Support Materials: This is Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Products (Continued)
    CD's and MP3's: Audio coverage of a course can be helpful.  Students listen to the tapes while driving or if the coverage is sufficiently on point, outline straight off of the audio.  Gilberts, West Group Study Aids and others produce audio content.  Catalogs are available.  Check your law library and bookstore for availability or go to www.lawbooks.com:

West Group Study Aids
At the WestLaw site go to the Search form next to "Books & CD ROM's".  Input "CD" then click "Go".  For a specific course input "CD Contracts" then click "Go".

    Flashcards: Commercial flashcards are available in an assortment of topics.  Emanuel produces a series called “Law in a Flash”.  On one side of the card a question is asked, and on the other side is the answer and explanation.  Flash cards, if used at all, are only helpful once a certain level of knowledge has been amassed regarding the topic.  Try www.lawbooks.com or go to the following:
       
Emanuel Law in a Flash
www.aspenpublishers.com

    Casenote Legal Briefs: Casenote Legal Briefs (simply referred to as Casenotes by law students) produces "canned" briefs for certain cases in your casebook.  In other words, the briefing we will be doing later on in the Farwell case would have been done for you (although formatted differently).  Casenotes are tied to certain casebook authors and topics, so you need to be sure to purchase the correct Casenote edition.  The briefed cases comprise a single page, sometimes a bit more.
    Some cases have terrifically complex facts.  Casenotes are invaluable at giving you the concise, accurate set of facts in very few words. 

Casenote Legal Briefs (Aspen Publishers)
www.casenotes.com
       
Casenotes are also available at Amazon.  This search will pull up all the subjects covered and also detail the textbook author it's keyed to.

    Bar Charts, Inc.: Bar Charts produces laminated overview sheets covering certain subjects.  While they provide a quick reference overview of a subject, these are quick reference charts only!  You will not be able to rely on these charts for any sort of in-depth work.

Bar Charts
www.barcharts.com
       
    Conclusion: Which support materials a person uses and how people prepare is often a personal endeavor.  However, it would be hard to go wrong buying the Emanuel first year set of commercial outlines and picking up the Casenotes geared towards your casebooks (don’t forget, you must buy the Casenotes that are geared toward your assigned casebook).  You visual learners should also consider Emanuel’s Crunch Time series.
    You may want to wait until you arrive at law school and get a flavor for things before making any purchases.  This is a fine approach.  However, if things aren't going well, don't wait too long!  You don't want to be playing catch up.