Planet Law School 2nd Edition: Worth the Buy?

[Vhenmwhs]

I just saw that Planet Law School's second edition is available to buy at Amazon.

Is it any good, any different from the first edition?

[Zopeseeemotly]

I just finished reading Planet Law School 2, but I must point out that I've never read Planet Law School 1. With that said, I'd like to make a few general comments about it. First, the Planet Law School technique itself usually falls on opposite sides of the continuum: people either love it or hate it. I happen to believe in it 100%. I have about a year and a half before I go to law school myself, and in between that time I'm going to read Planet Law School II several times as well as follow its advice by doing all the intense pre-preps. Having read all the other "must reads" (Law School Confidential, etc.), Planet Law School 2nd Ed. seems to give the best advice. How can I prove this though? Only time will tell for me . Some additional testimonies by students who have actually tried it would be beneficial here in this forum.

Second, from everything I've heard and read by other law students, Planet Law School 2 (PLS II) seems to be right on target when it says all the case briefing in class won't help you write the best exams (which are based on the Black Letter law). Law school seems more of a hazing that prospective attorneys must endure to "pay their dues" from what I've heard, but I'm willing to keep an open mind about it and just do the best I can when I get there.

Overall, PLS2 is definitely worth checking out (in my opinion only).

[NICOLEKRAMER]

I read Planet Law School in the summer of 1998 when the book was brand new, in the months before I began my legal studies. It was invaluable. I went to a "Top 10" law school (not literally, but rather as the term is defined in the book) and found the cynical advice to be on point. Law school is a business. Administrations are more interested in attracting and keeping top professors (and in soliciting donations from wealthy/influential alumni) than they are in ensuring their graduates will find fulfilling careers that also enable them to repay their crushing student loans. Planet Law School also accurately describes the socio-academic atmosphere at law schools - the contagious stress and anxiety, bordering on hysteria; the social stratification that occurs based upon class rank after first year grades are issued; the extreme difficulty those with mediocre or low grades have in obtaining respectable and well-paying employment through on-campus interviews.

The book is less helpful (but still very enlightening) when it comes to its discussion on how to prepare for and do well in law school. I disagree with the author's theory that virtually any law student who follows his system and works hard will be able to excell in law school. I believe this is because, mistakenly, the author makes Black Letter Law and Thinking Like a Lawyer seem paramount. At least where I went to law school, these items were only half the battle. I had good friends who were in the top of my class and we often were enrolled in the same courses with the same professors. They consistently received top marks; mine were almost always mediocre. However, when comparing our final exam responses after the fact, it often turned out our responses were substantively identical (same points of law, same reasoning, same conclusions). The differences were our writing styles and the fact that my friends consistently delved into collateral issues that, while not responding to the "call of the question," were apparently topics of interest for the professor. Sometimes, my friends' responses virtually ignored the call of the question and they still Am-Jur'ed the course. (By the time I realized this, First Year was over; my grades rose dramatically by the end of Second Year, but in fall of Third Year most employers were not looking to hire 3L's.) While the author of Planet Law School does allude to the importance knowing each professor's "agenda," this crucial component of law school preparation should be more heavily emphasized in his book - even more so than "Black Letter Law" and "Thinking Like a Lawyer." After all, at any reputable law school virtually every student will walk into final exams knowing Black Letter Law backwards and forwards. To distinguish yourself (and earn top grades) you have to also appeal to and work in (no matter how tangentially) the professor's pet topics of interest or areas of research.

As a post-script, the author and the law schools share a similar failing: They both fail to warn students about "insurance defense" law firms, which require billable hours comparable to the "Big Firms" but offer half the pay, a fraction of the chance to specialize in a practice area, and none of the respect. (The "clients" of such firms, insurance companies, also tend to treat their counsel as the enemy and will begrudge every tenth of an hour billed for.) To the uninitiated 2L or 3L, these firms often appear almost indistinguishable from the "Big Firms." Law students should be subtly warned to avoid insurance defense practice to the fullest extent they can, and instead seek government or boutique practice work in a speciality they enjoy so that they can eventually become well-respected practitioners in a field of specialty.