Rating: 
Summary: super fantastic
Review: a great and precise book. It got me asking the right questions of myself with regard to where, when and how I wanted to attend law school.
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Summary: Number One on My List of 3 Must-Have Books
Review: A little about me: I'm now in my second year of law school and Purchased both Law School Insider and Law School Confidential last year. I wound up keeping only my copy of Law School Insider, which is a newer and more relevant book for me.Now that I've completed my first year, I think that there are three books that every law student should read before (and maybe during) attending law school. The first two are Law School Insider and Getting to Maybe. Getting to Maybe is a good book on exams, and Law School Insider is the best book about the experience and how to prepare. A little about law school: law school is a challenging LEARNING experience. If you want to be a lawyer, you go to law school to learn how to think, how to read, and how to manage your time. It is not just about getting good grades, it is about picking an area of personal specialization and actually learning. Only Law School Insider speaks to both the importance of grades and truly learning a specialty. Besides the fact that Law School Insider is much more thorough, it is also a mature person's look at law school. Law School Confidential is peppered with exclamation marks (to make it seem more exciting!), formulas, way too many cocky, overconfident male perspectives, and handfuls of comments from all-white "mentors." I recognized these as gimmicks when I saw them but only realized how wrong and useless they were for me when I tried some of them. By comparison, Law School Insider is a balanced book that actually speaks to the lifestyles and choices of different readers, including people who are married and worried about starting a life after law school, and tells people from diverse backgrounds how to maximize their chances of success. It has the most useful information, with none of Confidential's attitude. You can see that same attitude in the few absurdly negative reviews of Insider, but ignore it, it's just more Confidential hype without any substance. On the subject of attitude, there is not a trace of arrogance or artificial stress anywhere in Insider. This contrasts sharply with Confidential, which suggests among other things that you should skip applying to law schools unless you're going to go someplace Robert Miller and his friends consider prestigious, and that law school is going to be like a war. Miller and I were both educated in Pennsylvania, but I know this stuff isn't even true at most of the schools in my state, let alone elsewhere in the country. So what is the third book I would recommend if not Confidential? One-L. Confidential's perspective on law school is old and outdated too, but One-L is much more entertaining if you're buying a book about law School to be entertained. If you're looking to learn about law school life, you owe it to yourself to buy Law School Insider instead.
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Summary: The law school book for the rest of us
Review: After reading Law School Insider and some of the disjointed reviews here, I wanted to share my opinions and set the record straight. I am about to start my second year of law school and picked up the book last December, and waited to write a review until I could confirm the validity and usefulness of what Horwitz wrote. As virtually everyone i've spoken to seems to agree, Law School Insider is a great book, not just a good book, but a great, honest, must-read one for people who are considering law school. This is especially true when you compare it with other books that were written by people who seemed afraid to attach their real names (Planet Law School) or think that the world revolves around snooty schools in Pennsylvania or Massachusetts (Law School Confidential and others). One of the best things about Law School Insider is its comprehensiveness. It's like getting two books in one: an extended, modern version of One-L (narrated over roughly four years) and a complete guide to doing well at every stage of the process. Better yet, this comprehensiveness is achieved in an ideal package, 400 pages from front to back (and weighing in at under one pound), the first 180 pages devoted to pre-1L and 1L issues, the next 115 pages to 2L/3L and job planning, then 35 pages or so for bar exam preparation. Then there's the excellent glossary, sample outlines and law journal writing competition submissions. I found the story portions to be well-written and interesting, offering a true life contrast to the many fictional, fictionalized, or outdated law school stories that are out there. Without over-dramatizing student-professor interactions, making up outlandish stories, or playing on readers' fears or preconceptions of law school, Law School Insider tells a good story that is honest, yet very accurate to all of my own experiences. The comfortable, friendly Cornell setting (with looks at cities and states outside of the East Coast) is a lot closer to my own life than books with people who talk endlessly about Boston, New York City or Philadelphia. It's clear that Horwitz is a non-elitist, straight-shooter who is willing to speak candidly about his own life in order to help people from around the country to learn and do better. Without reservation, after reading Law School Insider, I can say that I understand the "bigger picture" of law school and proper preparation for a career as a lawyer. My bar exam is still two years away and I'm just about to start interviewing for 2L summer jobs, but I know now what I need to do to plan geographically for both of these events. It's very telling that I have a 20% better chance of passing the bar exam if I want to practice in my home state of Illinois than if I try to take the California exam, something I never would have known if I had not read this book. Who wants a 35% or greater chance of failing the biggest exam of their career? Not me. And if I did take the exam in California after three years and two months of preparation, I'd surely want to know my chances in advance so I could make sure I'm not one of the people who fail. It's obvious from reading this book why people would be thrilled to pass, and really devastated if they failed. I must strongly disagree with anyone who complains about the footnotes, not only because I found them useful, but also because it says right on page 3 that you should skip the footnotes if you're looking for a faster, more enjoyable read. It can't get much clearer (or easier to find) than that, but some people just like to complain without reading carefully. I also have to say that the book's personal touches, and thoughtfulness given its many different types of readers, are things that make it endearing. It would have been trite (and easy) to dryly describe classes and skip the human touches of what professors and law students are really like, but Horwitz's brief descriptions of the backgrounds and personalities of people he encountered add extra flesh to discussions of classes that many books have treated formulaically. These mentions really parallel the sorts of people I've encountered in law school, some tough, some highly erudite, and others less committed to their classes. Contrary to mistaken gripes I've seen here, if you actually read the book, you'd know that no names were really named because the book says the names were changed. None of those people exist, so get over it! My executive summary: No doubt, no fear, Law School Insider is a great book. It should be obvious that those who criticize haven't paid enough attention to the details. Just like law school, you will learn a lot from Law School Insider if you know how to read!
Rating: 
Summary: Self Indulgent, Unintentionally Funny, But Worth A Look
Review: After reading several good reviews for Law School Insider, I expected a lot more from this book. Notwithstanding, I recommend LSI if you are attending or plan on attending Law School. LSI's approach filters the law school adventure through the author's personal experiences. It doesn't appear that Horowitz integrated many other people's experiences into the book - LSI is primarily a log of his personal law school journey. He comes off as a smart, honorable, but fairly dull man (making a point to share his disdain for parties and drinking, for example) plodding through an overwhelming curriculum. On one hand, LSI is very well organized and thought out. It is dense, so clearly a lot of time and effort went into the book. The information is presented in a professional, reader-friendly style. LSI covers all the bases, much more so than most books on the market. If it has something to do with law school, it is explored in the pages of LSI. Most of Horowitz's points are sound and uncontroversial, and he seems quietly enamored with law school conventions and the dominant establishment mentality. But the book has problems. Horowitz indulges in a strange, obsessive (almost compulsive) use of footnotes, offering him wide latitude to explore unrelated trains of thought. The meat of the book is 336 densely packed pages, in which he manages to fit 375 footnotes. The majority of these footnotes are diversions that a more skilled writer would have either woven into the text if relevant, or avoided entirely if irrelevant. This is probably symptomatic of his training and skill in legal writing, but a good editor should have addressed this. Since the footnotes are easily skipped or skimmed, the habit isn't fatal, but it reveals Horowitz's lack of focus, ironic since part of his approach to law school is to stay focused. The book is peppered with several unintentionally funny episodes. The account of his wide-eyed sense of wonder when he learns he passed the bar exam is memorable. After advising us not to fall into this type of mentality, he treats passing a test with a 65% success rate as if he single-handedly won an Olympic Gold Medal. A great accomplishment to be sure, but how can he be true to the mental balance he preaches and yet have that reaction upon learning that he is at least as good as 2 out of 3 people who took the same exam? The account that Horowitz gives of first meeting the love of his life at a party during his 2L year is moving, but out-of-place and an unintentional hoot. He makes a big deal out of simply going over to a young woman and introducing himself, remarking that it was something he never had the courage to do before. "You don't get out much, do you pal?" The author also has the habit of 'naming the names' of his law school professors and classmates. Since most readers don't know any of these people, I have to question the tactic, and I again have to wonder where the editor was during the refinement stages of the book. Horowitz's thoughts on the smart approach to law study appear in about thirty pages of the book. His process can be reduced to studying hard, staying focused, not talking too much, and prepping with content-rich supplemental material. This is all excellent advice! LSI doesn't suffer from the cynicism that is common in books about the law school experience, but that mindset never clouds Horowitz's point of view. He is very honest, and the book is clearly a labor of love for him. He genuinely feels he has something to contribute, which makes the self-centered execution even sadder.
Though the book has strengths, the weaknesses are pervasive, giving LSI the feel of a self-indulgent vanity work more than a book of genuine research, thought, and scholarship. I don't entirely fault the author - actually, I think he is really good and has a lot to contribute. I think the failure is primarily of editing. A good editor should have motivated Horowitz to add a wider range of experiences and perspectives to the book, and refined the 386 pages into about 225-250 pages of greater value and power. LSI offers tremendous scope but sacrifices perspective - the finished product should have included both. If it did, it would probably be a standout book in its field, instead of being just a bit better than average, but almost entirely forgettable. This book...should be read by anyone thinking of attending law school. It is well organized, covers all the bases, has a great glossary, and the author has a good outlook and a smart instinct for the law. It's not nearly as good as many of the reviews here say - most aren't very detailed and I wonder if we are all describing the same book. Executive Summary: The nasty truth is that a lot of dorks attend law school, and naturally LSI's approach is very dork friendly. The book is blemished by a few significant errors of judgment. The editor's big mistake was not doing 1/10th of the work he or she should have done. The author's big mistake was thinking that his readers' curiosity for insider info about law school was in fact a curiosity for insider info about his life during his law school tenure. It isn't. The bottom line is nobody cares, something I have a feeling no one at any stage of this book's development ever even considered. Thinking Like A Lawyer? Nah. Thinking Like A Dork? Well, you be the judge.
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Summary: The Best Book About Law School!!!
Review: As a prospective law school applicant, who will be applying to a Juris Doctor program this year, I read a lot of books about law schools. Law School Insider by Jeremy Horwitz, Esq. (a cum laude graduate of Cornell Law School, who is currently working as an attorney) is by far the best book about a student's life before, during, and after law school. Unlike other books, this book is organized in a straight-forward manner and is well-written. It starts from the Introduction and Preparing for Law School Chapters that guide you through the entire admission process, from selecting a good law school to making educated choices after receiving acceptance letters. Thereafter, the author writes about the first year, memorable first-year summers, two-L, journal elections and intrigue, second-year summers, the third and final year, and the Bar exam. In addition, the book is supplemented by useful Tables on the first-year course schedules across the nation; modern law-related career options and elective specializations; state Bar exam subject matter coverage and MPRE requirements, to name a few. Various Appendixes include the sample writing completion submission and sample class outline excerpts. Throughout the book, Jeremy offers a lot of valuable details about his personal experience as a law student in Cornell Law School. For example, he writes that his "...own first day of classes was only modestly intimidating. The readings had taken a long time, but were short enough that I though that I generally understood where they were going. Most of my professors initially came across as nice enough people, and the first class discussions about the readings were relatively gentle..." I found this to be similar to my own law school classes. In other chapters, he describes his experience of hunting for a job and compares different areas of practice and cities. No doubt, such details are extremely important. A few persons who posted their negative reviews about this book should have known that God is in details. It is no secret that, due to the economic and other related factors, admission to any law school in the country (not to mention top law schools) has become extremely competitive during the recent years. LSAC offers the following nationwide statistics: Law School Applications (Entering Class of Fall 2002)
89,000 applicants submitted over 440,000 applications. Average of approximately 5.3 applications per person; 17.4% increase in applications. LSAT Test Takers (Entering class for Fall 2003)
June 2002 LSAT: Largest June exam in history. 27,808 prospective applicants took the exam; 16.3% increase from June 2001 exam.
October 2002: 52,604 persons took this exam; 12.5% increase over October 2001. The bad news is, of course, that the competition to get into the law school of your choice is going to get even much tougher. But the good news is that after reading Law School Insider your chances of admission to your dream school will increase significantly. I strongly believe that this book is a must for any prospective law student. It is worth every penny, and I highly recommend it to anyone considering going to law school. Also, the Internet website created by Jeremy Horwitz, www.lawschoolinsider.com, is an excellent source for obtaining additional information about the complicated law school admission process, as well as for finding answers to your questions. A short note about myself: I hold my first law degree from one of the best law schools in Europe, and an advanced Master of Laws degree from American law school (I wish I had read this book before I was applying to the LL.M. program!)
Rating:
Summary: The Most Comprehensive Book about the Law School Experience
Review: As far as I am aware, this is the only book out there that describes the ENTIRE law school experience from beginning to end -- the application process, the three years of schooling, and the process of getting a job. If you are curious about attending law school (especially a highly ranked law school), this book is a great resource. As a lawyer myself, I can tell you that this book is remarkably accurate account of a law student's life (for better or for worse).
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Summary: Be prepared--Be very prepared!
Review: From what I have seen as an outsider, law school has always seemed like a three-year session of chemo therapy. It always seemed like something long and full of suffering. Law School Insider takes a lot of the mystery out of the process. It discusses DOs and DON'Ts in frank, understandable terms. It gives you helpful tools for making plans. Some of the things I read in this book I would normally expect to learn in school. Law School Insider reviews the various ways you can specialize as a lawyer--Tax, Civil, etc. But this book also goes into how to structure your life to succeed while you are in school. This is helpful stuff. I cannot believe anybody is so fundamentally well organized that they will not benefit from the suggestions contained in this book. And this is not just about organizing your studies, it's about keeping your private life working, too. This is not just a book for people who are heading to law school. If you are considering law school, read this book and see how you will be spending the next three years of your life. You will walk away encouraged or realizing that maybe law school is not the answer. Eithter way, you will be glad that you read Law School Insider.
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Summary: Nice Addition to the Law School Bookshelf
Review: Having graduated with high honors from one of the top five law schools, I found Horwitz's latest addition to the law school bookshelf to be useful and thorough. No one should rely on any one guidebook for finding their way through law school, and most law students will no doubt find this Cornell Law Reviewer offers fresh insights. My personal advice for success is to read this book and distill a sensible approach that works for you. For example, I applied the following study approach with considerable success: (1) read only those assignments provided by the professor (ignore commercial outlines, etc.); (2) take extensive notes of everything the professor says in class (and do not write down any student comments or student answers to Socratic questions); (3) organize your notes of the professor's lectures into your own personal outline (do not rely upon store-bought outlines); (4) read the professor's prior exam files, including any student answers selected by the professor as "model answers"; and (5) practice taking the professor's old exams in the few days leading up to exam day. The rationale for the above is that your professor will be looking for you to spot those issues that he or she views as important. The more of these issues you spot, the higher your exam grade will be. Thus, you should ditch those commercial outlines and study groups, which at best distract you and at worst fill you with information that will not score points on exams. In addition to law school guides like Law School Insider, you should also prepare for law school by conditioning yourself to what its competition will feel like. Two excellent books that accomplish this are Scott Turow's One L (Harvard in the 1970s) and Scott Gaille's The Law Review (2002 book about competition at The University of Chicago Law School).
Rating:
Summary: Easily the best law school book I've read
Review: I bought Law School Insider a few months after starting law school because I was confused by classes but still wanted a shot at glory (good grades and law review). I read it over Thanksgiving and I must say, this is an amazing book! Having been through first semester classes (and exams) myself, I can tell you that this is a completely accurate account of the way things really are in law school. The book's advice helped me to salvage my first semester just in time for exams (fingers crossed for top 10% grades) and has so much insight on how to get what every law student wants next - the right classes, the right job, and a passing bar exam score. Also, this book does a really good job of explaining how law students really handle relationships and family pressures, a topic that was really important to me, and also talks about sensitive issues such as race and gender in law school, job interviewing, and the job market. It is also very good to know how the economy will affect my chances of getting a job, and what people need to do in law school to land the right job in bad times. Overall HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and a book I will let my family read when I am done going through it again.
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Summary: My favorite assigned pre-law book
Review: I can see why this book was assigned reading for one of my college classes, it has been very helpful (and easy to read) in explaining what law school is really about, the careers I can pursue, and telling me what I need to do to prepare. Most of my books get sold at the end of the semester, but because this has so much information on how the first, second and third years of law school work (still 2 years away for me), I will keep this when I dump my other books. I have also found the web site (with free updates and discussion forums) for this book to be major bonuses. BTW, it's funny to see how the "critics" behind the 1-star reviews here disagree about such ridiculous things. Is this book "mature"? "Humble?" Everyone who loves the book knows that it is both of these things, but even the "critics" can't seem to agree, probably because the "critics" are really jealous competing authors trying to take whatever shots they can to make people doubt a great book. Look past the 1-star smears and get this 5-star book!!
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