Tag: law school notes

How to Take Notes in Law School

Post author By Beau Baez
Post date February 2, 2018

How to take notes in law school isn’t difficult, if you use the Cornell notetaking method. Developed at Cornell University over 50 years ago, it has been used by people around the world to better organize their thoughts. Once class is over, you will have a better way to find what you covered in class, and to connect ideas covered in previous sessions.

Handwrite or Type Notes

This has become an issue because many students wanting to take notes in law school on their computers during class. While it is possible to use this method on a computer, the preferred method for taking notes during class is by hand. I’ve discussed this extensively in a video called Handwrite or Type Notes. The problem with typing notes is that the mind uses a different part of the brain when typing. And that part of the brain doesn’t retain information very well.

Paper

The first step is to have the right paper. While you can search for Cornell Method paper and purchase it pre-formatted, you can easily format any paper, lined or blank, with a ruler and pen. To format the paper yourself, go two inches (5 cm) from the left side and draw a line from the top to bottom, dividing the paper into two columns. You will take your notes in the much larger right column, and leave the left column alone during class. At the bottom, draw a horizontal line two inches (5 cm) from the bottom, which you will also leave blank during class.

During class you will place all of your notes in the right column. Don’t try to outline your notes during class. Instead, focus on the content of the discussion. Now, if there is material that is sequential in nature, then you may want to number it. But don’t try to place the material into a much larger organizational system during class. For example, suppose that your Torts outline you have Trespass to Land under section III(C). That is fine, but don’t worry about that during class time. So if your professor says there are 5 elements to Trespass to Land, then by all means write down 1 through 5, along with the elements. Just don’t worry about aligning it to your outline during the class discussion. By the way, I made a video on Trespass to Land that you might find useful.

Capture Ideas

Next, don’t take verbatim notes. Instead, capture the most important ideas. Since they are your notes, write telegraphically. You have likely seen movies where someone received a telegram. Because people paid by the individual letter they sent, telegrams sound choppy, yet they are completely understandable. You can employ the same technique and avoid words like a, an, the, or for. Also, use abbreviations. In law school, many students use a capital K for contract, a p for plaintiff, and d for defendant. These are your notes, so create abbreviations that work for you.

CUE Column

Shortly after class, you will use the left side column, which is called the cue column. Cue, spelled C-U-E, are your cues for helping you understand what is in your notes. You should write down key words in the cue column that correlate to your notes in the right column. For example, suppose your class discussion was about mutual assent for a contract. In the cue column you might write down “offer” in one spot and then further down the page you might write down “acceptance.” One advantage of using key words is that you can then find those key words on other pages where they appear, allowing you to tie concepts together, even though they might have been discussed at different times during class, or even over several classes.

Summary Section

Finally, the blank section at the bottom of the page is a summary section. After you complete the cue section, summarize your notes on that part of the page. This is critically important, because each time you engage with the material you learn it at a deeper level. Much more so than will occur if you only reread your notes. This is very similar to the Elaborative Interrogation technique, which helps create new connections between concepts.

Tags law school, law school classroom, law school note taking, law school notes, law school prep, law school tips, take notes in law school

Essay Exam Exam Preparation Study Technique

How to Make a Law School Outline

Post author By Beau Baez
Post date November 2, 2017
No Comments on How to Make a Law School Outline

Coffee and notepad for making a law school outline

Do you need to learn how to make a law school outline? Your outline is, nothing more and nothing less, than your blueprint for doing well on the exam. This means understanding law school exam grading, which I cover in detail in the episode called Law School Exam Grading.

First, let’s discuss what you should NOT do when creating a law school outline. A mistake that many law students make is to take their class notes, rearrange them a bit, and then place them into their outline. That is not an outline, but rather a rearranged set of notes.

Also, do NOT include facts from cases discussed in class. The only thing you need from cases discussed in class are the rules from those cases.

So now let’s talk about what should go into an outline. The first thing you need is a framework for the course. I recommend that you take the table of contents from your assigned book, or the course syllabus, and use that as a starting point. You might change the format as you go along, but you need to have something to get you going.

The Rules

Second, place the rules that you learned into the outline. The rules and exceptions to the rules need to be as concise as possible, and written in your own words. For example, suppose you have a case from 1894 and the case states the rule as follows: the wrong inflicted, when the defendant so did with intent, and with force that contacted the victim’s person, must result in adequate compensation for that injury. Now let’s take that archaic language and write something like this: A defendant’s intentional action will result in the defendant paying for all damages. So see what I did there? I took that old language, rearranged it, and turned it into something that we can understand today. Generally, law school exams will only test you on the black letter law.

Third, if the professor tells you, or strongly hints that something is going to be on the exam, then make a note of that in your law school outline.

Fourth, if you know your professor will test you on policy, place the policy arguments in the outline. More on what to transfer from your class notes in the episode “Taking Notes in Law School: The Content.”

Fifth, think about the size of your outline. Since the outline is the primary tool you’ll be using to crush your final, it must be useable. This means short and to the point rule statements that you can use on the exam. Think about it. You will remember a 15-word rule statement a lot better than a 22-word rule statement. This article provides a good example of what an outline could look like.

When to Look at Another Outline

Finally, when you have worked as hard as you can and you believe you have the perfect law school outline, then, and only then, look at an outline that someone else created. As I noted in my last episode, “Why Create Your Own Law School Outlines,” it is critically important that you first work on the outline by yourself because that will help you learn the law better. When you see the differences in the two outlines, don’t just make the changes. Think about the differences. Ask yourself, why is there a difference? You may find that your outline that you wrote is better in a particular area, or, you may find that you missed something. Once you’ve discovered your errors, go back and find out why you made those errors as that will reveal gaps in your knowledge, and potentially in your understanding of the law. If you stop and reflect, you will learn the law in a way that will help you get a higher score on the exam.

Those who rely solely, or heavily, on commercial outlines created by others create the illusion that they know the law. But they are failing to make the connections that are necessary to get high grades.

Tags law school exam, law school notes, law school outline, law school success

Classroom law school academic success Study Technique

8 Tips for Staying Awake and Engaged in Class

Post author By Beau Baez
Post date October 21, 2017
No Comments on 8 Tips for Staying Awake and Engaged in Class

Bored student having problem staying engaged and awake in class

Here are 8 tips when you need help staying awake and engaged in class when you are zoning out, spacing out, distracted, daydreaming, or flat-out falling asleep! These are all real issues that every student faces. If you are having problems outside of class, you may want to learn how to use mindfulness to improve concentration. Here are a few ideas to teach you how to pull your attention back to the important material being discussed in class.

Tip 1

One, turn off all electronic devices and put them away. Put your cell phone in a locker, the front of the room, keep it away from you so you’re not tempted. Recent studies show multitasking is ineffective. You do your best when you focus on one thing at a time. Electronics pull your attention away from the discussion and you might miss important information.

Tip 2

Two, sit as close to the front on the classroom as possible. Students who sit at the front score higher on tests for many reasons. There are fewer distractions from others, the material on the board is easier to read, and it is harder to fall asleep when you’re closer to the professor. Also, sound begins to dissipate at 8-12 feet away; so if you are beyond that range, your ability to understand is more difficult. Finally, those in the front are making a public commitment to learning, which actually results in more learning.

Tip 3

Three, recognizing that daydreaming happens to all of us, use a few strategies to get back on “To Do” list and then get back to paying attention. A second technique is to visualize you and your professor are in a one-on-one conversation. Focus on his or her eye, body language, and facial expressions just like you would in a one-on-one meeting.

Tip 4

Four, defer judgment. When you disagree with something that was said, write it down, mark it with a big “D”, then spend some time after class reflecting on the disagreement rather than focusing on it during class. Dwelling on it through the rest of the class is just going to take you away from the class and you are not going to be engaged with the discussion.

Tip 5

Five, participate. If your professor asks for volunteers, then occasionally raise your hand. I know, I know. Most of you don’t want to be “that student” that is constantly raising their hand to hear themselves talk. But decide to raise your hand every other class or once per class. Regardless of whether you are speaking aloud or not, you should always be answering the professor’s questions in your mind.

Tip 6

Six, on days when you are really finding it hard to stay engaged, write your goals at the top of your notes. For example, your goal might be to get on Law Review. It might be to keep your scholarship money or just to make it through school. Write it at the top of the page as a reminder of why paying attention is important for you. This gives you a reward, something to look forward to for paying attention. Also, make sure you are taking notes the right way.

Tip 7

Seven, ignore the professor’s lecture style. Maybe your professor says “um” all the time and you start counting the number of times he or she says it. Don’t do that! You are missing the content of the class. If your professor rambles, mark down where you started getting confused and use that as a tool to organize your notes after class. You are going to learn the class better anyway if you do the organization yourself.

Tip 8

Finally, engage in active note-writing. This means listening and then capturing the important thoughts being discussed, though not a verbatim transcript. For example, perhaps the professor uses a hypothetical. Rather than capturing every single word, listen to the hypothetical, answer it in your mind, and then capture some ideas from the hypo. So your notes might go something like this: “hypo dealing with adverse possession and whether car parked on neighbor’s property once a week qualifies, NO!” There you go! You have the essence of the hypothetical and your answer. By the way, a verbatim transcript of class, which will keep you awake, will result in less learning, not more learning. You may wan to learn check out my video on handwriting vs typing notes during class.

Tags law school classroom, law school engagement, law school notes, law school success

Classroom law school academic success Study Technique

Law School Notes

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Are you wondering how to take law school notes? If you are not a genius, like Mike from Suits, you will need to learn how to take notes during a classroom discussion. Many students fall into the trap of thinking they need to write down every word said during a class. This is a mistake! The key is engagement, rather than mindlessly copying everything you hear in class. Additionally, copying everything you hear stimulates the wrong part of the brain, as I discuss in Handwrite or Type Notes, and which is also discussed in the scientific study “The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard.”

One thing you should be aware of is that most of a classroom discussion is irrelevant for the final exam. That’s right, 95% of what you hear in class will not be necessary for the final exam! The key for law school success is to separate the important from the unimportant. Here are a few things that will help you determine what you need to write down from a classroom discussion.

Keep the End in Mind

When taking law school notes, you need to keep the end in mind. So ask yourself during a classroom discussion, “what do I need to help me in the final exam?” The vast majority of law professors test you on your ability to apply laws to a set of facts, NOT facts from cases read and discussed throughout the course. (Just as an aside, check out this article on how Supreme Court justices write their opinions). So step number one during class is to figure out the rule that your professor will test you on. Over a typical one and a half hour classroom session, you might have, at most, half a page of notes dedicated to the rules needed for exam purposes. Keep in mind that each case usually represents one rule and you only need a sentence or two for each rule.

Policy Rationale

Second, a few professors might want you to provide them with policy rationales on an exam. If your professor is going to test you on policy rationales, then yes, capture the policy rationales when they come up in class. If your professor makes past exams available, the best way to find out if he or she tests on policy rationale is by getting an exam from a previous semester, along with the best student answer. Remember, few professors actually want this information on an exam. And even the few that do will not usually assign too many points to policy rationales. So don’t lose too much sleep over policy! In most cases, you can create your own policy rationale, rather than providing the exact policies that were covered in class.

Professor Clues

Third, anytime your professor tells you that something is important, write it down. This is a major clue that you are likely going to see it on the final. For example, when I teach Torts, I tell students that they will see a products liability question on the final. Also, your professor may say something like “this is very important, so listen.” Again, a clue that you are going to be tested on this. If you have to, place a star or some mark by this in your notes.

Themes

Fourth, listen for recurring words and themes the professor keeps coming back to. These may be important in helping you determine what he or she might place on the test. Also, if your professor is an expert in an area that they teach, prepare for some of that to appear on your exam.

Writes on Board

Fifth, if the professor writes on the board, put that information in your notes. This is especially true if the professor rarely writes on the board. If the professor is writing too quickly, see if you’re allowed to make a picture of the board with your smart phone. However, if your professor writes lots of information on the board, they might be doing it for discussion and not exam purporses.

Don’t Do

Now let’s discuss what NOT to write down. Not everything your professor says or asks needs to go into your notes. Most of a classroom discussion is directed at getting you to understand the facts and law from a particular case. Do not write down facts from a case to help you understand the case better. Unless this is a constitutional law class, you will never need to know the facts from that case again. For example, if you read Pennoyer v. Neff in your Civil Procedure class, you might be tempted to write down some additional facts that the professor provides to help you understand the case. Don’t write those facts down as they are completely useless for exam purposes.

Also, don’t write down what your classmates say. Unless the professor tells you that the colleague just articulated a correct rule of law, much of what your colleagues say is irrelevant. The purpose of the Socratic Method is to get students to get to the right answer. But along the way, there will be dialogue that is just not necessary.

Taking notes is important, so make sure to primarily rely on YOUR law school notes, and not on what you find in study aids. As I explain in more detail in this video on study aids, there is a right way and a wrong way to use them.

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Tags law school classroom, law school notes, law school success, law school tips

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