#91476 - 08/31/10 10:53 PM
Studying Smarter
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kittydoctor
Beyond hope
Registered: 07/18/06
Posts: 1219
Loc: West Texas
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Howdy!
I love law school and everything about it. My professors know how to teach and are not only brilliant but also entertaining.
I do have a question that has been addressed by books and this board. I'd like it to start it again.
Fellow students, how do YOU study smart, v. long hours?
I find I get behind. Note tomorrow is the 8th whole day of school. We are not supposed to 'get it' yet.
I am doing a running 'sort of' outline, where every case and class notes goes on it, plus whatever I pick up. It takes me a lot of time. I'm not able to pick out the things that tie everything together, and I'm not comprehending that well. I do like the reading. I love soap operas, and what all these people do is sometimes pretty wild. Just finished the note on Jones v. Clinton from 1998! Opinion is pretty blasting.
I did, however, volunteer first in my three doctrinal courses. No 50 minute grilling for me for now. Visit my blog. I even define the Latin terms for the profs. All my section-mates know me and say hi by name. The mystery of 'who is the veterinarian now in law school' has been solved by some 1Ls and a few upperclassmen. Worse than a teachers' lounge.
So how do I not waste time? I can glean what the case is about, I could book brief and save time, but the time is going to come where I get called on. I sit way on one side, right up front as I asked for preferential seating. Right now when I raise my hand, profs deliberately look elsewhere. Ka-ching!
I'm not an all nighter person. Starting to get busy with activities, just a few. The Texas Bank Lawyer Journal has students condense cases into blurbs that get published. Meets once a week. 10 meetings, 10 blurbs, and you win! Published as a 1L. Forum for clubs is Thursday at lunch. BTW, I went to the bank meeting today-OK, I have a checking account, right? So I know all about banking..... 
Students and grads, please list your top five tips for studying smarter, not longer. Thanks from the KD1L.
_________________________
Mary
The cow is of the bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other milk.
Ogden Nash
First veterinarian admitted to TTU!
My blog: DrinkingOutOfTheTrough.com
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#91477 - 08/31/10 11:17 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: kittydoctor]
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tonyg
I have a lot of time on my hands
Registered: 10/29/07
Posts: 284
Loc: Washington, D.C.
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1. Accept that you will not get every point, find every issue or know every answer.
2. Get enough sleep.
3. Don't procrastinate.
4. Exercise.
5. Take classes you enjoy (for 2L & 3L's).
6. Simplify your life.
Each one of these points have saved me time and effort. It seems basic, but it works. I am not in the top 10% in my class nor am I even in the top 25% percent, however, I have enjoyed law school (though I think 33% of it is useless).
_________________________
Class of 2010.5
Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in. W. Churchill
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#91479 - 09/01/10 12:13 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: tonyg]
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kittydoctor
Beyond hope
Registered: 07/18/06
Posts: 1219
Loc: West Texas
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Thanks for the quick replies. Crazy makes a true point about cases not on test, but concepts are, and to memorize BLL-I'm not there yet. But you do need to prepare to be called on for cases. And, my school has an entire department with a dean for academic success, that's what I did this summer. It has it's own library of every study aid on the market, and if it should be missing something, the library has it.
Tony, I totally agree with your five points. I do not aspire to be at the top of the class. Let the youngsters compete for that. I do enjoy law school. I thought it would be very dry, but it isn't. One of my classes is so good, the time just flies. The prof, the one I sparred with over the summer, starts a timer so that when it goes off, he's done. Otherwise, he'd go on all day, and I'd be happy to sit there listening to him. If you recall the Conley decision being replaced by (don't have book at home not) Swierkowicz about Rule 8 pleadings, he handed out a notice that in Congress, there is a bill going around to put Conley back in place for plain and simple pleadings. Read the dissenting opinion of Bell Atlantic case for yet another humorous dissenting opinion. I may start collecting them.
I'm doing no more than 1/2 page of notes per class, listen but pay little mind to student comments (they are a pretty smart bunch,) and only use my computer for Torts, b/c prof lets us upload his ppts. We can make comments below the slides. Also for K, because I need something to do until the prof lets fly yet another hilarious comment. I have my outline, as such, for Torts also on the screen, so I can go back and forth.
It's after 11 here, had cereal and watched a TV show. Need to catch up a little on Contracts, then hit the hay. Who would have thought that I'd actually get to law school in a strange country, er, state, and love where I now live?
Keep this going, please.
Cheers!
_________________________
Mary
The cow is of the bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other milk.
Ogden Nash
First veterinarian admitted to TTU!
My blog: DrinkingOutOfTheTrough.com
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#91481 - 09/01/10 11:07 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: kittydoctor]
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Sartoris99
Senior Contributor
Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 111
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Well thanks K.D. I was thinking about ways to try and reintroduce a discussion on this now that I actualy have work to do, and it's not theoretical anymore. OK actually I want to plea for everyone's assistance. Here's the thing. I don't know HOW to outline. I mean I know what an outline is. I have made many outlines on many outlines on many subjects. But I can't, to save my overly educated neck, conceptualize how to start making outlines for my law school classes.
I have read PLS and GGG, and I'm thoroughly converted to Thane's general philosophy. I don't brief beyond the 2-4 line approach. Sometimes longer for longer cases. So far that has gotten me through three Socratic fits in two weeks. My cold call in contracts went very well-- love contracts. Fine in Torts which is compelling material, rule-driven.
The prof is wierd, vaguely homophobic and marginally racist, but as we're learning in Torts, one is expected to skin of a reasonable thickness. More so in law school, and more so quite possibly in Philadelphia where we order food from disgusting trucks and insult each other's heritage and sexuality in hopes of shortening the queue at said disgusting trucks. There's no reason I should need to like the Torts prof. I just like Torts.
Civ Pro, is a different stroy. The prof. there is pompus. When he called on me, I made the mistake of starting slowly with a warm up comment. He impatiently moves on. So I guess I learned something there too. I don't get where Civ. Pro is going. Why are we starting with remedies? Don't remedies come at the end of trials? So far, weve looked at a bunch of replevin, due process cases. Hmmm . . . maybe that's it. Maybe he's establishing the Fourteenth ammendment as the essence of Civ Pro? Yes? Is that it? What do I need to put in an outline?? When I look at the commercial outlines, I just tend to start copying, so I put those away for now.
My goal is to assert substantial dominion over each subject via my outline, thus converting it from the profs property to something I have command over. But what should my topics be? The syllabus? The table of contents? Those solutions keep feeling like copying to me. Do I put rules from retatements down? cases? I'm talking about my detailed master outline here.
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#91482 - 09/01/10 11:57 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: kittydoctor]
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forthguy
Beyond hope
Registered: 01/30/04
Posts: 1042
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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If you recall the Conley decision being replaced by (don't have book at home not) Swierkowicz about Rule 8 pleadings, he handed out a notice that in Congress, there is a bill going around to put Conley back in place for plain and simple pleadings. Read the dissenting opinion of Bell Atlantic case for yet another humorous dissenting opinion. I may start collecting them.
Conley was killed by Iqbal v. Ashcroft, based on Bell Atlantic v. Twombly. And since Iqbal is only a year old and there hasn't been enough action on it yet, it can be incredibly frustrating if, say, you've spent the last several weeks trying to push your first federal complaint out the door...
As for studying smarter, if you work at it, it will come. As with everything else, the best way to study smarter is to find what works for you. I found that I needed to read every case, but I didn't need to brief them. I'd jot down a one or two line summary of the issues and holdings.
I also didn't waste any time on outlines during the course of the semester, because I didn't waste any time doing hundreds of practice exams. My take was (and this may not work for everyone was) that a law school exam is a law school exam. The basic skills are spotting the issues and analyzing those issues.
So, that just leaves learning the issues and knowing how to analyze them. And, rather than wasting time all semester, at the end of the semester, you'll know what the professor has covered, what the professor has hinted that you should know, and you'll have your hands on old exams. (It seemed wildly common at my school for profs old exams to be guarded like gold.)
From here, you can just prepare lists of the issues and LEEWS-style IR (issue/rule) statements for each one. For closed book exams, I'd just write these things over and over until I drilled them in my head. For open book exams, I'd just prepare complete blocks of text to drop into the exam.
So, what does this mean? It means I saved a lot of precious time during the semester, when I was going to work, writing papers (or thinking, "man, I should really be writing that paper"), etc., time that I could use to do all of the reading and understand the big picture from the class, not trying to glean it from supplements. And it means I spent a lot of time writing things during the finals period, when I didn't have classes, often took vacation from work, and had already submitted papers and such.
_________________________
: star 42 emit ;
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#91488 - 09/01/10 08:04 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: forthguy]
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Tiburon
Senior Contributor
Registered: 01/20/07
Posts: 166
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It's true that law school exams are about analysis. But I think it's pretty hard to explain analysis. I didn't "get it" until the 11th hour of 1st semester. Luckily, I did "get it" and managed to do well on the finals. My mid-terms were pretty disappointing.
Being lucky enough to find a compatible study partner is what worked for me.
Also, unlike most others, briefing cases that first semester ended up being very helpful. With an outline and case briefs, my partner and I grouped the related cases together on a chart as a visual reminder and started coming up with our own hypos.
For example, if we were studying negligence, we would have written the elements of negligence on our chart: Duty, Breach, Actual Causation, Proximate Causation, Harm. Under Duty, we'd write the names of cases that dealt with duty, etc.
Then we'd start talking. We generally started by changing one or two facts in an existing case. We'd talk through what we thought the likely outcome would be and why. This is where having the case briefs was helpful. When we didn't remember something or had a question, it turned out that my case briefs usually had enough detail that we could find the answer pretty quickly. Usually by the end of a topic, we were starting to see relationships to other things and it really felt like the pieces of a puzzle were falling into place.
After that first semester, book briefing was sufficient. Just learning the BLL would not have helped me much because I lack imagination and tend to learn really well by example. So having a case that gives me an example and then only needing to come up with one or two changes at a time worked for me.
Having a partner also helped to bring in a different point of view. I remember many times, during 1L in particular, thinking that I never in a million years would have come up with whatever the classmate of the moment was saying. That feeling didn't occur nearly as often by 3L.
So just another point of view if the other study methods don't seem to be working for you.
Tiburon
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#91499 - 09/03/10 08:13 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: Sartoris99]
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fllaw
Senior Contributor
Registered: 08/30/09
Posts: 185
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***
I have read PLS and GGG, and I'm thoroughly converted to Thane's general philosophy. I don't brief beyond the 2-4 line approach. Sometimes longer for longer cases. So far that has gotten me through three Socratic fits in two weeks. My cold call in contracts went very well-- love contracts. Fine in Torts which is compelling material, rule-driven.
***
Civ Pro, is a different stroy. The prof. there is pompus. When he called on me, I made the mistake of starting slowly with a warm up comment. He impatiently moves on. So I guess I learned something there too. I don't get where Civ. Pro is going. Why are we starting with remedies? ***
One thing Charles mentioned and I think Thane too, is Lexis/Nexis. It makes getting case briefs very efficient. Plus while the case book is edited, Lexis provides the full context of the case. The headnotes point to critical rules.
Are you using Yeazell for Civ Pro? We started with remedies and fee shifting first. Finally we are into pleadings and just did the Iqbal and Twombly cases. The Prof said she likes to start in Part B of the book so we can walk through the entire process this semester before getting into jurisdiction, venue and so forth next semester.
I use OneNote for all my class notes and outlines. I also store all my case briefs, from Lexis in there too. That way I can hyperlink from the outline to the case or notes. Very efficient.
As a part-time student, full-time employee I have very little free time and must be efficient. Effective too! So I am becoming an expert using Westlaw and Lexis. These tools are free to law students do make use of them. They kill.
I think Thane gives you a pretty basic idea about outlining in GGG. Go back and look at that. It is not that hard. It is the process, not the result that matters. You learn the law through organizing your outline, and re-re-organizing it! 
Edited by fllaw (09/03/10 08:16 PM)
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#91501 - 09/04/10 09:48 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: fllaw]
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Sartoris99
Senior Contributor
Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 111
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Thanks flaw, OneNote is an excellent tool unfortunately I don't think there's a Mac version. I'm trying Omni Outline Not quite as function but hmmm . . . maybe I can hyperlink to briefs, not a bad Idea. I'm spending the weekend outlining, I'm starting to get a big picture. My Civ. Pro book is Marcus et al.
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#91502 - 09/04/10 03:13 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: Sartoris99]
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forthguy
Beyond hope
Registered: 01/30/04
Posts: 1042
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Thanks flaw, OneNote is an excellent tool unfortunately I don't think there's a Mac version. I'm trying Omni Outline Not quite as function but hmmm . . . maybe I can hyperlink to briefs, not a bad Idea. I'm spending the weekend outlining, I'm starting to get a big picture. My Civ. Pro book is Marcus et al.
No Mac version of OneNote, and no good way to exchange OneNote information with non-OneNote users.
I knew a number of folks who used OmniOutliner to take notes. I think Circus Ponies' NoteBook is probably a bit closer, and it what I used my first year. After that, I decided that taking notes in an outline was requiring too much organization during the process, and I switched to Tinderbox, which I use for a bunch of random things.
There are lots of options, especially on the Mac, for software aimed at capturing notes and thoughts. Curio seems especially interesting, too.
_________________________
: star 42 emit ;
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#91503 - 09/05/10 11:30 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: forthguy]
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GerriP
Senior Contributor
Registered: 07/13/08
Posts: 200
Loc: Alabama
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I use Circus Ponies Notebook for all my note taking and formulate my outlines in Word. Notebook will allow you to use an outline page, a note page (just typed text with no pre-set outline format), or a Cornell page (divided page). I use Cornell and put the reading from my casebook and briefs on one side of the page, and class notes and/or supplement information on the other side. All my class notes are in red, so I can differentiate.
I know it may not work for everyone and the Thane-followers would probably hate my method. However, it is efficient and works really well for me.
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#91512 - 09/06/10 05:16 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: Sartoris99]
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ThaneJMessinger
Senior Contributor
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 231
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Thanks flaw, OneNote is an excellent tool unfortunately I don't think there's a Mac version. I'm trying Omni Outline Not quite as function but hmmm . . . maybe I can hyperlink to briefs, not a bad Idea. I'm spending the weekend outlining, I'm starting to get a big picture. My Civ. Pro book is Marcus et al.
Sartoris & All -
My apologies for the delay in jumping back in. It's been rather hectic on this end, as indeed it has been for y'all.
I agree that the form of the outline is less important than working and re-working it (and then re-re-working it when doing practice exams). But, as you note, actually getting one started can be frustrating.
How about this . . . would anyone like to toss out a sample outline section that you've started? Perhaps a handful (< dozen) lines? (This is part of the trick. It's easy to do too much in an outline. That's fine during the middle passes, but the ending outline should be quite condensed.)
Thane.
PS: In GGG, see the pages starting at 258 for a . . . start.
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#91516 - 09/06/10 06:15 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: ThaneJMessinger]
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kittydoctor
Beyond hope
Registered: 07/18/06
Posts: 1219
Loc: West Texas
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Thane and all,
I just ordered Circus Ponies Notebook 3.0 for my MacBook Pro. Had I not already had Office 2008, which I bought when I bought my computer two years ago, I could have it free from the University. I don't know how Circus Ponies will help me yet, but the IT guys in the law library are great.
I have outlines for my 3 exam classes. One professor even gave us a template to download for his course. I then knew how to approach it. My class progressive outlines where I had briefed my cases are too much, I know.
One prof helps my new love of funny judicial opinions. In Civ Pro, we of course are studying rules 8 and 12 hard. 3 cases that had me laughing (I may make these errors, but I hope not.) One, somebody v. GMAC, there was so little information, the opinion was very irritating in tone. Something about the court wasn't going to do plaintiff's work for her. Then, the opinion ended in a poem. Reminds me of a West Wing episode where they thing the Chief Justice has gone around the bend because he's writing his opinions in verse(a literary curse.) The next was Kirksey v. RJR and Lorillard-sure are a lot of Kirkseys around. They made the opposing counsel go blind, so the judge tossed it and reminded the attorney to look at Rule 8 and why it was so. Lastly, for Thursday, the case given didn't even list the facts. The judge tossed it (IL Circuit Court) with an attached guide to the top things lawyers do wrong, giving the plaintiff's lawyer a few days to get it right. Point from prof, I think, is there are ways to do things correctly, we have rules for this, and all you have to do is read.
My prof is the leading expert in Kirksey v. Kirksey, so in a moment of exhaustion, I pulled up an article he wrote about it. CBs only give us a taste of a case, and this whole thing is fascinating. One of Mrs. Kirksey's descendants won two gold medals in the Olympics, and a descendent of brother-in-law Kirksey is Dan Rather of CBS.
We've had two cases from Fort Fun. In both, I know/knew the people involved.
Small legal world. Finished first attempt at Texas Bank Lawyer blurb. Thane, did you do this at UT? Property prof next semester was #1 in class at UT. Nice guy. They all know who I am. So do a lot of students, and I really don't know why except for the mystery of 'Who is the vet in the class"? I was already asked to join a study group, which I will after this Friday. Have a meeting.
Nice, nice people. Gorgeous weather, too, and a beautiful campus. I watched the football game on TV instead of roasting in the sun. Fell asleep during the last quarter. Wreck 'em Tech!
_________________________
Mary
The cow is of the bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other milk.
Ogden Nash
First veterinarian admitted to TTU!
My blog: DrinkingOutOfTheTrough.com
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#91520 - 09/07/10 01:18 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: kittydoctor]
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ThaneJMessinger
Senior Contributor
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 231
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Thane and all,
Nice, nice people. Gorgeous weather, too, and a beautiful campus. I watched the football game on TV instead of roasting in the sun. Fell asleep during the last quarter. Wreck 'em Tech!
Sounds like the beginning of a fun semester! = : )
Something interesting happens with a focus on the basics: the higher-order, more interesting peculiarities *are* fun. They make sense, and the humor behind them (and the profs' quips) make sense as well. It's a good feeling.
Go get 'em,
Thane.
PS: I mostly caused trouble at UT. Big surprise, no? = : )
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#91525 - 09/07/10 11:33 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: ThaneJMessinger]
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Sartoris99
Senior Contributor
Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 111
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Thanks flaw, OneNote is an excellent tool unfortunately I don't think there's a Mac version. I'm trying Omni Outline Not quite as function but hmmm . . . maybe I can hyperlink to briefs, not a bad Idea. I'm spending the weekend outlining, I'm starting to get a big picture. My Civ. Pro book is Marcus et al. Sartoris & All - My apologies for the delay in jumping back in. It's been rather hectic on this end, as indeed it has been for y'all. I agree that the form of the outline is less important than working and re-working it (and then re-re-working it when doing practice exams). But, as you note, actually getting one started can be frustrating. How about this . . . would anyone like to toss out a sample outline section that you've started? Perhaps a handful (< dozen) lines? (This is part of the trick. It's easy to do too much in an outline. That's fine during the middle passes, but the ending outline should be quite condensed.) Thane. PS: In GGG, see the pages starting at 258 for a . . . start.
Thanks Thane-- I did look at those pages to get stared, but I wanted more direction, I looked at commercial outlines, and couldn't quite figure out how to use them. Here's the beginning of my Torts outline, I think I may be including too much. It looks like the indents won't show up here, but you get the idea.
I Intentional Torts
A Battery
1 Restatement definition: §13 Battery Restatement 2d of Torts: An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and
(b) a harmful contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results.
2 My Words: You're liable for battery if you act intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact (or inteding them to think the contact is coming), and a harmful or offensive contact results.
3 Elements: A battery has two elements: 1) Intent ; 2) Harmful/ offensive contact.
a Defining Intent, requiring fault. Van Camp v. McAFoos (3 y.o. child, no fault was asserted). Garrat v. Daily. (5 y.o. with the chair). The actor must be substantially certain that contact / harm will occur.
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#91530 - 09/07/10 09:42 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: Sartoris99]
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ThaneJMessinger
Senior Contributor
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 231
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Intentional Torts
A Battery
1 Restatement definition: §13 Battery Restatement 2d of Torts: An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and
(b) a harmful contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results.
Aloha, Sartoris & All -
This is a good start. It can be useful to think of a "life cycle" of an outline: it starts simple, grows complex as you add the bells and whistles--the caveats, minority opinions, exceptions, and so on. Then, when it has become second nature--or, more correctly, as it is becoming second nature--you are condensing, or re-simplifying. In the final stages, this is a formal step, in the form of a summary ouline of no more than two pages, per subject.
As to "battery," it can be useful in part 2 (adding the complexities) to break off each component of the definition. So, for example:
An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and
(b) a harmful contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results.
"An actor is subject to liability to another for battery " is not important. Clearly we're talking about the person who is potentially liable, the tortfeasor. We need this to know who we're talking about, but don't spend your energies here--at least not yet. (Where you WILL spend your energies is in an exam, where you absolutely want to make sure you have defined each different actor so that you can run through the same tests for each set of potential tortfeasors. More tort sets, more points.) Thus, for now, you can shorten this to "T" for torteasor. (Or for that matter "G" for Gotta' remember who this tortfeasor is.) So it can be as simple as "T if..."
Where this gets fun [and, sorry, I've only a few more minutes] is in defining the various terms. So "act" is usually straightforward--but the "intending to" is where the complications arise. So, as you read the cases you need to put exactly where they fit: do they relate to the intent of the tortfeasor, the perspective of the plaintiff, etc. And this continues with each part of the definition. So, "contact" might be subject to a case or two, and a fun discusion in class or three. (Such as in whether the test is met in contact with something closly associated with the "person"...)
See? Fun! As much as we made of a certain person debating the meaning of the word "is," for our purposes that is exactly right. In law school, no term is taken for granted, and "is" might in fact (and in law) be far too, ah, loose a term.
Does this help?
Thane.
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#91535 - 09/08/10 12:20 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: ThaneJMessinger]
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cfood2010
Senior Contributor
Registered: 01/25/10
Posts: 104
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--but the "intending to" is where the complications arise.
I remember we had lots of discussions about showing intent;
intent shown by actual intent(evidence that T knew),
constructive intent (T should have known),
or by transferred intent (T intended (actual or constructive) to contact V1, but contacted V2.
But, please verify!
CF
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#91537 - 09/08/10 03:49 PM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: cfood2010]
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ThaneJMessinger
Senior Contributor
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 231
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--but the "intending to" is where the complications arise.
I remember we had lots of discussions about showing intent; intent shown by actual intent(evidence that T knew), constructive intent (T should have known), or by transferred intent (T intended (actual or constructive) to contact V1, but contacted V2.
cf & All -
Absolutely right. We tend to think that the hard part are the rules. The rules are really pretty simple. The hard part comes in getting all those exceptions and definitions down, and then in being able to draw on the right ones in exams. (Example: "No actual intent by T3, but constructive intent because x,y,z. Transferred intent to T4 because...")
The cases are important, but not because they're cases. Rather, the cases are there to highlight a specific definitional point. What is "constructive intent?" (Not just that, but "What, EXACTLY, constitutes "constructive intent?" Is that test met HERE? Would the test be met if a fact were different? Which fact, and how?) What is a "person" for purposes of "contact?" And so on.
See? Fun! This is why outlines are so important, hypos and practice exams are so important, and briefing and notes are so distracting.
Thane.
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#91639 - 09/30/10 01:18 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: kittydoctor]
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txchick
Contributor
Registered: 09/26/09
Posts: 62
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Outlining:
Here is a section of mine:
Intent to Contact
One must intend the contact (or be substantially certain it will occur)--it cannot be contact as a result of a involuntary muscle movement
There must be an action--
some evidence that a message was sent from the mind to the body
involvement of the will--the act is volitional and not reflexive
acts done while sleepwalking, having a seizure, fainting etc. are not voluntary and thus are not eligible contact for the tort of battery.
subjective test for intent (what was in the mind of the Δ when he acted?)
Case Clips
Waters v. Blackshear --
"the extent of the harm need not be intended or even foreseen."
the interest in protection is different than the harm suffered. The actor need not intend the harm if he intended the contact.
Polmatier v. Russ --
The plaintiff must prove that the defendant acted and that the act wsa an external manifestation of the actors will.
The plaintiff must prove that the Δ intended for the act to cause a contact that was harmful or office.
If the Δ's personal characteristics do not prevent the Δ from exercising his will or forming an intent, they are irrelevant.
The contact must be harmful or offensive
objective test for harm or offensiveness (what is unpermitted in the eyes of a reasonable person in similar circumstances?)
Sorry I have been away so long! I LOVE being back in the midst of the intellectual stimulation! Was very thrilled with my torts midterm grade:) Now I need to keep that up for midterm 2 and finals! Am feeling much better at this school about outlining and all. Plan to be fully caught up on torts outline by the weekend so I have lots of time to revise and revise before MT2 on the 13th!!
Hope you're all well! KD Congrats on the Bank Journal, that is terrific!
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#91640 - 09/30/10 01:22 AM
Re: Studying Smarter
[Re: txchick]
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txchick
Contributor
Registered: 09/26/09
Posts: 62
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Hey KD--do you have the link to the Kirskey v. Kirskey article?
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