Ray's J.D. (Juris Doctor)

3L: NWCULaw 3L Plan:

UPDATED - 2016 - December:

Let me explain - the 2L Plan that I have laid out works, so you can feel confident in using it. I have tweaked the way I am doing the 3L year, and this is an update to that process.

Before I completely REPLACE something that I know works, I need to PROVE that the new process works, and works BETTER than the one I would be replacing, which is why I still have the 1L and 2L plans online.

When I prove to myself that the new process works better, I will be rewriting those pages!

Stay tuned as I continue to evolve the process, I would go ahead and replace my earlier plans of attack right now, but I really need the feedback from my Final Exam scores, and the overall grades from 3L, before I make that jump.

And the new plan of attack would be tweaked a little bit - see below.

The 3L Game Plan (subject to more tweaks):

The materials I suggest:

1) The Gilbert's Law Summaries for Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Corporations, and Evidence.

2) Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam.

3) Wikipedia.

4) Fleming's Fundamentals of Law - Professor Fleming is a professor at NWCULaw, and we have access to his video lectures and the outlines. These had been helpful in focusing on the most important issues.

The Plan of Attack:

I tweaked this plan of attack in hindsight after taking the 3L Final Exams. Creating my Definition Sheets for 3L took far longer than I hoped. With what I know now, I would have been working on them from the beginning, as the year went on, I would have tweaked them down to the most important issues, and known them a bit better, more completely.

I would have used the California Bar Essay Book a LOT more, earlier on. I would have blown right through the first six steps below, hit the projects, and bury myself in this book... which I will be doing in 4L.

I am pre-preparing for 4L by trying to get steps 1 through 5 done right now. I do not think I will get the 6th one done, but I will try... personally, I still need the big picture before I dive in for fine details, but I will be hitting the fine details very hard, very quick in 4L!

I would cut out number 11 and 13 below.

As a note, none of the effort I put forth prior to 5 January 2017 officially counts, so I am doing what I suggest to everyone, and what I have yet to be able to do... study for the year BEFORE you start! When I do get to start logging in my time, I should have a decent jump on the work. With what I learned from 3L's efforts, I plan to make it all even better!

1) I read the single page introductions to the California Essay Book - four pages, one day, done!

2) I then read the Key Exam Issues section of every chapter in the Gilbert's main Outline section. I did one per day, done!

3) I re-read the single page introduction pages from the California Essay Book - four pages, one day, done!

4) I then did something I always stayed away from, I read the Capsule Summary section of each of the Gilbert's books! I did this because they are shorter, and I can get all four subjects in my mind, to think about them sooner. Now, I had already read the full Gilbert's books for each subject during the rough start up period of the year, but this was more focused, better quality time!

A note on this - some of the Gilbert's may not actually have a Capsule Summary, for those, just hit the intro pages again.

5) I re-read the four single page introduction pages from the California Essay Book - see a trend here?

6) I then read the large Outline section of the four Gilbert's books again. I did all this reading to get the important issues in my head before I started my projects - because I wanted to know what I was talking about a bit more.

A note on this - I had already read the large Outline Section in 3L because I had computer issues and life got in the way. I would only read the big Main Outline section once, I want to get back into the California Bar Essay Book fast, and spend a LOT of quality time there!

7) I went to work on the Vocabulary Assignments. During this process, we have to give examples, not new definitions, so I actually used a lot of cases in my descriptions / examples - so, a bonus, I was becoming familiar with cases before I even got to the Case Briefs.

For the Vocabulary Assignments, I made a template for that. As I worked, I would also have the Internet open - primarily to Wikipedia, but other sources as well, including Google Scholar, to find the information I needed. Because I did not need to bounce around through books, and because I could find the information very quickly, the work just zipped on by, and I was actually shocked at how fast I got them done!

8) After I uploaded the Vocabulary Assignments, I went to work on the Case Briefs... and these FLEW! Normally, it takes me about one month to complete the Vocabulary, and another month to do the Case Briefs, but this year, I blew through both of those assignments in less than one month! On the Case Briefs, they started out dragging like normal, but for some reason, probably all the reading, I flew through them very quickly... submitted those, and Passed.

It was using the Internet and templates that made these two assignments fly, and it is how I got caught up!

9) I began active participation once I uploaded my Case Briefs to the discussion boards. I wait until I get those done, because, prior to that, I could not possibly participate with any quality discussion, because I don't know anything yet!

During the participation, I go back into reading. I pick up more information by doing both of these at the same time - which is what it is all about. I really only focus on answering questions about my Case Briefs, but as I pick up more information, I will also participate in other subject areas, like specific questions on issues and such.

10) I re-read the four single introduction pages in the California Essay Book.

11) I re-read the Key Exam Issues in the Gilbert's.

12) I re-read the four single introduction pages in the California Essay Book.

13) I re-read the Capsule Summaries in the Gilbert's.

14) I re-read the single page introductions in the California Essay Book.

15) Now I read the actual twenty page outlines for each section in the California Essay Book! The short, about twenty pages, outlines in the California Essay Book are fine details on specific issues we must be able to master... before I can jump into such a concentrated mix, I personally need something extra... and the Gilbert's give me that. I want to know the material the very best that I can, but I don't want to get buried in materials... I prefer to spend MORE time with FEWER materials so that I can master the information to the best of my ability.

For the 4L year, I will be into the California Bar Essay Book a LOT more for the 4L subjects, but I will be even more into it around June or July as I move into Bar Prep mode.