Law is all about solving problems - in particular, solving problems in time-pressured exam situation, delivering a concise, legal argument.
1. Everyone will tell you to do so, and I know initially you won't believe me and you won't listen, but...DO NOT READ CASES. They are so confusing and impossible to understand! the judges ramble on and on trying to impress each other. Your there to get good grades. Reading cases does not help you do that! Law school is about one thing and one thing only...doing well on final exams! Law school exams are PROBLEM questions. You need to learn how to resolve problems in a concise, legal argument. Get a textbook which summarises cases for you - which extracts particular cases and gives you a brief summary of the facts and the relevant holding gets a few of these books and just SKIM through the actual case/judgement don't read it word for word because you've read the textbook summaries you know what's important in the case - the various summaries have guided you to the important parts o just skim over that and make note of important parts. People read cases very religiously it depends on the subject for contracts its intro to contract law by Graw, Pearson law briefs are a personal favourite of mine tbh just go in your library and look around (ur uni's law library) and find the relevant textbooks. (Don't get the established textbooks like Balkin & Davis/Fleming for Torts or Carter for Contracts - these are academic textbooks meant for academics, they hardly help you in law school.
2. Do past papers/practice problem questions. You can't just expect to memorise the law and go into an exam, and solve a hypothetical problem question with no experience you need to practice DAILY the skills of issue spotting and resolving the issues the best is past papers - but sometimes these aren't the best option if they don't have sample solutions. I recommend Butterworths Q&A they give sample questions + answers in concise legal language. I highly recommend reading: "How to write law essays and exams" by Strong she has a PhD from Cambridge and a DPhil from Oxford and a Master's in Professional Writing its the one book you must read BEFORE you start law school and one semester after, during the holidays. (if your only doing foundations of law in sem 1, then i'd hold it back to sem 1 holidays and then review it again at the end of the year) if you do those 2 things you'd be head and shoulders above the rest.
3. Keep condensing your notes. Mastering law studies and law exam techniques by Richard Krever is a MUST. I usually make my case summary notes 2 weeks BEFORE the lecture which covers that content (and try my hand with problem questions from Q&A books in the meantime). I make a table, 2 columns - one column, my summary of the case, the second column what the LECTURER states about the case. These are my COMPREHENSIVE notes. I do not study from these notes. I make review notes - based around legal issues, not cases and study them consistently, and refine them using the Q&A book (which shows how to apply the law). I keep condensing the review notes till I have a cheat sheet which I can take into the exam (16 pages summarising the entire course - perfect for an open book exam). If its a closed book exam, I memorise the 16 pages.
In short, 2 things before uni starts:
1. Read Mastering law studies and law exam techniques / Richard Krever.
2. Read Strong's 'how to write law essays and exams'
I essentially followed this during my first year of USyd Law and ended up with a 80+ WAM which puts me in a fantastic position for geting into USyd First class honours, when the time comes.
I can give you all my law notes for free, upon request. (message me).
