Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) - Softcover

Hegland, Kenney F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0314736328 ISBN 13: 9780314736321

Publisher: West Group, 1983

Synopsis

The Second Case in the World; Legal Analysis Made Simple; Thoughts on Stare Decisis, Relative Value and Ethics; Studying Lass: Looking Busy is Not Enough; Reading Cases; Briefing Cases; General Study Tips; Writing Lass' Exams: The Only Skill Worth Having; More Stuff on Exams; Fear and Loathing in the First Year; Pretrial Process; Trials; Legal Argument (Moot Court); Mechanics of Oral Argument; Legal Research: High Drama in Dull Places; Legal Writing; Second and Third Years; Career Choices; Lawyers Talk About What They Do.

About this title

From the Author:

Who should read it and why.
Each year about 2500 first year students will buy this book.

"Make paranoia your friend," my mother used to advise, "Play upon their deepest fears."

Sure, 2500 classmates can be wrong, but ... can you really risk starting in 2501st place?

My goal is to help you through the first year of law school. I introduce the basic skills you will develop: case analysis, legal argument, case briefing, legal writing and, ah yes, exam taking. You'll even have a few opportunities to practice.

To reduce law school theory to real world practice, I'll walk you through a trial, from Unforfortunate Incident, through pleading, discovery and then to the trial itself, repleat with angry objections, bewildering jury instructions and passionate closing arguments.

Of course law school is not nearly as much fun as you have been told. One chapter, "Fear and Loathing in the First Year" might help with sleepness nights and save fingernails.

Richard Scary wrote a delightful children's book, "What People Do All Day." In the last section of my book, lawyers from various kinds of practices write about what they do all day, what they like and what they don't.

If you are considering law school but are unsure, this book will give you a good idea as to what to expect and whether you will enjoy it and whether you will prosper.

But what if you are in that 2% of the population that isn't already a lawyer, a law student or someone considering law school?

This book is really for your endangered species. Law is the ultimate humanity: you will learn how judges decide cases and how lawyers use the law. You'll understand the newspaper better. You'll even learn what hearsay is (but don't quote me on that) and whether lawyers have ethics and families.

I'll be doing a third edition in the Spring of 2000. I would appreciate your sugestions. Hegland@nt.law.arizona.edu.

About this edition

• Publisher: West Group
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0314736328
• ISBN 13: 9780314736321
• Binding: Paperback