Finding and Using Supplemental Materials
What are supplemental materials?
Supplemental materials include books, commercial outlines, videos, and other materials that are meant to supplement your case books and lectures. There are many types of supplemental materials on the market. Some supplemental materials provide outlines and/or explanations of what is called "black letter law," or the basic rules for each doctrinal subject. Others focus on helping you understand cases, while still others provide practice questions that will help you prepare for exams.
Do I need them? Why do students use them?
Unless your professor assigns one of these supplemental materials (and occasionally they do), you don't necessarily need one. Some students choose to use them because the supplemental materials often approach subjects in a slightly different way than their professors. If you have a professor who doesn't provide much in the way of practice materials, secondary sources can be a valuable source of hypotheticals and multiple choice questions for study and practice.
Secondary sources can be problematic if you rely on them too heavily. No two torts or criminal law classes are exactly the same and the secondary materials are not keyed to your professor's syllabus or interests. If you focus too much on what is in the secondary sources, you may end up learning concepts that contradict what your professor taught, or you may lose track of the policy arguments and theory that your professor finds important. Supplemental materials are meant to be just that - supplemental. Don't forget that your professor is often a great resource if you're confused. We generally recommend talking with your professor first to see if he or she can clarify the issue you're having trouble with, then checking a supplemental source if you're still confused.
How do I use them?
How you use them depends in part on which kind of source you're looking at. Generally, you would use commercial outlines to check your understanding of the black letter law, organize your outlines, and get a better sense of the big picture of what you're learning. Case brief books provide summaries that may help clarify the facts or the rule of law that you're supposed to be taking from a case. Some books offer practice questions that you can either treat like a practice exam or use to check your understanding of a particular principle. The questions may be specifically targeted to one or two legal principles, or they may resemble an exam question and address multiple issues. These generally come with model answers.
What kinds of supplemental materials are available?
There are many different kinds of supplemental materials. ARC does not specifically endorse any of them, though your professors may have recommendations about which secondary sources they prefer and which they think are less helpful. Here is an introduction to some of the common supplemental materials that you may come across:
Examples and Explanations series
Known as "E&Es," the Examples and Explanations series provides an overview of legal principles along with questions that help you put those principles into practice. The questions come with model answers so you can check whether you've applied the rule to the fact pattern correctly.
Gilbert Law Summaries series
The Gilbert series provides an outline of the black letter law, relevant charts, practice essay and multiple choice questions with example answers, and exam tips.
In a Nutshell series
The In a Nutshell series is a condensed summary of the law. It does not offer any practice questions.
CrunchTime series
The CrunchTime series, which bills itself as a last-minute study tool, offers flow charts, a condensed summary of the law, exam tips, and sample questions with model answers.
Emanuel series
The Emanuel series offers longer outlines/summaries of black letter law along with exam tips and practice questions and answers.
Glannon Guide series
The Glannon series explains common legal issues through a narrative format and tests understanding with multiple choice questions. The books provide discussions of why each multiple choice answer is either correct or incorrect.
Q & A series
The Q & A series can be a good source of additional multiple choice and essay practice questions. It appears that it is now available in the iTunes store as an app from LexisNexis.
Casenote Briefs series
The Casenote series provides case summaries for each of the cases in your textbook. Each Casenote book is keyed to a different textbook, so you need to be careful to select the right one.
Quick Study laminated reference sheets
These are short laminated guides that cram a lot of information about a subject into a very simplified outline.
1L guides from the major bar prep companies
The major bar prep companies (Barbri, Kaplan, and Themis) often give out free 1L outline books at the beginning of the school year. The books will typically have outlines and practice questions for each of your 1L doctrinal classes. They are available at the bar prep companies' tables on the C level - you'll find them tabling regularly down there, and you should feel free to ask for any resources they might be able to give you. The books each have a different style and cover the material slightly differently so you may want to pick up a couple different ones.
Websites - CALI Links to an external site., Quimbee, Casebriefs, bar company websites, etc.
There are a number of online resources that students have used for extra practice and explanation of concepts. Several of them have some resources available for free (such as CALI) but others cost money. Probably the main benefit of these websites is the opportunity to view lectures on a variety of subjects. You can get access to CALI by contacting the Law Library for the school access code - SU Law students have free access to this database. SU also has an institutional subscription to Quimbee, so you will have free access to their case briefs, practice questions, and outlines throughout the year.
Where can I find them?
Before getting into this, a caveat: we do not encourage students to spend lots of money buying secondary sources, particularly before you've had a chance to review them. You may find that you don't understand their approach, or that they don't fit well with your class, or that you just don't like using them. You can often borrow them from upperclassmen or fellow 1Ls or check them out of the library. So with that in mind...
Law library: The law library has a study aid resource page Links to an external site. where you can find out what secondary sources are available. The books in the reserve section can usually only be checked out for short periods of time. Check with the librarian about those restrictions. You may also be able to find secondary sources in the stacks. The library has information about accessing online databases like CALI.
ARC library resources: ARC maintains a lending library of study aids that is located in Room 310. These resources are available on a first come, first served basis. These are free resources for all students, so we ask that you take good care of them and return them to the Room 310 when you've finished using them.
Seattle U Bookstore: Some study aids, including the Quick Study guides, are available in the campus store.
Amazon and other online retailers: This is where you'll find most of the study aids for sale. If you buy used ones, keep an eye on whether they're old enough that the law has changed since their publication.