law

This text is incrediblely useful. I remember being nervous the first day I walked into this class because this is the one class I had no idea what it was about. This book does an excellent job of really helping you to overcome that feeling. In addition, this is a great resource if you have bad professors. Luckily, I had good professors and this book, this book made a real difference in my final grade (I had a very, very high grade). One of the advantages it has over your normal text is that it is written in plain English. The Federal Rules of Civ Pro are at times difficult to decode and this book does a nice job of breaking it down. In addition, it also provides graphs and visuals that really help to breakup the difficult concepts. Finally, and I think this is the best part of the series, the book is focused on teaching through examples. If you go through the whole book and really study the examples, you should be fine for the exam. This book is a great tool. I highly recommend this. I would give it more than 5 stars if I could. You need this book if you are going to start your first year soon.

While it may seem heretical in light of only glowing reviews to give Mr. Glannon anything shy of five stars, I must say that while this book is quite helpful for most law students, some may find it just a bit wanting in certain areas. Don't get me wrong: Glannon will help "explain" the basics as well as some of the more nuanced areas of civ pro; use of this book in conjunction with your casebook and class notes will definately provide you with a sound understanding of this sometimes bafflingly obtuse subject.

However, for one whose goal is to excel well beyond the pack, Glannon alone will not propel a student to get the coveted law-school "A+." The law of numbers alone dictates this result: Glannon is the most widely read civ pro supplements available - you will be getting nothing more than what pretty much all your classmates get. Your solution? An additional supplement. For me, it was Gene Shreve's fantastic "Understanding Civil Procedure" - a more dense, but extremely tightly packed supplement. Everything you should know for civ pro, + a little more is in Shreve.

To summarize, get Glannon for the basic explanation; get Shreve for the edge. Glannon is great if you've got some time on your hands to digest the examples; Shreve is great if you've got the basics down and want to attain insight beyond most of the competition.

If not for this book, I would have been lost in Civil Procedure during my first year of law school. If you are starting law school, get this book. Anything I didn't quite understand in class, this book explained. The examples are invaluable in studying for exams.