Should I rent or buy hornbooks? Forum

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czechitout

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Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by czechitout » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:52 am

Seeing the high price of all my E + E other supplements was a bit scary. Does anyone think E + E (con law + evidence) Barrons and Chemerinsky con law supplements are actually worth buying? Will it make a big difference when preparing for the bar? Or should I just rent them - or alternatively get the previous edition (although I'm skeptical to do that for con law)? Advice is greatly appreciated!!!! 8)

NoDayButToday

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by NoDayButToday » Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:37 am

I did use my Emanuel's Law-in-a-Flash cards a lot during bar prep--probably more than I relied on Barbri. Never touched my E&Es once during bar prep, though. That said, now that I'm a practitioner, I regret selling my evidence E&E, and as someone interested in impact lit long term, I'm also a little annoyed with myself for selling my civil procedure E&E. They make for good references and refreshers. I think renting or buying used or a previous edition is totally fine for the purpose of law school exams. Most law libraries also have a couple of copies of each subject in their reference sections.
Last edited by NoDayButToday on Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

czechitout

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by czechitout » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:00 am

NoDayButToday wrote:I did use my Emanuel's Law-in-a-Flash cards a lot during bar prep--probably more than I relied on Barbri. Never touched my E&Es once during bar prep, though. That said, now that I'm a practitioner, I regret selling my evidence E&E, and as someone interested in impact lit long term, I'm also a little annoyed with myself for selling my civil procedure E&E. They make for good references and refreshers. I think renting or buying used or a previous edition is totally fine for the purpose of law school exams. Most law libraries also have a couple of copies of each subject in their reference sections.

Thank you! That's really helpful! :D

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pancakes3

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by pancakes3 » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:15 am

When I was a 0L, I found a recent grad selling a boxful of e&es on craigslist (older editions) and took it off his hands for $50 but rarely used them. Between older students' outlines and going to profs' office hours, I was able to fill in the gaps and resolve any confusing issues. I bought chemerensky and honestly only opened it twice and it didn't really even help that much. I was able to figure out Sebelius thanks to a TLS poster's outline actually. Some profs "recommend" supplements and I bought those too and some are helpful and others aren't. Whatever property supplement my property prof assigned that was limited to future estates was good practice. Whatever evidence supplement my evidence prof assigned was a jumbled mess.

I will say that e&es are good for borderline niche classes that you'll take as a 2L or 3L (like securities) bc outlines for those classes are harder to come by and you'll be too busy to hit up profs. Plus there's an understanding that as a 2L/3L you need less handholding so they don't spoonfeed you answers. At the very least, they'll help you organize your outline.

As far as bar prep goes, ditto NDBT - barbri/themis/kaplan will give you more than enough materials that you won't even think about reading even more stuff.

As far as using them while in practice, it hasn't come up for me.

Long story short, they make for good security blankets as a 1L, can be useful but aren't necessary, and your use for them after you take the classes will be very limited. Don't go dropping hundreds of dollars for them but it's not a complete waste of money if you can grab a few off ebay/amazon/craigslist at a discount.

dabigchina

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by dabigchina » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:14 pm

Buy the chemerinsky. Everyone gets it and it's really easy to flip for 20 less than what u paid for It. I think renting costs more than that.

Conlaw sups are definitely hit or miss because there r a million interpretations that are all valid. That being said, con law is reading heavy and its nice to be able to read 5 pages in chemerinsky instead of 25 in your casebook if you are strapped for time.

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mcmand

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by mcmand » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:38 pm

I haven't had reason yet to use the supplements I bought in law school in practice, mostly because I have access to equally good or better resources at my job. But that was my main reason for buying and keeping some of them.

I don't mind keeping them though. I rented casebooks and usually bought supplements. The casebooks are just paperweights after the class is over. At least a supplement might help you in some rare instance in the future. Can't imagine how a casebook would.
Last edited by mcmand on Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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floatie

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by floatie » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:41 pm

Definitely buy them off an upperclassman - cheaper than renting, and it's a good deal for them too (plus everyone I bought stuff off of was very generous with study tips).

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RedGiant

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by RedGiant » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:30 am

Your school will likely have Supps on reserve which can be accessed for free. Chemerinsky is long and detailed and you may want your own copy (and do not buy an older one--it should be up to date as ConLaw is one of the few areas where recent cases are key to the development of jurisprudence). If you do not mind studying on campus, I would advise that you buy none of them, and work them into your normal study routine at school, for free. If you have an opp to buy a few cheaply, do so. I personally did not find E&Es to match my learning style but loved certain other supps, so that's another reason why perusing your law library's curated selection will help you winnow the best supps for each subject that work with your study style. GL.

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:57 am

:roll:
mcmand wrote:I haven't had reason yet to use the supplements I bought in law school in practice, mostly because I have access to equally good or better resources at my job. But that was my main reason for buying and keeping some of them.

I don't mind keeping them though. I rented casebooks and usually bought supplements. The casebooks are just paperweights after the class is over. At least a supplement might help you in some rare instance in the future. Can't imagine how a casebook would.
Yeah, I didn’t keep supplements and don’t miss them at all, because way more likely than not, your job will give you access to treatises through Westlaw/Lexis that are much more suited to practice.

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NoDayButToday

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by NoDayButToday » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:21 am

A. Nony Mouse wrote::roll:
mcmand wrote:I haven't had reason yet to use the supplements I bought in law school in practice, mostly because I have access to equally good or better resources at my job. But that was my main reason for buying and keeping some of them.

I don't mind keeping them though. I rented casebooks and usually bought supplements. The casebooks are just paperweights after the class is over. At least a supplement might help you in some rare instance in the future. Can't imagine how a casebook would.
Yeah, I didn’t keep supplements and don’t miss them at all, because way more likely than not, your job will give you access to treatises through Westlaw/Lexis that are much more suited to practice.
Assuming you're in an organization that can afford that / in a state willing to provide that kind of money to its county offices :?
Last edited by NoDayButToday on Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mcmand

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by mcmand » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:44 am

NoDayButToday wrote:Assuming you're in an organization that can afford that / in a state willing to provide that kind of money to its county offices
You'll get at least Lexis or Westlaw government accounts if you work in government, if not both. As for nonprofits, I don't know.
Last edited by mcmand on Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

NoDayButToday

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by NoDayButToday » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:46 pm

mcmand wrote:
NoDayButToday wrote:Assuming you're in an organization that can afford that / in a state willing to provide that kind of money to its county offices
You'll get at least Lexis or Westlaw government accounts if you work in government, if not both. As for nonprofits, I don't know.
I work in government and have neither, unfortunately. The public library a few streets over has Westlaw, though, so that's something I guess?
Last edited by NoDayButToday on Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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pancakes3

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by pancakes3 » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:53 pm

why allocate public funds to pay for WL for libraries instead of gov entities that actually need it?

does WL cut libraries a break? i'd much rather NDBT have access than a sovereign citizen.

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:56 pm

NoDayButToday wrote:
mcmand wrote:
NoDayButToday wrote:Assuming you're in an organization that can afford that / in a state willing to provide that kind of money to its county offices
You'll get at least Lexis or Westlaw government accounts if you work in government, if not both. As for nonprofits, I don't know.
I work in government and have neither, unfortunately. The public library a few streets over has Westlaw, though, so that's something I guess?
That is HORRIFYING.

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by mcmand » Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:34 pm

A. Nony Mouse wrote:
NoDayButToday wrote: I work in government and have neither, unfortunately. The public library a few streets over has Westlaw, though, so that's something I guess?
That is HORRIFYING.
wtf that is terrible. is this a small locality or something?
Last edited by mcmand on Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by dudders » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:37 pm

mcmand wrote:
A. Nony Mouse wrote:
NoDayButToday wrote: I work in government and have neither, unfortunately. The public library a few streets over has Westlaw, though, so that's something I guess?
That is HORRIFYING.
wtf that is terrible. is this a small locality or something?
I work in government, too, and our subscription is only our state/federal cases. No secondary sources. *sad trombone*

I'm actually surprised how little I really use my Westlaw account. Let's just say there's not a whole lot of novel legal issues where I really need to do much research. (Once you've drafted a response to a stock motion, you never need to draft that response again ... unless the law changes ... ) I look at annotations in my statute book pretty frequently but I only need to go case law crazy a few times a year.

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by mcmand » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:50 pm

dudders wrote:I work in government, too, and our subscription is only our state/federal cases. No secondary sources. *sad trombone*

I'm actually surprised how little I really use my Westlaw account. Let's just say there's not a whole lot of novel legal issues where I really need to do much research. (Once you've drafted a response to a stock motion, you never need to draft that response again ... unless the law changes ... ) I look at annotations in my statute book pretty frequently but I only need to go case law crazy a few times a year.
At least you can search for cases. Secondary sources are helpful in a pinch, but I can't imagine not having access to just search basic case law.
Last edited by mcmand on Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by Nebby » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:32 pm

Gideon in name only smdh

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pancakes3

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by pancakes3 » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:35 pm

if they meant for the right to effective counsel, they would have written in effective counsel. #textisking

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Re: Should I rent or buy hornbooks?

Post by dudders » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:59 pm

mcmand wrote: At least you can search for cases. Secondary sources are helpful in a pinch, but I can't imagine not having access to just search basic case law.
I don't really need secondary sources for my day-to-day job. It'd be nice for professional development activities (like writing), and some nerdier pursuits.

I just mentioned it because OP was specifically asking about hornbooks and people were saying above that your Westlaw/Lexis will have the same material. Not necessarily.

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