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law school academic success Personality Skills

How Curiosity Plays a Crucial Role in Learning

Learning and curiosity have a deep relationship, and in fact, interest complements knowledge. We learn to the best of our ability when we are curious to know about vivid things. If you are not eager to know about something and various aspects of your subjects, your learning may remain incomplete. Besides, most of the most significant discoveries and innovations of the world started with curiosity. Those who could make a real difference to the world were keen to unlock new verticals of learning. So, it would not be wrong if we say that curiosity is the first step towards efficient understanding

A mountain, which is a metaphor for motivation.

To substantiate, there is a research-based study that affirms the vitality of keenness in the process of learning. According to this study, curiosity in students is as imperative as intellect in ascertaining their performance in their academics. Also, according to research in neurology, eagerness makes our minds more receptive to learning. When we are curious to learn, our brains tend to enjoy the process of learning and holistically grasp knowledge. Imagine if there was no curiosity in Albert Einstein, physics could have remained deprived of some crucial findings. If the Wright brothers were not keen enough, who knows if aeroplanes could have been a reality or not. 

Needless to say, if you look at learning as an objective or a destination, curiosity is the journey to it. Would you be able to learn something you are not passionate about or are not interested in? You may be able to cram things for the sake of doing well in the exams and may even achieve good grades. But what about learning? This is perhaps the biggest problem with the prevalent education systems. The education systems are killing curiosity in students and learners to make them adapt to a method of continuous assessments or exams. However, learning and actual development in students is taking a back seat in this new trend. This blog talks about the various aspects of curiosity and how it supplements learning by playing a pivotal role in it. Next, let us analyse the different ways in which interest is essential for learning. On the other side of it, you can realise the importance of being curious while learning. The magic of curiosity can do wonders to make you passionate about the learning process. 

5 Reasons why curiosity is vital for learning

1. It promotes active learning

Curiosity makes your mind much more robust and more open to learning new information. Curious students often ask questions during lectures and are keen to find the right answers. So, their mind is always receptive to learning and is active to grasp as much information as possible. Besides, they are keen to go beyond textbook knowledge and look to apply relevant experience in their day to day activities. Not only such students excel in their academics but also outshine others in terms of knowledge. In current times of cut-throat competition, holistic development is critical for students to achieve success. Therefore, in your pursuit of this comprehensive development, active learning can play a crucial role. Moreover, active learning is an essential prerequisite for some fields of study like engineering, law, and so on.

2. It attracts new ideas and observations.

Students who are eager to learn are often observant of new ideas. They have a knack for the exploration of various fundamentals of the education of the world. Besides, they try to create relevance with new ideas and discover ways to incorporate them into their pursuit of self-improvement. Curious students are committed to enhancing their knowledge by learning new things almost every day. However, students who do not have this eagerness only look at education as a system of exams or assessments. Can you relate to it? With curiosity, you can unlock new doors of success and skills for your personal growth. It can also build in you the sufficient ability to innovate and improvise in different areas of life. In its absence, you are often dishonest to your education and take it as a burden. You need the right motivation to keep pushing yourself to do well and excel. Thus,  We can now affirm that curiosity can be a vital cog in your study motivation.

3. It rewards learning

Curiosity also has the prowess to make learning more rewarding for students. Curiosity prepares the brain for learning and makes learning a joyful experience. Based on this experience, students find subsequent learning pleasing and rewarding. Besides, they can see education as making a real difference in their life and their personality. This is another reason why you should look to develop curiosity in yourself to make your learning wholesome. If you are not keen on learning something, it becomes a mere formality. So, curiosity can make you fall in love with knowledge and rediscover your perspectives. If you are eager to learn, you will always associate learning with pleasure.

4. It unfurls new possibilities.

All the successful science experiments started with a curious idea. As they became successful, they opened a world of new possibilities for human civilisation. So, there is a lot of power that is intrinsic to the idea of curiosity. You can unlock new opportunities and horizons for yourself when you learn with curiosity. Without eagerness, these possibilities may remain latent around you, and you may never see them. But if you are keen to build on your knowledge each day, it can help you to realise or build new skills. Further, these skills can prove to be crucial for you when you start looking for your dream job. Hence, being curious is one of the best ways for self improvement that you can ever discover.

5. It leads to personality development.

Curious students are fond of asking questions and challenging the merit of things. When they ask questions to their teachers on a regular interval, they can capitalise on their communication skills. Besides, in the process of asking questions on behalf of the class, they develop strong leadership skills. So, you can see that with eagerness to learn; you can incorporate a lot of soft skills into your personality. The process of being a curious learner can make you a much more vivid person than you have ever known. This confidence can give you an edge over others when the competition gets down the wire.

To wrap up, it can be concluded that learning is incomplete without curiosity and the willingness to learn. We tend to learn better when something intrigues us and inspires interest in us. Also, eagerness to learn adds a lot more value to the learning process. Learning can be fun when you are curious to grasp knowledge and are excited to discover new ideas. Moreover, there are scientific testaments to the correlation between education and curiosity. Further, In professional courses like medicine or law, curiosity becomes far more essential. Such professions require abundant knowledge and the ability to think beyond the ordinary. Thus, to be a successful lawyer or a doctor, curiosity is almost indispensable. You should continuously look for various ways in which you can encourage interest in yourself. This curiosity can take you places in your career graph and boost the prospects of meeting your career goals.

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Exam Preparation law school academic success Study Technique

Case Briefing Demonstration

Case briefing is a learned skill, which takes time to master. It doesn’t have to be long, and in fact should not be more than half a page long. Yet many law students abandon case briefing after a few weeks in law school.  To help you understand how to master this simple yet important skill, I have prepared a case briefing demonstration video. Below you will find the three cases I used, which I highly recommend you read before watching the video. To get the most out of this demonstration, read the cases first, case brief them, and then watch the video. Compare your result with mine.  You should find that you have more time to complete case briefs, and you will also be helping prepare for your finals using the IRAC exam writing method.

 

Cases Used on YouTube Demonstration

Polmatier v Russ

Fruit v Schreiner

Stinnett v Buchele

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Essay Exam Exam Grading law school academic success Torts

Professor Taking Essay Exam

I created a video, watch a professor take an essay exam, where I take a torts bar exam question I’ve never seen before.  Using bar exam conditions, I limited my time to 30 minutes and took it closed book.  This process was useful for me, because it reminded me of the extreme pressure my students encounter on the bar exam and on law school exams.

Useful Exercise

young woman studyingThere are several reasons why students will find this exercise valuable.  One, it helps them understand that even an expert struggles to complete a bar exam in 30 minutes.  Two, they can observe how an expert uses their time to first prepare to write and then write.  I then wrote the exam using the Nested IRAC method, an organization technique to ensure you don’t miss anything.  Three, they can see an expert make mistakes, and still earn a decent grade on the exam.

The second part of this exercise was to grade the exam using a grading rubric used by many state bar examiners.  I first discussed the grading rubric, then reviewed the bar exam grader’s model answer, and finally reviewed my essay.

Comparing Answers

As I compared my answer to the model answer, I was surprised by a few things. For starters, I noticed that the grader was assigning points almost exclusively for duty and breach of duty. Yet the call of the question asked me to “explain” my answer.  I understood this to mean a full negligence discussion.  That required not only duty and breach, but also actual cause, proximate cause, and damages.  To do this for each of the three plaintiffs was impossible on a 30 minute exam–a poor job in designing this exam.  A more focused question by the bar exam designers would have yielded better answers.  Oh well, c’est la vie.

How Many Points?

Another problem with the essay question was the point allocation of 15% for the final issue on the unforeseeable extent of injury (i.e., the eggshell plaintiff rule).  The call of the question appears to give it equal weight with the first question, which was comprised of three parts. Thankfully, I was running out of time when I got to this issue.  Therefore, I did not spend more time on it than was necessary. But I didn’t know that when I was taking the exam.  So the lesson here is to do your best. There really isn’t a way to know exactly what the grader is looking for.  Make sure to discuss all the main issues, and if you have time then discuss minor issues.

The Documents

Here are the documents I used for this exercise:

 

Categories
law school academic success Physical Study Technique

Study Space Ideas

Are you looking for some good study space ideas? Do you know how to create a study space that will help your learning? In this article I will discuss some tips to help you create a better study space that is more conducive to learning. Primarily, you can accomplish this by eliminating distractions from your study space.

Distraction #1: Internet

student surfing internet. Study space ideas post

When you get bored or the work gets hard, do you start checking your favorite social media site? Do you prefer Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit over boring tasks? Who doesn’t. When I grade exams, which I hate to do, I go and find a quiet spot in the library.  One great study space idea is to find a space without the Internet or your smartphone. Maybe you can leave your phone in another room, so you aren’t tempted. If you need your phone, there are apps that you can use to shut off Internet access for a set amount of time. Shut is off for 15 minutes to begin with, and then turn it off for longer periods of time. You might also find the Pomodoro technique useful in fighting an Internet addiction.

Distraction #2: Environment

For most people, the best temperature to study at is 77 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 degrees Celsius. A few degrees colder or warmer, and you won’t study as well.  In addition to temperature you need to think about the lighting in your study space.  Ideally, natural light is best, but if you are studying at night or in a room without a window, get bulbs that mimic natural night. This means avoiding yellow lights, which mimic candle light.  You want a bulb in the 5,000 to 6,500 kelvin range, which may look blue to you initially if you’re not used to them.  But in reality, bulbs in that range mimic natural sunlight, especially if you purchase a decent LED light bulb.  Compact fluorescents, by the way, are generally not very good at keeping their color, and might create a strange light.  I recommend that, in addition to getting a light in the 5,000 to 6,500 kelvin range, that you also look for an LED bulb that has a CRI above 90. CRI stands for color rendering index, so anything above a 90 will look natural, and not strange. I personally use the Hyperikon wide flood and Hyperikon standard base bulbs. Finally, make sure that your seating is comfortable.  Find something that is comfortable for you, whether that is a chair or a standing desk.

Cluttered desk. Study space ideas post.

Distraction #3: Organization

Your study space should be uncluttered, and it should be clean before starting the next day.  This will help you focus on studying, and not the mess around you. Also, make sure your study materials are all nearby.  You don’t want to keep getting up and down to go get something you need. Also, get rid of anything in the study space that might distract you, like novels, magazines, and pictures that cause your mind to wander.

What to Bring

Bring a large drink so you don’t have to keep getting up.  If you are going to snack, bring your snacks with you. Keep a small notepad on your desk to write down distractions.  For example, if during your study time you realize that you forgot to pay a bill, write it down and deal with it after your study time.

Location

Finally, think about moving your study space from time to time.  Scientific studies have shown that our brains work better when we are in new environments and do things differently.  To help my brain, I avoid driving the same way all the time, instead varying my path to keep the neural connectors working better.  For you that might mean studying at different coffee shops, or at least at different tables in the coffee shop.  In the library, move around—don’t always go to the same table.

Breaks

Make sure to take regular breaks. The brain is not designed to work without some rest, so build that into the routine. At some point, you may hit a mental roadblock and need to do something to break the mental roadblock.

 

 

Categories
Exam Preparation law school academic success

Do I Need Tutoring Services?

Are you considering tutoring services to help you next semester?  Maybe you got your grades back and you didn’t do as well as you wanted. Or perhaps you just want to do better with a little extra help. Whatever your situation, law school tutoring services can help you reach your goals.

Law School Professors

Law schools don’t provide the individualized attention you need to reach your full potential. At many law schools, professors are not available, will not discuss with you how to write law school exams, or will not review your practice exams. This is because most law schools reward professors who write law review articles. Not those who spend time helping students. Or, you may have a tenured professor who just doesn’t spend a lot of time at the law school anymore.

Academic Support Department

If you’re lucky, you’re at a law school with an academic support department. The professionals in these departments tend to have a great deal of expertise, which can help you improve. But most of these professionals are overworked, assisting more students than they can reasonably help. This means that they do triage, creating workshops on general topics like note taking and IRAC. And if you schedule a meeting with one of them, the meetings are usually short because they are booked in back-to-back meetings.

Law School Tutor

A law school tutor will spend the time you need working for you, listening to you, and figuring out where you need help. One-on-one law school tutoring is powerful because you’re not like everyone else at your law school. You came to law school with certain skills, knowledge, and abilities that are different from your classmates. Some of your classmates already have strong writing skills. Some of them were in majors, like philosophy, that emphasized the critical thinking skills needed in law school. Others went to private prep schools, which taught them how to study better.

running race so need law school tutoring

Let me use an analogy. You are in a race with your classmates. As you prepare to start the race, you all are placed on the track, but not all at the same starting place. Many of your classmates are starting the race closer to the “A” grade because of the advantages they brought with them to law school. Unfortunately, law school is not a level playing field. But you can learn how to outrun your classmates if you train the right way.

Self-Help

Now don’t get me wrong, going to your academic success department, reading some books, and watching videos on this channel will help. But most of your classmates are doing the exact same thing. For example, I recommend that you read Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School, a resource I’ve assigned for years.  But you need help to run past your classmates in the law school race. And trust me, this is a race in every meaning of the word. Why? Because your professor will assign grades based on a forced curve, where there are few winners. Everyone will be ranked, highest to lowest. Those in first, second, and third place get A’s, and everyone else gets lower grades based on how they performed relative to the other students in the class.

Law Tutor Qualifications

So how do you find a good law school tutor? If you type “law school tutor” in your search engine, you’re going to find many options. Look at the qualifications of the tutors. By qualifications, I mean what have they have done during their career, not where they went to law school years ago. The law school someone attended is based on a standardized test score and undergraduate grades, not the tutor’s ability to help you succeed in law school today. Also, the grades they got in law school is not relevant. Why? Because you are not them. You do not have the same knowledge, skills, and ability that they did when they attended law school. Finally, remember that anyone can create a website and begin selling law school tutoring services. Use your critical thinking skills before you hire just anyone with a pretty ad to help you.

Ideally, you want somebody who’s taught thousands of law students. A law school professor makes the best tutor because he or she understands law students. The professor has worked with students, developing strategies to help struggling law students succeed. Also, law professors have written and graded exams, which helps them in providing their expertise to you.

Testimonials

Look for online reviews or testimonials. Has the tutor helped students throughout the country? Have they helped students at unranked law schools up to the elite law schools? What are others saying about them.

And finally, do you trust the tutor to do a good job? Sometimes you have to take a chance, so look for a free introductory session or a money-back guarantee.

Cost versus Benefit

Tutoring services are not cheap, at least from qualified tutors. You need to ask yourself: how much are better grades worth to me? Law students are coming out of law school with huge debt loads, with many now graduating with over $200,000 in debt. A tutor can help with higher grades, which can lead to law review, moot court, and other law school honors. And usually, once you’ve mastered law school exams and are getting better grades, you won’t need to continue with a tutor. But till then, you may want to weigh the cost and benefit of tutoring services.

Tip from a Law Student

I was lucky enough to go to a school that, had excellent professors, who were willing to meet with me. But occasionally I found that I needed help. In one class, for example, I needed a tutor, but I hadn’t planned for it in my budget.  I ended up earning my lowest grade in law school, and now wish I could have found a law school tutor.

So here is my advice:  set aside some money at the beginning of the semester in case you need law school tutoring services.  Place this future expense in your budget, and spend a little less money on going out.  And if you don’t end up needing a tutor, that’s a little more money in your pocket at the end of the semester!

Andrea

 

Categories
law school academic success Time Management

What to do Between Semesters

Wondering what to do between semesters? Are you bored, or ready to get a head start? Here are 12 tips on what to do between semesters. Some of the tips are school related, while others are not. The key is to find a balance between preparing for school and relaxing a bit—both are important. You may have two, three, or even four weeks off, so use the time wisely.

Tip #1

Family and friends. This is the time to reconnect with your family and friends. School is demanding, so take time over the break to visit with them, ask them what their last few months were like. Resist the temptation to talk about yourself, and instead listen to them. If you have trouble focusing on others, consider reading this short article on active listening.

Tip #2

Reflect on the past semester. Ask yourself what worked, what didn’t work, and what you will do differently. Not only in school, but in your personal life. I used to think reflection was silly, but there are significant educational benefits to self-reflection. You may want to start journaling if you don’t do so already.

Tip #3

Create process goals. A process goal involves how you are going to do things. For example, you may decide to get to school an hour earlier so that you can study in the library. Or you may decide to make flash cards each day after classes are over. A goal to get an “A” in a class is not a process goal. You can control the process, but not the outcome. To delve deeper on this, watch this video on how to set goals.

Tip #4

Plan next semester’s schedule. If you don’t have a schedule, then make one and stick to it. This includes not only going to class, but deciding when you are going to study, eat, sleep, exercise, shop, relax, and attend religious services.

Tip #5

Exercise. You need exercise not only for your body, but also for your brain. Studies show that exercise is correlated to increased cognitive ability.

Tip #6

Read a good book. And no, I don’t mean your textbook. Read something that is going to challenge you and get you to think about the great ideas. I recommend Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, Sun Tzu’s Art of War, Sertillanges The Intellectual Life, or any other of the numerous great books.

Tip #7

Review the material for next semester. If you have your textbooks, look through them and start getting familiar with what you will be covering next semester.

Tip #8

YouTube and blogs. I don’t mean for entertainment, though you should do some of that. Look for videos and blogs that will help you next semester. If you need help with writing essay exams, find a useful blog post, like this one on the IRAC method. If you are having problems with grammar, find blogs that will help you improve your language skills.

Tip #9

Online courses. If you can find online courses that will help you with the skills you need next semester, or in courses that you are going to take, then enroll in the course. I’m talking about relatively short courses so that you can complete soon, that way you can go into the semester with an understanding of the material. It takes our minds some time to digest knowledge, so get a head start over the break.

Tip #10

Watch a movie. Go out and enjoy some popcorn, a drink, and movie with some friends. This is the time to relax a bit before you start the next semester.

Tip #11

Enjoy nature. Find a park, mountain, ocean, or other nature preserve where you can walk outdoors. It’s important to get away from the city and enjoy an open space.

Tip #12

Improve your writing. Figure out where your writing needs improvement and then work on that area. I’m not saying move from a weak writer to the best writer in the world, but make one incremental improvement. The key is to not give up on this important skill, and instead to continue improving. One day, you will be the great writer that you need to be to get top grades on your essay exams. If you don’t have an exam improvement book, I recommend Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School.

 

 

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Exam Preparation law school academic success Study Technique

Study Group How To

Are you wondering whether you should join a study group, or if you’re in one, how to make it work better? There is an ancient Japanese proverb that says: “None of us is as smart as all of us.” In general, that is true. But study groups that are not designed well can lead to pooled ignorance.

Advantages

One advantage of study groups is that it creates accountability. If you know you must complete a group project by a certain date, you’re going to get it done. But if you’re not convinced, here is a scientific article on the benefits of small groups outside of the classroom.

Here are seven tips for successful small groups.

Tip 1

One, set a time limit and the number of hours you will meet. For most of the semester, a one hour meeting, two or three times a week should be enough. As you get closer to finals, you will want to increase that amount. But any more than that and you will probably be wasting time.

Tip 2

Two, focus on discussing the confusing areas, not everything that was discussed in class. All too often, a study group can morph into a social group. While we all need community, too much social interaction defeats the learning aspect of the group, as group members start gossiping about others and griping about professors. That’s just not productive.

Tip 3

Three, trade outlines. Before your meeting, decide on what part of the law you are going to work on and then at the meeting, swap outlines. Everyone has to prepare their own outline, but by trading them you can expose gaps in your understanding and discover errors.

Tip 4

Four, do practice exams and then grade someone else’s essay. Doing a practice exam, without feedback from someone, is practically worthless.   Take an old exam, or a commercial practice exam. Once you complete the exam, trade it with someone else in the group. Each person will grade that other person’s exam, and you have to agree to be brutally honest in your grading. Now, here’s the magic with this approach. Not only are you getting feedback from someone else, but you are grading someone else’s exam so you will be more objective. Unfortunately, when we grade our own work, we are often unable to see the flaws. But when you grade somebody else’s exam, you see more of their problems than they do. And by spotting that other person’s problems, you develop a more critical eye, which will help you when you take your final exam.  If you need some practice exams, there are some exams you can download for free at this exam bank.

No cell phone sign. Use with study group.Tip 5

Five, eliminate distractions during your sessions. This means either turning off your phones or turning them to airplane mode. You may have to agree to place all your phones in the middle of the table to prevent distractions.

Tip 6

Six, review the law by asking each other questions about the law. You can make a game out of this, where two of you take one side, and two on the other. You might even want to use flashcards, which will help you expose gaps in your knowledge–I recommend the creating a Leitner box, which is an advanced flashcard method.   The key is for the study group to focus on the rules of law that are likely to appear on the final exam.

Tip 7

Seven, assign tasks. Divide the work evenly and in a way that each member knows exactly what they are responsible for.

Membership and Don’ts

So who should you include in your study group? Limit the group to 3 or 4 people. Two is not enough, and when you start getting to 5 and above, you create a situation where some members may not fully participate. You get the freeloader problem. The members of the group should have similar goals, be focused, and motivated. Remember, the study group is helping you prepare for the final exam and is NOT a therapy session. Also, look for a bit of intellectual diversity in the group. If you’re all progressives or you’re all conservatives, you are more likely going to develop group think. By mixing it up a bit, the group will be stronger as you bring your differences with you to the table.

 

Categories
Exam Preparation law school academic success Study Technique

Learning Faster with the Feynman Technique

Have you ever left class wondering what your professor was even talking about? The Feynman Technique will help you learn material faster and at a level where you will remember the concept for years to come. Professor Richard Feynman was a Nobel prize winning physicist who had the nickname “the Great Explainer.” By following four steps, you will learn a topic well enough to remember it on the final exam and the bar exam.

Step 1

Step one: write the name of the concept you want to learn at the top of a page (try to handwrite as much as possible; see this video for why handwriting your notes during class is better).  As the semester progresses, come back to the document every time you need to add more knowledge related to that topic. For example, if you’re having problems understanding proximate cause, write that down. You might start off with the unforeseeable manner of injury, and then later in the semester come back to the unforeseeable intervening event.

Step 2

Person teaching another as in the Feynman TechniqueStep two: pretend you are teaching the topic to someone else, preferably a high school student. This means that you must make it simple enough for them to understand, including word choice and sentence structure. All too often, a law student will copy a rule verbatim from a case. While the rule statement may be accurate, how likely are you to remember antiquated language from the early 1900s or earlier? For example, when you take Business Associations you will likely read Benjamin Cardozo’s classic case Meinhard v. Salmon. Your professor will certainly focus on these words for establishing the standard of care:

Joint adventurers, like copartners, owe to one another, while the enterprise continues, the duty of the finest loyalty. Many forms of conduct permissible in a workaday world for those acting at arm’s length, are forbidden to those bound by fiduciary ties. A trustee is held to something stricter than the morals of the market place. Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive, is then the standard of behavior.

That is some of the best legal prose I’ve ever read, but do you really understand what Cardozo is saying? Let’s take that language and make it simpler. Teach it to that high school student by stating it in modern English: “Partners owe to each other the highest standard of behavior.” And there you have it folks, a long phrase converted into ten simple words. When you are working on this step, make sure to explain the rule as simply and briefly as possible. And for some cool information on why teaching a subject will help you learn it better—and why oldest children, on average, are smarter than younger siblings—see this article on the protege effect.

Step 3

Step three: When you get stuck or are shaky on one of the concepts, go back and study more. This means looking at your books, doing more research, and talking to your professor. If you have multiple choice questions, work through those as well. Remember, if you can’t teach the material to a high schooler, you don’t know it well enough.

Step 4

Step four: Go back to step 1 and repeat the process. In other words, the Feynman Technique is about the process, not the end product. This is because we all understand material better when we teach it. I understood torts at a much deeper level when I taught it, and you will understand something better when you teach it. If you see a technical term, try to simplify it. Will that high school student really understand, without additional explanation, the terms “consideration by estoppel” or “negligence per se?” As you simplify the concept, you will begin to understand the material in a much deeper way that will help you not only remember it on the exam, but will also help you with issue spotting and multiple-choice bar exam questions.

Ultimately, if you’ve tried everything you can but are still having problems, consider looking for a law school tutor. There is no shame in asking for help, especially for something as important as your education.

 

Categories
law school academic success Study Technique

Deep Learning with Elaborative Interrogation

The elaborative interrogation technique may sound like a spy how-to manual, but it is used to go beyond simply memorizing difficult concepts to understanding them. For example, you may be able to recite the three elements for res ipsa loquitur, but have no idea what they mean or how to apply them in a fact pattern. This method helps you remember and understand by having you ask how and why questions, thereby allowing you to see connections between the various concepts.

Compare and Contrast

As you use this technique you will compare and contrast ideas by asking how two concepts are similar and how they are different.

Let’s go back to our res ipsa loquitur example. You’ve memorized the three-part test for this concept and that is where most students stop. So when they get to the exam, they don’t do well because they really don’t understand how to apply res ipsa loquitur to get the maximum number of points.

In reality, these students learned how to recite a test that they did not truly understand.

Res Ipsa Loquitur Example

So step one is to connect res ipsa loquitur to what we do know. You might ask yourself, how does it connect to negligence? You then answer: it is connected to breach of duty.

Now go deeper. Ask yourself, how does res ipsa loquitur connect to breach of duty? It helps us determine if somebody breached their duty of care.

Go even deeper. Why do we need res ipsa loquitur? When the evidence against the defendant is circumstantial and not direct.

Don’t stop there; go deeper. What is circumstantial evidence? It is evidence that can be inferred from a fact that I know to be true. What is the effect of using res ipsa loquitur at trial?

Keep interrogating yourself and you will establish connections between interrelated concepts. Soon you will understand the concept better and expose gaps in your knowledge that will encourage you to do more research.

By the way, I strongly recommend that you go through this process in writing. It’s just too easy to skip steps or not see the gaps without writing it down or typing it out on your computer.

This technique will work very nicely with the Feynman technique, which I discussed in the episode “Learn Law Faster: The Feynman Technique.”

International Shoe v. Washington Example

Let’s try another example, this time using everybody’s favorite topic, civil procedure. You just read International Shoe v. Washington.

First questions: what is this case even about? How is it similar to Pennoyer v. Neff? How is it different from Pennoyer v. Neff?

Next questions: in real life, how does this case affect people? Do I still need personal jurisdiction after International Shoe?

More questions you could ask: what is personal jurisdiction? How does this case change personal jurisdiction?

See what we’re doing? We’re making multiple connections that will help you understand all the various aspects of the case.

Puzzle pieces held by hands demonstrating elaborative interrogation

Rationale

So why do you even need to use this technique? The reason you need it is because you don’t know what you don’t know. You need a process to move beyond knowledge to comprehension. By creating those connections between different concepts, you won’t be fooled by some strange fact pattern on exam day. Your professor sees those connections and will test you on your ability to see those connections, not on your ability to memorize a rule statement.

Don’t misunderstand me; you still need to memorize the rules–I recommend the Leitner box flashcard method. But law school exams require you to move beyond memorization into analysis—the kind of analysis that is only possible if you truly understand the material. For an interesting article on how students learn, check out this article on how students learn. Also, if you need help, you may want to look into working with a law school tutor.

 

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Black Letter Law

What do professors mean when they say you need to know black letter law, or hornbook law? Black letter laws are the legal rules and principles that are so well accepted across the country that there is no longer any basic disagreement as to what they are. But keep in mind many states have slight variations on how they articulate the rules. Also, states may define certain key terms slightly differently. So when you become a lawyer, or if a professor asks for a certain state’s rule, make sure that you use the variation in your state.

With that slight caveat, no one would dispute, for example, that a tortious battery requires the intentional harmful or offensive contact of another. That is black letter law, as noted in my book on the intentional torts.

Law School Exams

Almost all law professors will require you to learn black letter law for exam purposes. This is because law schools, except in Louisiana and Puerto Rico, are preparing you to practice anywhere in the country. Also, the uniform portions of the bar exam will test you on these rules.

Many of you are wondering where to find these black letter rules. As I mentioned earlier, these rules are also called hornbook rules because you can find them in hornbooks. A hornbook is a book that attempts to capture the most important rules in a single area of law. Some examples include Criminal Law by LaFave, Torts by Dobbs, and Contracts by Perillo. The hornbook writers are able to determine the black letter law by reading cases and legislation from all fifty states, and then distilling them down into a single volume of law.

I do not recommend that students purchase hornbooks because they provide too much information for the typical student. One reason why the hornbooks are so big is because they have extensive footnotes to many cases and legislative enactments. I do recommend that you consider buying concise hornbooks, which condense hornbooks into a more readable size, for example, from 1,000 pages to 250 or 300 pages. For years I assigned concise hornbooks, along with a casebook, as the concise hornbooks provide the most important rules without going into detail about more obscure rules or minority positions.

Bar Exam

Person preparing for bar exam studying the black letter lawIf you are preparing to take the bar exam, the bar prep companies do a decent job in providing you with the black letter law. They do this by distilling the law found in hornbooks into something more manageable. But the law doesn’t always have a clear majority rule amongst the states. In that case, you are unlikely to find those rules on the uniform portions of the bar exam. For a few tips on what not to do more bar exam tips, check out this video on what not to do on bar exam day.

Several years ago I noticed one of these unclear areas in tort law. So I called the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the group that creates the uniform bar exam. I was trying to figure out what rule they would use on the bar exam for that issue. I was told that they don’t test these areas because there is no broad agreement on the rule.

Dissents

Finally, keep in mind that your casebook will have a mix of black letter law and minority positions. This is done for various reasons, such as helping students see two sides of a legal problem or to provide you with a historical progression of a rule. In the words of Charles Evans Hughes: “ A dissent . . . is an appeal . . . to the intelligence of a future day, when a later decision may possibly correct the error into which the dissenting judge believes the court to have been betrayed . . . .” This article on dissents is lengthy but a good discussion on the importance of dissenting opinions.