Contracts (Sum & Substance Cd's "Outstanding Professor"Series)

Rating:
Summary: Could be so much better...
Review: Having listened to the CD's multiple times, I regretably have to agree with the reviewer who says Whaley's mind is elsewhere. Over and over Whaley seems to forget what he's talking about, and struggles to find a simple word. His knowledge is evident, but the delivery is substandard. There appears to be little to no editing of this recording.

To Whaley's credit, he does deliver several "nuggets" of lawyering tricks to hang on to for general practice. They're interesting, but offer little relevance to the general topic.

I have not yet listened to any of the other subject related Sum & Substance CD's, but do intend to give them a try. I can't say Contracts was a waste, but it could have been much better.

I would recommend taking a look at Flemings Fundamentals of Law, a great series of exam-prep tapes and videos, and have heard that the LEWS (Legal Exam Writing Workshop) series is excellent, but that is purely second hand information.

Best of luck

Rating:
Summary: Review of Whaley
Review: The tapes are very helpful if you have done the basic reading. These tapes are an excellent review tool. They lay out the bare structure of contracts where all the major issues are organized by topic. Obviously no one can cover everthing in detail on only four tapes, but if you are already somewhat familiar with the issues - these tapes by Whaley are great. I recommend them for reviewing for finals or as an everyday brushup.

Rating:
Summary: professor's mind is elsewhere
Review: Usually I am a fan of the Sum & Substance series, but this one is very weak. In the beginning it is very obvious that Whaley's mind is somewhere else, he is correcting himself constantly (I wonder why the publisher sells it this way instead of editing it) and often you lose him because he is straying totally off the topic. Later on in the lecture he is getting better, but covers every topic only very lightly. You can only follow him if you know a lot about contracts and then you don't need the CDs anymore.