What is a study aid?  A study aid is any material other than your assigned textbooks that explains legal material.

Why do students use them?  There is a lot of reading in law school.  Sometimes (often?) it seems very overwhelming and it is tempting to look for a short cut.  Many companies have made a great deal of money selling study aids to law students.

Are study aids always useful?  No!  Sometimes, for reasons explained below, they are dangerous.

Are they always bad?  The answer to that, too, is no.  There are times they can be useful.

How might I use a study aid?  First, let me emphasize that it is critical to do the assigned reading for your classes.  You may find that briefing the cases contained in your reading assignments helps you to understand them more clearly  - and remember them.  The professor's comments in class and the class discussion should add to your knowledge and, if you still have questions, your professor, a course teaching assistant ("TA"), or a tutor may be of help.  But, there may be times when you are stuck on a concept - it just isn't clear to you.  At those times, students often find using a study aid helps.  There are many different kinds of study aids so if you are going to use one, here is some information that may help you to choose wisely.

FIRST MAJOR CAVEAT:  No study aid is geared toward the course the way your professor is teaching it.  Your professor has his or her own areas of emphasis, teaching style, and understanding of how the cases fit together as the class moves from one topic to another.  You should not expect any commercial study aid to substitute for your careful reading and note-taking.  However, a study aid can be useful in checking your understanding of a topic, especially when you are preparing your outline of a course.

Types of "store bought" study aids:

• Commercial outlines:  these set out the "black letter law" which can be helpful in giving you rules to memorize.  Virtually every student will use a commercial outline at some point in his or her law school career.  The problem with them is that they are prepared for a national law school audience.  They are not geared to your particular professor's course.  However, some are keyed to specific casebooks which some students find helpful.  A commercial outline can be useful to supplement the work you do to synthesize all the information you learn in a course; do not expect it or rely on it to teach you the course.

• Hornbooks:  these cover a specific area of the law in great detail.  They give you the black letter law and explain it.  If you are having difficulty pulling the law from cases you've read, these might be helpful.  Again, though, they are not a substitute for doing the assigned reading.  They also are quite detailed, not brief, so, if you read a hornbook, you are likely to spend as much time reading it as you will doing the reading in your casebook.  If you need additional explanation of a legal topic, these can help by giving you someone else's take on a subject.  Sometimes a different explanation is all you need to make sense of a given area of the law.  Hornbooks are available in the law library.

• Commercial case briefs:  these are supposed to help you understand and interpret the cases you read.  However, they contain the writer's general understanding of the case.  Because there can be multiple ways to understand a particular case, as well as multiple issues within a case, someone's general understanding may not be helpful when you need to apply the law of a case to a new factual situation in, for example, an exam question.

• Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction ("CALI"):  CALI offers interactive computer exercises to allow you to test your understanding of a given area of the law.  These can be very useful for testing your specific knowledge in a given area of the law.  They can be especially helpful in preparing for an exam in a subject that will include multiple choice questions such as, for example, Evidence or Professional Responsibility.  These are available on computer desktops in the law school and via the internet at www.cali.org; you will need a password which can be obtained from a law librarian.

• More than a commercial outline but less than a hornbook:  several legal publishing companies offer books that contain more detailed explanations of the law than you'll find in a commercial outline, but not as detailed as a hornbook.  Depending on the company, these may be called Nutshells, Examples and Explanations, Concepts and Insights, and/or the Legal Text Series.

• Flashcards:  these have a question on one side and the answer on the other.  They can be helpful in memorizing short concepts and may even offer a mnemonic device to help you retain information.  On the other hand, the law is not simplistic and flashcards may make it appear so.  If you think these will be useful for you, try making your own.  That way you'll have cards tailored to the areas you're having the most difficulty remembering and save yourself some money.