Legal Study Guides: Home

Several legal publishers produce study guides. These guides are treatises that provide a foundational understanding of one of the fundamental areas of legal studies, for instance, tort law or insurance law. There are a few common uses for study guides:

• Use them for background research as you would other secondary sources.
• Follow up on substantive law areas that were unclear during class lectures or assigned readings.
• Prepare for examinations in substantive law classes

The law library provides current editions of some of these resources at the reserve desk.  Older editions are shelved in the main stacks.  For ebooks of study guides, search in the library catalog.  LexisNexis study aids, West Academic study aids, and Wolters Kluwer study aids are available from the law library's database page.

 

Various titles published by West Academic, such as hornbooks, nutshells, Black Letter series, and the Acing series are available from the West Academic Study Aids on our library databases page.  

Similarly, LexisNexis study aid titles such as the Understanding Series, Mastering Series, and Q & A are also available from this page under LexisNexis Study Aids and E-books.

The Wolters Kluwer study aid content includes exam prep titles such as the Examples & Explanations series and the Crunchtime series.

 

These resources supplement class readings or provide foundational understanding of a legal topic.

Hornbooks    

Hornbooks are comprehensive volumes covering broad topics of law.  They are frequently written by the same authors who wrote your casebook and usually cover the same leading cases and rules of law.  You will see references to these books in decisions.  

Examples: 

• Prosser, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, Reserve KF 1250 .P73
• Perillo, Calamari and Perillo on Contracts, KF 801 .C26
• Stoebuck and Whitman, The Law of Property, KF 570 .C86
• LaFave, Criminal Law,  KF 9219 .L38 
   

 

 

Nutshells

Nutshells are a series of paperback books that cover a single legal subject in an easily readable format with less discussion of cases and more general explanation of the rules of law. 

Examples: 

• Contracts, Reserve KF 801 .Z9 .R62

• Criminal Law, Reserve KF 9219.85 .L63

• Real Property,  Reserve KF 570 .Z9 .B47

• Torts, Reserve KF 1250 .Z9 .K53

 

Quick Review (Sum and Substance Quick Review series)

 

This resource focuses on outline preparation, with a “big picture” overview and comprehensive narrative treatment.  There are some brief questions and answers, case illustrations, and some exam tips, but no summaries or flow charts. 

 

Examples:

• Property, Reserve KF 561 .J84 
• Evidence, Reserve KF 8935.Z9 G663  
   

 

 

 Sum and Substance Audio

The Sum & Substance CDs are introductory lectures by renown professors on specific legal topics. They serve as a great tool to clarify complex issues discussed in class, and the format is excellent for commuters and those students who are auditory learners. These resources are in very high demand throughout the semester.

 

 

Understanding Series

 

This series explains the basic principles of an area of law and discusses policy concerns and historical events that shape the law.  It supplements casebooks.  The goal is a deeper understanding of the legal topic.  It is not designed as an exam preparation tool.

Examples:

• Understanding Administrative Law, Reserve KF 5402 .F68
• Understanding Criminal Law, Reserve KF 9219 .D74
• Understanding Securities Law, Reserve KF 1440 .S74
• Understanding Torts, Reserve KF 1250 .D53  

 

 

Acing Law School Series

This series organizes rules to analyze and answer problems in substantive areas.  Each chapter begins with a review of the rules, followed by a checklist of important points.  Next it outlines the order in which to consider and apply the rules.  There are short-answer problems with sample answers, and each section concludes with points to remember. It is less comprehensive but focuses on analysis.  Easy to use and clear explanations.

Examples:

• Acing Civil Procedure, Reserve KF 8841 .S654  
• Acing Contracts, Reserve KF 801.Z9 D37
• Acing Property, Reserve KF 560 .M43

 

Examples and Explanations (E&E)

This series discusses fundamental definitions, rules, and concepts covered in substantive law courses.  It begins with an overview, including a series of examples to test students’ understanding and ability to apply the law to specific problems.  This is followed by explanations with solutions to the problems that discuss rules and insights.  Examples are short questions that build on small variances in the facts.  Explanations are short paragraphs in response to each part of the example.  This series has broader coverage of topic than the Acing series.

Examples:

• Contracts: Examples & Explanations,  Reserve KF 801 .B58 
• Evidence: Examples & Explanations,  Reserve KF 8935.Z9 B48 
• Professional Responsibility: Examples & Explanations,  Reserve KF 306 .W46
• Wills, Trusts, and Estates: Examples & Explanations, Reserve KF 755.Z9 B49  

Emanuel CrunchTime

Less comprehensive than E&E, these books contains flow charts, capsule summaries, exam tips, short answer question and answers, multiple choice questions and answers, and essay questions and answers.  These are abridgements of Emanuel Law Outline series.  The coverage is content most likely to appear on exams and is not intended to be comprehensive.   

Examples:

• Constitutional Law, Reserve KF 4550.Z9 E523
• Criminal Law, Reserve KF 9219.3 .E44
• Property, Reserve KF 570.Z9 E43 
• Torts, Reserve KF 1250.Z9 E468   

Emanuel Law Outlines

Similar to CrunchTime in format, the Outlines are more comprehensive in coverage.  These do not include the flow charts from CrunchTime, but they have an expanded summary for each topic, essay exam questions and answers, and multistate-style exam questions and answers. The content correlates to the standard case books in the field.

Examples:

• Constitutional Law, Reserve KF 4550.Z9 E523 
• Criminal Law, Reserve KF 9219.3 .E44 
• Professional Responsibility, Reserve KF 306 .M65 
• Torts, Reserve KF 1250.Z9 E468   

Questions & Answers (Q&A) 

This set uses multiple choice and short answer format and supplements the casebook.  Coverage is not comprehensive, with no summary of rules, but questions are selected based on most popular casebook and also course syllabi from around the country.  The goal is to test students’ understanding of the area of law. 

Examples:

• Questions & Answers: Constitutional Law, Reserve KF 4550 .Z9 .M44
• Questions & Answers: Criminal Law, Reserve KF9219.85 .L48 
• Questions & Answers: Family Law, Reserve KF505.Z9 S77 
• Questions & Answers: Wills, Trusts & Estates, Reserve KF 755 .F36   

Law in Motion

This is an interactive guide with online resources:  animation videos, flash cards, multiple choice questions, essay questions, timed practice exams, and case examples.  It is designed for audio-visual learners.  Library users will probably not have access to online resources.  This is a better tool for a personal purchase.