Study Guides for Law Student Success

The bar exam is not just another test, and this is not just another How To book. This is your personal success guide. Whether taking a UBE or a state-specific bar, this book will help you train and prepare for one of the toughest high-stakes exam experiences imaginable. The author’s strategies will motivate you to do what it takes to succeed in law school, the bar exam, and in the legal profession.

The Bar Exam in a Nutshell walks you through the entire bar preparation process from getting a head start during law school to taking the exam. It features comprehensive coverage of the Uniform Bar Exam, including an explanation of each component and how to prepare for it. This edition also provides guidelines for selecting a bar review course, bar planner checklists, advice on how to manage the material you cover in bar review courses, and advice on how to learn the law so you can remember it and use it to answer exam questions. It identifies the basic skills that the bar exam tests and the precise manner in which they are tested, showing you how to target your study efforts to maximize results. Importantly, it includes structured study schedules so you can plan your time by the day, the hour, and the task for each week throughout the bar prep period. An Appendix provides sample MPT and MEE materials including guidance in outlining whether writing or typing your answer.

Whether you are a law student preparing for on-campus interviews and your summer associate position or a first-year associate embarking on your legal career at a law firm, this book is full of practical guidance ranging from preparing for your first day to protecting your health as a lawyer to requesting detailed feedback on assignments. Based on the advice and experiences garnered from numerous practicing attorneys, Rising Lawyer offers answers to the questions you are too embarrassed to ask and the real-world advice lawyers wished they had when they were starting out their legal careers. Other topics covered include handling mistakes at work, building professional relationships, examining your values and career goals, as well as marketing yourself as a junior associate. A quick read with a healthy dose of humor and self-awareness.

Let’s face it—there are many aspects of law school that resemble the secret menu at a restaurant. If no one lets your students in on the secrets of law school, they might miss out on career-building opportunities. Judicial clerkships certainly fall into this category. And, at many law schools, only the ultra-competitive federal appellate clerkships receive much promotion. But students should also know that there are a vast array of federal, state, administrative, Tribal, and international clerkship opportunities out there.

This book will walk your students through the secret menu of judicial clerkships. Capitalizing on her nearly two decades of working with judges, Professor Dysart has written this Guide to delve into the details of judicial clerkships including: what are clerkships and what different types of clerkships are available. The Guide then outlines the benefits of clerking and refutes common arguments against clerking. It provides detailed advice on determining which judges to apply to, how to research judges, how to compile effective clerkship applications, and how to interview for clerkships. The Guide concludes with information on making the most of the clerkship year and ethical considerations for clerks.

The need to network has been preached to exhaustion while simultaneously made incomprehensible. This Short & Happy Guide eliminates the hoopla the popular press and others have created around a behavior that is as old as our society. The term networking is an invention—building relationships is deeply human. This book cuts through the clutter and outlines how everyone can build relationships in a way that is not only comfortable but enjoyable. No ploys or stunts, no templates or arbitrary rules. And if you don’t want to go to networking receptions, you really don’t have to. You can still—and will—be an exceptional networker.

Built on the very successful model of Get a Running Start: Your Comprehensive Guide to the First Year Curriculum, this book offers a global overview of the core upper-level bar courses in a single volume. In accessible, short lessons, Stay Ahead of the Pack covers all the major concepts taught in each of the courses most commonly taken by second- and third-year law students: administrative law, business associations, criminal procedure, evidence, personal income tax, and professional responsibility.