[blindLaw] Starting Law School Tips and Advice

[Brian Unitt]

Hi Omar,

Back then, at least at my school, there were no practice tests, they through us in at the deep end to see if we would survive. The exams were all essay, with the exception of one prof who taught Civ. Pro. And Evidence who used multistate-style multiple choice tests.

I did not use any study aids, though I think a couple folks in our study group may have used Nutshells and the other one which I forget the name of. One member of our group made flashcards which he swore by. The rest of us razzed him mercilessly about that, but his results were pretty good.

Brian
Brian C. Unitt (he/him/his)
Certified Specialist in Appellate Law
By the State Bar of California

Law Office of Brian C. Unitt
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From: omar duncan <oduncan821 at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2025 1:32 PM
To: Brian Unitt <BrianUnitt at holsteinlaw.com>
Cc: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>; Aser Tolentino <agtolentino at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Starting Law School Tips and Advice

Mr. Brian, Great feedback!

Thank you so much for sharing your insights and your experiences. This is very helpful and interesting. I appreciate it we all do.

By the way, will you do practice questions and practice, essays and practice multiple-choice stuff?

Did you use any study aids and supplements as well, Brian
On Sun, Dec 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM Brian Unitt <BrianUnitt at holsteinlaw.com<mailto:BrianUnitt at holsteinlaw.com>> wrote:
Aser,

I was very interested to read your approach to developing and using outlines. I feel like I had a similar approach albeit in the pre-technology world of 1980-1983. So just as a matter of archeological curiosity I will share that I took class notes with slate and stylus, and case notes the same way, listening to taped case books. I kept the class notes and case notes in separate files (physical file folders) and combined them into outlines in the course of the semester. Then during dead week before exams I would condense them and that would help get the essentials into my head. So I guess I would say that technology gives us better tools and more flexible ways to do the work, but the approach, or more likely various approaches to getting the material into our heads are pretty timeless.

Best of luck to all the students on the list.

Brian
Brian C. Unitt (he/him/his)
Certified Specialist in Appellate Law
By the State Bar of California

Law Office of Brian C. Unitt
6185 Magnolia Ave<https://www.google.com/maps/search/6185+Magnolia+Ave?entry=gmail&source=g>, PMB 40
Riverside, CA 92506
P: 951-682-7030
E: brianunitt at holsteinlaw.com<mailto:brianunitt at holsteinlaw.com>

NOTICE:  This communication is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain attorney/client information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law.  If the reader of this communication is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this communication to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by reply email or by telephone and immediately delete this communication and all its attachments.

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From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org>> On Behalf Of Aser Tolentino via BlindLaw
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2025 1:05 PM
To: omar duncan <oduncan821 at gmail.com<mailto:oduncan821 at gmail.com>>
Cc: Aser Tolentino <agtolentino at gmail.com<mailto:agtolentino at gmail.com>>; Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>>
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Starting Law School Tips and Advice

This is where other people’s advice might diverge from mine. Reading it all and internalizing what the substance of the rules mean in all their complexity is very important. That said, memorizing everything word for word quickly leads to diminishing returns. That’s why I pointed out that reducing the outlines to their essential elements to the maximum extent you are comfortable with is a big part of creating the final form of your study outlines. There are people out there who can reel off entire passages of the UCC chapter and verse. I was not one of them, but I did get an A in contracts. This I think was because of two major factors: grading on essays is typically based on how well you demonstrate your understanding of the issues presented in the prompt and practically apply the law as conveyed to you in the course, and first-year courses are typically graded on a curve. So long as you are identifying the issues at play, not swinging at red herrings, and making reasonable conclusions based on defensible interpretations of the law, you are checking off most of the grading rubric and accruing enough points to elevate your responses above a sizable portion of the class. In a different example, if memory serves my Trusts, Wills, and Estates class had an entirely multiple-choice exam. I think my unweighted score was something like 56%. I got an A.

On Dec 27, 2025, at 3:02 PM, omar duncan <oduncan821 at gmail.com<mailto:oduncan821 at gmail.com>> wrote:

Amazing this is golden advice thanks Mr. Aser.

And aside from outlining, what would you do to practice . Rule statement for the Irac on exams.

For example, contracts and civil  procedure requires lots of rote straight up rule memorization word for word? How did you go about memorizing the rules and applying them to practice essays?

I know learning rules comes  in stages? How do you go from learning rules the first time and  memorizing them from the primary source like the RST statement, a UCC uniform  commercial code, or the book for federal rules of civil  procedure, then to put them in your outlines, then going from your outlines and applying the rules  to practice the rules for rule statements on practice essays and multiple-choice hypo.

Best,


On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 11:47 AM Aser Tolentino <agtolentino at gmail.com<mailto:agtolentino at gmail.com>> wrote:
People use outlines differently depending on their studying and test taking strategies. I personally used them as aids for facilitating recall of important information like elements of a tort or crime. The trick to it for me was to familiarize myself with the whole outline to the point where I could recite it not quite word for word but close enough to convey the meaning. What would help from there would be condensing it further and further to the point where you’re not really looking at the material itself but the shorthand that allows you to recall the information with the fewest words possible. Some folks took this strategy to the extreme, such that the first thing they did when starting the test was to duplicate their abbreviated outline from memory, basically turning it into a giant mnemonic device.
If you have an outline though when you take a practice test, you can see what you recall from memory and then consult the outline to quickly fill in the blanks. Going through that a few times can create associations between the types of question you are likely to encounter and the material in your outline, which hopefully helps promote recall in the actual testing environment. This was just how things worked for me and other people I studied with. YMMMV.

On Dec 27, 2025, at 2:30 PM, omar duncan <oduncan821 at gmail.com<mailto:oduncan821 at gmail.com>> wrote:

Got it cool thanks

And how would you use your outline would you use the outline for just plain studying and also answering essay questions  and multiple
Choice questions and using the outline as you do essay and multiple choice test prep as a point of reference while  doing test prep?


And after doing the initial outline prep would you ever add onto it or revise it as you continued on?

Best,

On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 10:58 AM Aser Tolentino <agtolentino at gmail.com<mailto:agtolentino at gmail.com>> wrote:
If I had it to do all over again, I’d try to set aside time at the end of each chapter: so there’s enough time for the material to develop context but not so much as to risk forgetting details. I think the core should start with the professor’s slide decks if you have them, or the syllabus if not. Then class notes and finally the reading or your case notes if you need the clarification.
Our study groups used Word so there was commonality. Just to show how long ago I was in class, we used Facebook group chats to coordinate and check each other’s understanding of key points. I’d use Discord for that now I guess. LOL
I preferred using heading levels with bulleted lists for most content and numbered lists for things like necessary elements or multi-part tests.


> On Dec 27, 2025, at 1:35 PM, omar duncan via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
>
> Hey Aser good morning.
> I hope all is well. That’s a good start. I Hope you had a nice holiday for
> Christmas Day.
>
> Around how early would you start outlining? And how often did you outline
> and lastly how exactly did you outline?
>
> Did you do subheading and headings and underline and bold to indicates
> level and organization of the material as well as the importance and
> significance.
>
>
> Also, on what platform did you do outlining? Was it a word processor or
> another application?
>
> Lastly, what sources and materials do you refer to to compile and organize
> your outline? Did you use class notes, PowerPoint, and supplements and
> study aids or lectures and stuff like that?
>
>
> I Appreciate some insights On your outlining process. Thank you for your
> attention, time, and Assistance.
> This guidance and insight will definitely help me out next semester
> To be honest I did not do a very good job without lining this semester that
> just finished, but I think I did all right, but I don’t want to make it a
> habit to not do outlining. I need to do outlining and I can appreciate any
> advice  or  insights you are   able to provide.
> Thank you for your attention and have a great new year. Please get back to
> me when you can.
>
>
> Best,
>
>> On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 9:16 AM Aser Tolentino via BlindLaw <
>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
>>
>> I’d have started outlining way earlier so I could spend more time
>> memorizing the outline or doing whatever prep with the outline already
>> committed to memory. I did more bullet points than actual briefing or
>> highlighting. I graduated fifteen years ago, so back then K1000 was still
>> in active development. Having the book saved to KES format was handy
>> because moving through the book was super fast with that interface and I
>> did assigned reading with a preliminary skim as fast as I could get through
>> the material. That way I got a quick high-level view of what we were
>> covering and could decide on what to take away from the cases. Case books,
>> the good ones at least, trim the opinions down to just the points that are
>> relevant to the author’s intended teaching objectives.
>> My biggest point of advice has nothing to do with tech, but more on the
>> whole experience. Get to know your classmates. Make friends and develop
>> support structures: if you’re lucky, those will be the same people.
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM Nate Appledorn via BlindLaw <
>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings all,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I will be starting law school this fall and was wondering if you had to
>> do
>>> it all over again, what would you do differently? I was thinking in
>> regards
>>> to accommodations or what software or services you found helpful or would
>>> have found helpful.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I was also curious as to what alternatives you have found useful instead
>> of
>>> rainbow briefing or writing a case brief for every case in the text.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If anyone has an accessible copy of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
>>> and Evidence they would be willing to share, I would greatly appreciate
>> it.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>>
>>> Nate Appledorn CP
>>> _______________________________________________
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