll highlight a legal research tool you might not know about. My goal is to share practical strategies you can use in your classes, summer jobs, and beyond.

This week’s post is for 1Ls. If you are a newly admitted student starting your first year at King Hall, that’s you! 

I know how intimidating law school can seem, and how many unknowns you face as you prepare. To help allay any fear, here are some resources you can check out to make sure you are ready for your first semester.

All of these books and other study aid materials are free to access through the library's digital study aids collection, which includes West Academic, Aspen Learning Library, and Lexis Digital Library. If you're off campus, you'll need to log in with your Kerberos credentials. 

Study Aids for Doctrinal Courses

First-year law courses are standardized, so many study aid series cover the entire 1L curriculum. The goal is to find one with a style that works for you, giving you a reliable resource for each class.

  1. Gilbert Law Summaries provide course outlines with black letter law, capsule summaries, and correlation charts to match pages to relevant casebooks. Also feature practice multiple-choice, true-false, and essay questions.
     
  2. Acing series uses a checklist format to lead students through the questions they need to ask and answer to fully analyze the legal questions they are trying to resolve.
     
  3. Examples & Explanations offer hypothetical questions and detailed explanations to test your knowledge of topics in law school courses.
     
  4. Nutshells feature concise explanations of law school subjects in a readable format.
     
  5. Question and Answer series features example exam questions, with answers.

Next up are resources focused on success in law school generally, instead of a particular subject.

Study Aids Focused on Law School Success

  1. 1L of a Ride covers topics relevant to the first year of law school, including the curriculum, study strategies, exam preparation, and stress management.
     
  2. Cracking the Case Method: Legal Analysis for Law School Success explains how instructors grade essay exams and offers guidance on legal analysis.
     
  3. Mastering the Law School Exam focuses on the mechanics of writing effective exam answers, providing detailed examples for students to review. 
     
  4. Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success offers advice on topics such as case analysis, the Socratic method, studying, legal writing, and time management.
     
  5. Happiness and Peak Performance in Law School explores methods for managing the demanding aspects of legal education, offering a framework for mental, emotional, and intellectual well-being.

For more titles, check out the Academic Success titles in West Academic or the Academic Success Collection in Aspen Learning Library.