Suggested Summer Reading List
Many of our incoming first year students have requested suggestions for summer reading that would help prepare them for law school this fall. It is that very enthusiasm and interest in the law that makes the first year of law school so exciting, and we look forward to sharing that enthusiasm with you. We have listed below a collection of books on the profession, jurisprudence, legal history and legal writing that may be of interest to you as you begin to think about the study of law. None of these books contains the "key" to success in your first year of law school. We offer most merely as suggestions for summer reading about law-related topics.
Summer Reading List Project
Are you looking for a way to stay engaged and challenged this summer as you gear up for law school? Check out Professor Ian Gallacher's Summer Reading List Project. We will post a new reading suggestion & focus questions from Professor Gallacher weekly. Note: This project is not mandatory.
Week 1
Week 2
Introduction to How Civility Works
How Civility Works Focus Questions
Week 3
Focus Questions for Tough Cases
Week 4
Focus Questions for Being Wrong
Week 5
Introduction for Leader's Guide to Negotiation
Focus Questions for Leader's Guide to Negotiation
Week 6
Introduction to The Art of Memoir
Focus Questions for The Art of Memoir
Week 7
Highly Recommended
- Binder, David, Paul Bergman & Susan Price. Lawyers as Counselors (1990)
- Cappalli, Richard B. The American Common Law Method (1997)
- Fischl, Richard & Jeremy Paul. Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams (1999)
- Friedman, Barry & John C.P. Goldberg. Open Book: Succeeding on Exams from the First Day of Law School (2011)
- Gallacher, Ian. Coming to Law School: How to Prepare Yourself for the Next Three Years (2010)
- Gidi & Weihofen, Legal Writing Style (2018)
- Irons, Peter. A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution (1999)
- Irons, Peter. The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court (1990)
- Levit, Nancy & Douglas O. Linder. The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law (2010)
- McKinney, Ruth Ann. Reading Like a Lawyer: Time Saving Strategies for Reading Law Like an Expert (2005)
- Sherwin, Richard K. When Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line Between Law and Popular Culture (2002)
- Toobin, Jeffrey. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (2008)
Recommended
- Banks, Russell. The Sweet Hereafter (1992)
- Farnsworth, Edward. An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States (1983)
- Harrington, Mona. Woman Lawyers: Rewriting the Rules (1994)
- Hegland, Kenney. Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law (1983)
- Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
- Levi, Edward H. An Introduction to Legal Reasoning (1949)
- Lewis, Anthony. Gideon’s Trumpet (1966)
- Lewis, Anthony. Make No Law (1992)
- Miller, Robert H. Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience By Students, For Students (2000)
- Stropus & Taylor. Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School (2001)