Words you should know…BEFORE law school

Once you begin law school, people will start throwing around all kinds of terms that you may or may not know. You may also be embarrassed to ask, so this is where I can help!

Case Book: Essentially, your text books. They will not read like a typical text book you had in undergrad or high school, but instead, a case book is a collection of cases, with very little in between.

Case Brief: Your first year of law school you will be reading a ton of cases, and a brief is something you use to summarize those cases. It contains important information about the facts of the case, the holding, and the reasoning behind the holding. Essentially everything you need from the case, so you don’t have to re-read it before finals. Also, it is important to note that there is no ONE “right” way to brief a case, it depends on you, how you learn, and what your professor wants you to get from a case. A bit more in depth on case briefing.

Black Letter Law: These are, in short, the rules you are going to be using. Law school is all about teaching you how to read and interpret cases, and what they mean. The black letter law is what you want to start with. For example, what IS a contract. Or, how does one define battery?

Outlines: This is what you use to condense everything you learned in the past semester. Just like with a case brief, there is no ONE right way to outline, it depends on your learning style, and sometimes the structure of the class. At the end of the semester, your outline is what you want to use to study for your finals. An article on outlining.

Supplements: You will probably hear a lot of classmates talk about supplements. Or upperclassman. They are study aids that help you navigate your casebooks, and often define the black letter law when your casebook fails to do so. Examples and Explanations, published by Aspen, is one such supplement.

IRAC: You will be hearing a lot of about this, and no, it’s not the country. Sometimes it will be referred to as CREAC as well. Simply put, this is how most law professors want you to write your exams, and it stands for “Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion”. More in depth on IRAC.

Tort: A tort is a civil wrong. It is also one of the first classes you will take in law school, except very few people will tell you what a tort is. They sort of just expect you to know it’s not a sweet pastry! You may also be asking, “well, what is a civil wrong”, and the answer to that, in short, is those things that personal injury attorneys sue people over. You have all seen the commercials about slip and fall accidents, well, THAT, my friend, is a tort.

If you keep hearing a word in law school that is not on this list, do not be afraid to either look it up (Black’s Law Dictionary is great!), ask a professor, or ask me! There is no such thing as a stupid question, and do not assume that everyone around you knows what everything means. They are probably just as lost as you are!