Overcoming Plateaus When Studying Legal Concepts
What to do when you hit a roadblock in learning law So you’ve been studying the basics of law for a few weeks now, but you feel like you’re not really making any progress. The material all seems the same, it’s hard to keep similar concepts straight, and when you try to apply the concepts to different problems, it feels forced and unnatural. The problem is that you’ve actually learned enough that it’s all starting to feel familiar, so you’re not really thinking as deeply about it as you need to. So the trick here is to recognize when you’ve hit this point, and then to change things up a bit instead of getting discouraged. Here’s one thing that might help.
Take two concepts that feel similar to you, but are actually different. For example, maybe you’re having trouble distinguishing a void contract from a voidable one, or a negligent act from a strict liability act. Choose one of these concepts, and write a paragraph about it. It should have three parts. First, define the term. Second, list the elements of that term. Finally, describe the typical factual situation in which that term arises. When you’ve finished, take the other concept, and write a paragraph about it.
Follow the same three-part structure that you did the first time. Usually, when you go through this exercise, you’ll discover some subtle distinction between the two terms that you hadn’t noticed before. If your two paragraphs end up sounding nearly identical, then that fact in itself may provide the clue you need as to how the two terms differ. Another thing that might be happening to you is that you’re spending too much time merely reviewing material instead of actively engaging with it. This seems to be a particularly common trap that a lot of law students fall into. They’ll re-read their notes, or re-read the highlighted portions of their casebook, as if by merely being exposed to the material more, they’ll somehow end up understanding it. But the truth is, merely re-reading material passively like this is one of the worst ways to try to learn it. The more you re-read something, the more your brain is going to tune it out, and the less you’ll retain. Instead, try this.
The first time you read through your notes or a highlighted case, that’s fine. But after that, stop re-reading them. Instead, try to summarize the material out loud, as if you were explaining it to someone who’s never studied law before. If at all possible, record your summary with your smartphone, and then listen to the recording. Wherever you hear yourself pausing, or struggling to find the right words, or using a lot of circular language to describe something without ever actually getting to the point, those are the areas where you still need to work on your understanding.
But instead of going back and re-reading everything, go back to your source material, find the specific parts that deal with those areas, and re-read just those parts. This will help keep you focused on the areas where you need the most help, and avoid getting yourself bored or discouraged. Here’s another exercise that you might find helpful. Take a concept that you’re struggling with, and try to think of three simple factual scenarios drawn from everyday life that involve that concept. For example, let’s say you’re trying to get a handle on the concept of consideration in contracts. You might imagine the following three situations. First, your friend agrees to buy your tickets for a concert if you’ll wait in line for them. Second, your neighbor agrees to mow your lawn if you’ll lend them your lawnmower.
Third, your brother agrees to cook dinner if you’ll do the dishes. Each of these scenarios involves some kind of bargain, so for each of them, ask yourself whether there’s valid consideration under the law, and why or why not. Finally compare your three answers. This can be a good way to test your understanding of a concept, because it forces you to apply it to situations beyond the ones you’ve read about in your casebook. And you may well find, once you compare your three answers, that there are some distinctions you’re not yet making as clearly as you ought to be. Because you’re using simple scenarios, this exercise shouldn’t take very long or feel too taxing or boring.
Finally, here’s one more general thought about how to avoid the doldrums. In your daily study sessions, it’s a good idea to mix review of yesterday’s material with actively engaging today’s material. You might, for example, spend the first ten minutes of your study session summarizing yesterday’s material out loud, then the next ten wrestling with a single clause or scenario from today’s material, then the last five minutes jotting down one question about today’s material that you want to come back to tomorrow.