So, while I was busy not blogging last month, I got a suggested reading list from dean Northern. I was looking forward to getting this list. Now that I have it, I feel a little let down. Check it out:
Suggested Reading List
I have compiled a short list of optional summer and fall reading material. Some of the selections provide good background information for the concepts you will need during your first year of law school. Other material focuses on the emotional and social aspects of being a law student. Yet other material is simply interesting reading. The list is by no means comprehensive, nor should you endeavor to read it all.
IMPORTANT: Every law student should have a Legal Dictionary (Preferably a recent Black’s Law Dictionary) that they can carry with them to the library, to class, etc. The first semester of law school is quite similar to your first semester of a new language the vocabulary can be strikingly unfamiliar and even familiar words, when used in a legal context, may have unfamiliar meaning.
Law School and Legal Education
Aldisert, Ruggero J., Logic for Lawyers: A Guide to Clear Legal Thinking. 3rd ed. South Bend: National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1997
Barber, David H., Winning in Law School: Stress Reduction. 2d ed. Dillon, CO: Spectra, 1986
Calamari, John D. and Joseph M. Perillo, eds. How to Thrive in Law School. Pelham Manor, NY: Hook Mountain Press, 1984
Deaver, Jeff., The Complete Law School Companion: How to Excel at America’s Most Demanding Post-Graduate Curriculum. New York: Wiley, 1992
Feinman, Jay M. Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System. Oxford University Press, 2000
Fine, Toni M., American Legal Systems: A Resource and Reference Guide. Anderson Publishing 1997
Guinier, Lani., Becoming Gentlemen: Women, Law School, and Institutional Change. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997
Hegland, Kenney F., Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law in a Nutshell. 2d ed. St. Paul, West, 1995
Kuklin, Bailey and Jeffrey W. Stempel., Foundations of the Law: An Interdisciplinary Approach and Jurisprudential Primer. West Publishing Co, 1994
Levi, Edward., An Introduction to Legal Reasoning. 1948
Llewellyn, Karl N., The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study. rev. ed. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications 1981
Rapoport, Nancy B. and Jeffrey D. Van Niel, Law School Survival Manual: From LSAT to Bar Exam. Aspen Publishers 2010.
Shapo, Helene S. and Marshall Shapo, Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success. Foundation Press 1996.
General Reading
Davis, Michael D. and Hunter R. Clark, Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench. New York: Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing Group, 1993
Griffith, Kathryn. Judge Learned Hand and the Role of the Federal Judiciary. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1973
Harr, Johnathan, A Civil Action, Vintage Books 1996
Irons, Peter. The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court. New York: Penguin, 1990.
Kahlenberg, Richard D., Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School. University of Massachusetts Press 1999
Stern, Gerald M., The Buffalo Creek Disaster. Random House 1976
Tribe, Lawrence H., God Save This Honorable Court: How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History. New York: Penguin/Mentor, 1986.
I value dean Northerns opinion. Clearly, she knows a lot about law school. However, the law school and legal education list leads me to believe that law school prep books are outside of her scope of knowledge. I have done an extensive amount of research on law school prep and can honestly say that I have heard of very few of these books — three perhaps.
More surprising than the books included are the ones omitted. I figured that the list would at least include Law School Confidential. Even though I consider the advice of the latter basic and common sense, a lot of people appreciate it and find its advice useful. Of course Getting to Maybe should be on any law school prep list as well. But that too is absent.
I have no major problems with the “general reading” list. Indeed, I have even read parts of the Thurgood Marshall bio and found it a good read. I wish that the list had a little more books though. A couple additions not about the supreme court would really balance out the list. Don’t get me wrong, the supreme court is great, its just that there is so much more to the legal field than the supreme court.
At the end of the day, I suppose it is good to have some alternative input. So moving forward I may “endeavor” to get and read a few books off the list. But we shall see.
