Jul 22, 2009
The Summer Before Law School, Reading Lists
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By: Luke Gilman | Other Posts by Luke Gilman Go to Comments | 4 Comments |
The UH Law Center posts a recommended reading book list (.pdf) for the summer for the gunners-in-waiting. I’ve read a number of them; some were wonderful, others useless. Your mileage may vary. Reviewed below:
- Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study by Karl N. Llewellyn (Agreed; it’s an ancient, hoary, antiquated text first published in 1930; it’s useful not only despite its age but because you’re going to see a lot of ancient, hoary, antiquated; best to make friends with it now.)
- A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr (Highly Recommended; it’s the rare combination of useful and entertaining and does a decent job of placing civil procedure in a practical context.)
- The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the Survivors of One of the Worst Disasters in Coal-Mining History Brought Suit against the Coal Company–and Won by Gerald M. Stern (Recommended for the same reasons as a Civil Action, but written from the lawyer’s point of view.)
- Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States by Sister Helen Prejean (Toss Up best to get all that self-righteous indignation out of your system; it won’t do much for you on an exam.)
- Letters to a Young Lawyer by Alan M. Dershowitz (Toss Up Dershowitz is no Rilke; interesting, but not particularly relevant to law school.)
- Academic Legal Writing by Eugene Volokh (Highly Recommended though it won’t really be worth picking up until you get involved with journals, where it will be extremely useful; for now just start reading the Volokh Conspiracy)
- Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won’t Learn in Class by Shana Connell Noyes and Henry S. Noyes; Bridging the Gap between College and Law School: Strategies for Success by Ruta K. Stropus and Charlotte D. Taylor; Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams by Richard Michael Fischl and Jeremy Paul; Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success by Helene Shapo and Marshall Shapo (Meh… I hate to dismiss the whole genre of law school self-help books out of hand but it’s the kind of information you could get by talking with 2Ls and 3Ls. But if it helps reassure your type-A anxiety, then by all means.)
- Ages of American Law by Grant Gilmore, Economic Analysis of Law by Richard A. Posner, The Nature of the Judicial Process by Benjamin N. Cardozo (Sedative Anyone? Like James Joyce’s Ulysses, this is the kind of thing you always meant to read but has never gotten around to. Posner’s book is a 787 textbook for chrissakes. Just wait until someone assigns it to you. IN the meantime, subscribe to Lawrence Solum’s excellent Legal Theory Blog)
A glaring omission:
- LawyerBoy by Rick Lax (Highly Recommended part law school diary, part coming of age story, it pretty much nails the inside view of law school for the vast majority of us. The sole caveat is that it was pretty good exit strategy from actually having to practice law; opportunities for emulation may be limited.)
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[...] Gilman of The Blawgraphy has a breakdown of the University of Houston Law Center’s 1L reading list. Good points on most of those books, but I’m more bullish on One-L and Getting to Maybe than [...]
I really enjoyed reading Scott Turow’s 1L. If nothing else it gave me perspective on the dying Socratic method and made for a pretty good story. I agree that most if not all law school help books (including the much touted Getting to Maybe) are relatively useless and of little help.
I favor books that deal with the reality of law as much better insights and highly recommend Indefensible by David Feige and Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis.
Bramble Bush, if you can even get your hands on a copy since its been out of print for eons, was so onerous to read it made Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged seem like Us Weekly.
I can’t believe I missed Turow’s 1L. I couldn’t agree more, even if it is a little dated.
[...] The Summer Before Law School Reading Lists: Make the most of the time you have before you’re bogged down by schoolwork to get some great preparatory work done. [...]