Brendan Inchoate-Crimes

Inchoate Crimes and Accomplice Liability, courtesy of Brendan Conley

I recently came across the most amazing bar exam flow charts I’ve ever seen. That’s the only way I can describe the free bar exam study materials on Brendan Conley’s bar exam website. When I first discovered his website, I downloaded each of his law outlines, diagrams and flow charts and was totally in awe of every one of them. Not only is the information interesting to look at, it’s also accurate and complete.

I love visuals, and had I discovered this material while I was studying for the bar exam, I would have printed my favorites on a color printer and put them up all around me for inspiration. These charts and outlines could also be used by law students studying for exams during school or just to help them better understand legal concepts.

Constitutional Law Threshold Issue State Actor Requirement

Constitutional Law Threshold Issue State Actor Requirement, courtesy of Brendan Conley

Brendan is an attorney who designed these amazing outlines for himself when he wrote the California Bar Exam in July 2006 which he passed. He offers all of his material completely free of charge. You can download or save any of the charts to be printed.

If you are finding your own law books and outlines too full of boring black text, don’t waste any time in downloading these colorful and informative guides. Bar exam studying will never be the same again!

Visit Brendan’s website and check out his review of our very own BarIssues database of essays and searchable issues on his blog.

elearning laptop

Photo Credit FreeDigitalPhotos.net

An article in the Los Angeles Times reported that nearly 9 out of 10 law school students do not graduate from unaccredited law schools in California.

The article featured a former student of Northwestern California University School of Law (NWCU), my alma mater, discussing his experience with this online law school, “…almost from the start, the Marine Corps veteran struggled. He said he frequently asked for help, but got little. Less than two years later, he gave up.”

After reading more about this student, we find out that he had poor law school grades and dropped out after failing the Baby Bar twice: Read More →

SRS_logo_f_f1_squareEver wonder how on earth you will possibly remember all the rules of law for the bar exam? During my own bar exam studies, one thing I kept hearing over and over again from various bar prep materials went something like this: “Don’t worry about memorizing; it will come naturally as you work with the material.” While to some degree, this may be true, at a certain point students still have to commit the rules and their elements to memory. I often felt if there was just some machine I could place over my head that would allow all of the black letter law to become instantly memorized, boy, could I write a killer exam! You can tell that memorization is not one of my strong points. But maybe there is a scientifically proven technique that could help with memory retention and of course…there is. It’s called spaced repetition which has been shown to produce some very impressive results. And now, there is an app for bar exam students to utilize this proven technique. Read More →

online learning in parkFor some of us, getting a higher education through an online university may be the only way to achieve our goals. But can you really juggle work, family and learning all at the same time?

Beware that it won’t be easy, however, finally getting that JD or Masters that you always wanted can be extremely rewarding and best of all, very affordable. On the other hand, it could be a total waste of time and money if you realize half-way through that you are just not cut out for this and decide to quit. Read More →

Blacks Law Dictionary AppWhat’s one of the first books that law students are told to buy? If you guessed Black’s Law Dictionary, then you are correct! The editor of Black’s Law Dictionary, Bryan Garner, calls it “the most widely cited lawbook in the world” and for law students, it’s definitely one of the most important books in the world. Knowing that you are going to be using this book each year of school and knowing that this book is available as an app, why any law student would consider purchasing the paper version, I will never know.

Back in 1L when I was issued my first law school book list, I figured that a law dictionary would be essential. I admit that I first bought the paperback version, not having discovered all of the wonderful technology apps that existed for law students until 2L. Plus, in 2009 I was a fairly new iPhone user myself. But once I discovered that I could have all of the legal terms at the touch of my finger, including hyper-linked cross references and even audio pronunciations, I was sold. I delegated my paperback Black’s to the shelf and sprung for the $55 to buy Black’s Law Dictionary as my first legal app.

Since then, any new edition update has been free and with each new iPhone or iPad I acquired, my Black’s law dictionary was always available. And for those non-iPhone users, the app is also available for Windows and Android phones.

Check out the complete review of this app by the popular blogger, iPhone J.D. who similarly bought the paper book in 1990 while in law school but soon found that he hardly used it. He now uses the iPhone app a few times a month.

Black’s Law Dictionary may be one of the most expensive apps you will ever buy for your phone, but you sure will get your money’s worth during law school and beyond!