1L Guide to Hornbooks
MDThe following is a slightly edited copy of an article originally published in Eagleionline.com on August 14th, 2007.
Each year, 1Ls flock to the Boston College Law School bookstore to frantically snap up every hornbook in sight. Despite the inevitability of purchase, we’d like to provide some perspective on the entire process. We hope that it will save you some stress, and perhaps even some money.
With respect to hornbooks generally, one should keep in mind that some professors and a few purist students think that hornbooks are a complete waste of time. The authors of these books, so the arguments go, are 1) exploiting the fear and uncertainty inherent in 1L in order to make a dime (hence the endless supply of new editions), and, more importantly 2) thwarting one of the primary purposes of 1L, which is to become comfortable reading law and summarizing cases.
Most students, however, probably feel that a hornbook is useful every once in a while; some feel that they’re downright essential. In either case, some find that hornbooks help 1) organize large bodies of law, 2) elucidate particular points of law, or 3) introduce a body of law. That said, few students actually care about these arguments, because everyone else seems to be buying Glannon et al. for that extra “edge.”
Hate them or love them, we advise you to take a look at them: you can find lots of hornbooks (though not casebriefs or commercial outlines) on permanent reserve in the law library. If you don’t mind perusing older editions, you can even find some in the stacks and ready to be checked out. Of course, you can always ask your 2L and 3L friends for them as well.
Without further adieu, below are some of the most commonly used hornbooks, and the prevailing view on each. Remember that though some books, such as Chemerinsky for Con Law and Glannon for Civ Pro, are thought by some to be no-brainers in all cases, the usefulness of other books, such as Farnsworth’s Contracts or Glannon’s Torts, may depend on your professor.
After that, you will find an edited transcript of a related discussion we had on Eagleionline in 2007.
Eagleionline Question(s) of the Day: Did you find any 1L hornbooks useful? Did we miss any good ones?
- Civil Procedure: Civil Procedure: Examples and Explanations by Joseph Glannon.
- Constitutional Law : Constitutional Law: Principles And Policies by Erwin Chemerinsky.
- Contracts: Concepts and Case Analysis in Law of Contracts , by Marvin Chirelstein (commonly referred to as the “ship book”).
- Criminal Law: Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler.
- Property: Which hornbook you choose depends on the professor. For Joseph Liu’s section, the most useful secondary source is Joseph Singer’s Introduction To Property. Written by the same author of the casebook Liu uses in his class, the shorter hornbook summarizes the important points from the textbook. For Professor Mary Bilder’s course, Emanuel Law Outlines: Property by Steven L. Emanuel is useful in understanding particular concepts, such as the “Rule Against Perpetuities.”
- Torts: Emanuel Law Outlines: Torts by Steven L. Emanuel. Emanuel’s outlines vary by the casebook, meaning there are multiple Torts hornbooks available from this author.
I bought a copy of “High Court Case Summaries” keyed to each textbook. Obviously no substitute for reading the cases, but there will always be times when you don’t get to the reading and these are nice little summary/analysis that will get the job done and help you follow class discussion. Also, helpful for review.
The only two from the original post that I would consider a MUST are the Chemerinsky Con Law and Dressler Crim Law. I found those both incredibly helpful. Also, if your professor wrote one, then its a must.
The E&E for Civil Procedure and Criminal law were both very helpful for exam prep, and one of our criminal law questions EXACTLY mirrored a hypo from here (Both professor and the hornbook based a hypo off of the same real case).
I think I used Gilbert’s Contracts, but I’m not sure. What I do know is that at the end of the semester, people were acting like the “ship book” was the holy grail of study guides and anyone that didn’t get it was doomed to failure. I passed. Ended up getting an A. Several people I spoke with afterwards said the ship book wasn’t all that.
Word of caution besides the obvious hornbooks aren’t substitute for cases/class: If everyone is using the same hornbook, common sense might say to use it, but I’ll tell you to look elsewhere. Grading is on a curve. If 90% of the class is getting their info from class/cases/book X, then the answers they provide on the test will be a reflection of that common pool. This isn’t to say you need to ignore it or find some obscure hornbook, but just don’t regurgitate what you get in the hornbook on an exam, because a couple dozen of your classmates will be doing the same. You might think a hornbook explanation or example is novel and interesting, something beyond what was explicitly discussed in class, but by the tenth time your prof reads the same analogy, he will realize its from a hornbook and you won’t be getting any creativity points.
I say buy the hornbooks and canned briefs and stick them on a shelf. Pretend there is a “in case of emergency, break glass” thing around them. Use them when you need a quick fix before class, if you don’t understand something that has already been read or discussed, or for test prep/outline creation. Don’t use them as a crutch.
This advice worked for me, but might not be for you, so take with a few heaping helpings of salt.
I agree with the Section 2er that hornbooks, etc. should not be used a crutch or a substitute for reading cases. In fact I’d say that you probably shouldn’t buy them at all, or at least not until it comes time to preapre for exams.
There is no shame in not fully understaning a concept before class begins. You learn the difficult concepts in class, that’s why we have classes and that’s why you are required to attend them. As long as you can demonstrate that you have prepared for class (i.e. you are familiar with the facts and holdings of cases), professors will help you understand the why’s of the rulings. If, after class or while you are preparing for an exam, you find that you do not understand a particular concept, a hornbook can be of some use.
I would caution 1Ls, though. Struggling through difficult concepts on your own will lead to more complex understandings and likely a higher exam score.
I always turned to horn books for big chunks of information at a time, instead of following along with the pace of the course. I found that reading a chapter at a time after a unit in class was perfect (especially in a class like Torts where each unit is pretty discrete). I often found that I already “knew” all the information from class and readings but that it was invaluable to have a concise review to provide a birds eye view of the topic.
Big tip, to echo Section 2er, seek out outlines and case summaries keyed to your textbook. Often Gilberts or Emanuels will have a standard edition and then one that follows the organization of a specific case book. It just makes it easier to find what you’re looking for.
Oh, and then there’s Law School Confidential. I opened it a handful of times. Anyone swear by it or think it’s a waste? I’m ambivalent.
I really liked LSC, AE, though I never bothered with the silly highlighting. It was a good tool to get in the mindset, if nothing else.
Agreed on all the hornbooks - Chem was amazing for Con Law, and Chirelstein was pretty helpful (thank you, random ship, thank you!).
For Prof. Brunell’s Torts class, he had us buy a book by the same publisher as the ship book — “The Forms and Functions of Tort Law” by Abraham. It was a pretty good overview.
Agreed with above about exam time — I used Gilberts all year, but never opened a hornbook or summary until the exam to get out of the missing-the-forest-for-the-trees problem.
Civil Procedure: Acing Civil Procedure. This book is a must and it is amazing.
Constitutional Law: Constitutional Law: Principles And Policies by Erwin Chemerinsky.
Contracts: Concepts and Case Analysis in Law of Contracts, 5th Edition by Marvin Chirelstein (commonly referred to as the “ship book”). I did not use this book, but wish I had.
Criminal Law: Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler. (Only heard this was good, I never took Crim Law)
Property: Emanuel Law Outlines: Property by Steven L. Emanuel is useful in understanding particular concepts, such as the “Rule Against Perpetuities.”
Torts: Emanuel Law Outlines: Torts by Steven L. Emanuel. Also, I liked examples and explanations for Torts.
There is some very good advice in regards to study guides given in these posts. To incoming first years, please take heed; I personally adamantly refused to use any of these “extraneous” materials based on the mistaken principle that class attendance and careful reading of the required texts, along with solid notes and studying, would be sufficient (so I thought). Result: very, very mediocre grades across the board. Was it due to the fact that I did not use any hornbooks or supplementary texts? Guess I will never know…but I do know that I honestly thought that my exams reflected a reasonably good understanding of the material taught in the classroom.
By the way, I also read Law School Confidential cover to cover, followed the advice religiously, and (so I thought) implemented its advice on exam-taking…and the results, well, you already know that story…take it for what it’s worth.
I am adamantly against hornbooks. They are useless if you actually exert some effort.
My results were different than the previous person’s: I am at the top of the class.
Advice: Don’t waste your time and money on these supplements.
Thought the last two posters had opposite views (and this may seem like a real lawyerly thing to say), in fact, they both might be right. The utility of hornbooks depends not only on their quality, but on the type of people who use them. If you’re the sort of person who is going to law school to develop a really profound and nuanced understanding of cases, you might only glance at hornbooks. But if you don’t really care much about the intellectual pursuit of “Law” (with a capital “l”), hornbooks become much more attractive. I bet i could could have studied very, very little throughout all of law school and relied on hornbooks 100% of the time, at the exclusion of reading most cases, and I predict that I probably would have earned an average grade — certainly i would have passed! I could have done more public service, spent more time with my significant other, taken more courses etc. Would I have gotten my money’s worth at law school? it really would depend on my goals. If I wanted to really understand, I’m going to have to read the cases again and again…and really struggle with the deep legal and even philosophical issues behind the them. There’s no substitute for that. But if I don’t care as much about that, then sure, I would read the hornbook.
No doubt people have different views on this. All I can speak to are my own.
To paraphrase Ellen and add my own bit:
People who don’t use hornbooks: Geniuses, bookworms, and those that want to be masters of the Law.
People who use hornbooks: The rest of us who just want to understand the material, get good grades, and graduate with a job waiting.
As Ellen says, depends on what you are looking for.
If you are willing to go to every class, do all of your readings, pay attention at all times, take great notes, and make a quality outline, hornbooks will be a bit redundant.
However, if you are like 99% of the rest of us, and find that you occasionally (or pretty much consistently) just “skim” the readings, surf the internet during class, and miss a few classes here or there, hornbooks are absolute lifesavers.
Instead of winding you through the full-blown evolution of common law doctrines the way a professor will (i.e. taking up three classes to go over Palsgraf and the resulting “zone of danger” doctrine), the hornbooks just lay out a plain text version of the legal analysis you need to apply to exam questions.
Granted, for the BC Law 1L’s, torts, contracts, and property all are very professor dependent. Katz (contracts) doesn’t even touch the UCC, and Plater (property) is well known for his focus on future interests, although he has backed off that recently with the revised 1L academic calendar. So make sure you know what your professor covers, and how important they view each topic.
However, no matter who you are, or who your professor is, definitely get the Examples and Explanations Civ Pro book. It is awesome. If you do it cover to cover, you’ll find civ pro to be much easier than your classmates who decide to “rough it” and go without.
My two cents on LSC: I read it more to ease my fear about the mystery than anything. The two biggest things I took from there were the advice to set up an organized filing system for everything, which has been a godsend for me these past few years, especially when the “Oh crap my loan paperwork is due tomorrow” panic sets in. And I actually do the colored highlighter thing, but that’s more so because I’m big into colorcoding everything, even in my daily life (i.e. all of my torts folders, etc. were blue). I found that it helps a lot in class, but you don’t need it when it comes to studying, as there are very few cases in most courses that you really need to recall the facts from.
“If you are willing to go to every class, do all of your readings, pay attention at all times, take great notes, and make a quality outline, hornbooks will be a bit redundant.”
Sorry, Scott, you have given great advice on this site before, but I have to disagree with you on this one. I went to virtually every one of my first year classes, did all of the readings, paid attention, worked hard on the outlines, etc., and never bought a hornbook…and my grades were absolutely lousy.
As I said before, was this due to the fact that I never looked at a hornbook? Guess I will never know…but I know that I busted my butt in terms of notetaking, class attendance, studying, etc., and it still did not work out in terms of grades.
I am all for not having people freak out in terms of grades, studying, etc., but my own experience is that people should really not ignore the advantages that hornbooks could provide.
Again, I have really no ability to evaluate the potential efficacy of these materials in my own case, as I did not use them, but I can tell you that I heard enough of my fellow students who did use them crow about their good grades. So, these hornbooks could be very worthwhile.
To “I said it before…”
I think we’re on the same page here - if you read my post, I think you’ll find that I actually say “If you are like 99% of the rest of us…hornbooks are absolute lifesavers”.
I use them for pretty much every class, and I’d advise anyone to do the same.
I think that the hornbook/no hornbook debate is one that, as we’ve seen, will cut differently for different people. Whichever way you go, hornbooks are no substitute for a good study group.
I was fortunate enough to have an AMAZING study group last year. I am proud to say that of my four study groupers, I am the only one who did not get onto a journal or law review (once again proving that I chose my group wisely!). My study group, whether by luck or “wisdom of crowds,” pinpointed the exact questions/hypos on at least 4 specific exams over the year. No hornbook that I read had that level of accuracy, mostly because hornbooks can’t judge a professor’s appetite for specific topics (or, in the case of Torts, an appetite for random topics).
I did not use hornbooks during class because I found that the actual courseload was more than enough to fill my time if I read the cases and reading thoroughly. However, I know lots of people who found them useful.
I did find that the hornbooks were useful in prepping for exams and that, as a study group, we benefited from reading a variety of hornbooks. However, reading hornbooks was, for me, no substitute for sitting down after class or during review week and talking through the tests and cases that were troubling me. The hornbooks clarified, but they didn’t teach you the reasoning skills that you’ll need when presented with a hypo on the exam.
If you are questioning whether to invest in a lot of hornbooks, think about your learning style. If you learn well and can process lots of information by reading, then a hornbook is a good investment at the beginning of the year. However, if the thing that gets you to the next level of understanding is discussion with your peers or with the professor, then save the hornbooks for the less structured courses (or for exams) and concentrate on finding a good study group!
One thing I would recommend is to avoid the urge to buy all the hornbooks, or even to buy them before you feel you need them. It’s tempting to go onto Amazon and order 20 pounds of extra reading but it may be overkill. I never took this advice and sometimes wound up with a hornbook that wasn’t as good as another. Seriously, check the library first to see the different style of each book; 1L books cost enough as it is and there’s no reason to spend more unnecessarily.
There is such a huge temptation to load up on hornbooks, especially when you see everyone else lugging them around. I didn’t use them at all during the course of the year until finals, and then only selectively to help me organize or figure out a particular concept. In most cases, your prof tells you want you need to know. Adding extra stuff from hornbooks isn’t going to give you extra points.
A couple of tips on particular Fall professors:
Bilder (Property): There is NO need to get a hornbook for her class. She is incredibly clear and explicit, and will give you a huge amount of information as it is.
Bloom (Civ Pro): E&E was helpful towards the exam to run through practice problems.
FitzGiboon (Contracts): This is one of the few classes where I used a commercial outline to put my outline together at then end. I liked Emmanuels (sp).
Hashimoto (Torts): Completely unnecessary. He tells you exactly what you need to know very clearly and even summarizes what he covered the next day.
I normally don’t respond to individual posts on here, but for the benefit of possible BC students and other people who read this blog, I wanted to reply to your comment:
“However, if you are like 99% of the rest of us, and find that you occasionally (or pretty much consistently) just “skim” the readings, surf the internet during class, and miss a few classes here or there, hornbooks are absolute lifesavers.”
I wouldn’t agree that such a lazy attitude towards work embodies almost the entire student body. Perhaps 2L year might be very different, but the majority of people I know take school much more seriously than that.
Reader Comments (1)
If you have Plater for property, relying much on a hornbook is folly.
I actually liked the other Glannon book for civil procedure:
http://www.amazon.com/Glannon-Guide-Civil-Procedure-Multiple-Choice/dp/0735544638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219772135&sr=8-1
The shipbook is awesome. Dressler was helpful.