it's ok to buy your outlines on the internet

[abony holmes]

Eric Johnson over at Prawfsblaw made some valid criticisms against law professors who shun commercial outlines.  According to him, commercial outlines have some disadvantages (e.g. incomplete information) but they have many benefits, namely:

• The give students a basic understanding of the black letter law.
• Students don't have to waste time and “separate the doctrine from the chaff” while reading cases.
• They allow students to read cases “at higher intellectual level, casting a critical eye on the court, questioning the motives of the parties, and learning how the blackletter doctrine works, or doesn’t work, in the real world.”

I have to agree with those points, and I’d like to add a few of my own:

• They give structure to a course that may lack structure.
• They present a simplified version of the big picture — ideal for those moments where the minutiae of every case you read overwhelms you.
• They give you a place to double-check your understanding of the lecture and the casebook without having to wait in line for office hours or waste class time with simple questions.

I also agree with this piece of Johnson’s advice: “start with an outline in hand, and then spend the rest of the semester learning what’s wrong with it.”

Comments

[Patrick]

I don't know why people rip on commercial outlines. Sometimes I think it is a way of showing status. Other times I think maybe they just know more than me.

The second is more likely, based on past experience.

But I will share that last semester a commercial outline in civil procedure and in criminal law pretty much saved my butt. Having never been a law student before, I didn't know up from down or where to begin. Reading the commercial outline section on, say, "actus reus" *before* doing the casebook reading saved me a lot of time, and (I believe) helped me to learn the material in a more complete, integrated way.

FWIW.