Cambridge Law Students and Applicants

J-Mo from Trinity? Didn't know she did tort!

Oh okay, thanks i wasn't aware of philosophy being an academic but thats great x

As Tortious said, Part IB can do De Smith, Brick Court and Cuppers. They also tend to use the SAME problems in the same order (which IMO gives an unfair advantage to Part II students who have a second go at it because they already know what to argue. And I have seen Part II students doing it twice) so if you can find someone who took part last year, they can tell you what's gonna come up. (I bet one will be about onion seeds, one will be about a car park and they'll keep that incomprehensible one about the fireworks which creates several logical fallacies and is almost unarguable. Worst problem I've ever seen)

De Smith tends to be very early on - maybe 2 or 3 weeks into Michaelmas. Brick Court starts a week or two after it. Cuppers is a bit later

Heh, I wasn't expecting anyone to see it, so my post was really a joke - but I'm actually looking for contributions if you're keen to write!

Two choices: you can submit a first class Tripos essay with supervisor's comments (but that's a bit boring), or you can write an article on a current legal development you find particularly interesting. I'd imagine that Crim/Tort might have thrown up some juicy cases, although the past few editions have been fairly Crim-heavy. It doesn't have to be something you've studied though.

I know you've got a copy of the email with Easter's edition (cheers for the reminder, Geth ), so that should give you an indication of the style/length - generally 1,000-2,000 words.



Here, eventually, but I think it's in the process of being updated. There's Brick Court (team), De Smith (individual) and Cuppers (college team), but I'm not sure when they take place.

... Who?

J-Mo = Jonathon Morgan - he was the DoS before I started and interviewed me. He came back to write the first round moot and judge us, though I hear he's back for next year so some lucky first and second years are gonna get him for contract and tort.

Oops, just seen this post. I thought you meant Jo Miles, but for some reason referred to her as "J-Mo".

Ah, I'd forgotten Part II can enter those as well! Definitely giving Brick Court a go - my husband and I applied but were forced out after the organisers screwed up (to be fair, we were doing De Smith so they kicked us to make sure as many people as possible could have a go...).

The problems are also available on the web (at something like mootingproblems.com), but there are no skeletons available! The problems all date from about 1999, which sometimes means that there law's moved on and there's no longer an arguable case. The one with the flats was "about" Knights Construction [2011] but the transcript wasn't on the web so I couldn't refer to it...

So. Book recommendations for contract/land/legal history/jurisprudence/international?

For land use Dixon. Don't use Megarry and Wade.

Contract, O'Sullivan is good enough for now.

What's your opinion on Gray and Gray? I keep getting told to use that

Personally, I found it unreadable. They had a habit of repeating themselves several times and using a lot of words to make one point, complicating things unneccessarily. I used the big Gray and Gray for all of Michaelmas and averaged a mid-2.2. I used the core text for Supervisions 5 and 6, and improved to a low 2.1. But when I used Dixon, I shot up to a mid 2.1. I revised using Dixon and only used the other 2 texts to cross-reference points and Land law ended up as my highest mark in my degree.

That being said, a lot of people do use it and a lot of people like it. Personally, I think it's better if you have something a lot simpler to read first, to lay the foundations.

Gray and Gray core text got me a first in Land. You'll hear some people turn their nose up at Dixon's International textbook, but really it's all you need; the other books tend to get more bogged down in the detail than the course requires and will take you forever. Dixon, the lectures and maybe a case or two (read Nicaragua) and you'll be golden for international. Everyone uses different things for Contract, but a combination of Anson's textbook and Burrows' casebook worked okay for me. Maybe look for something else though, I was never quite happy with them.

Juris, you'll get told what you need. The core texts are: Hart's Concept of Law, Dworkin's Law's Empire, Fuller's Morality of Law, Rawls' Theory of Justice, Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia and maybe something by Finnick. There's a couple of books you'll look at as secondary reading; if there's something on your reading list by Kramer, I'd consider either reading that first or, better, skim the primary stuff then read it. You might not end up agreeing with him (although you should) but the issues will be clearer than if you just read the primary text.

Recommendations for EU and Equity would also be appreciated from any former Part IIer!

So. Book recommendations for contract/land/legal history/jurisprudence/international?

Anyone have any advice on books or general survival for Part 1A?

The recent freshers can probably give better advice on books for Part IA as my recommendations are likely out of date by now.

As for general survival:

- Don't try to read every case or get to the end of everything for each supervision. Focus on mastering the basics and consolidate in the holidays. You don't need extra detail until exam term.

- Don't spend hours and hours working - Part IA is the lightest workload, take some time out to enjoy it. But don't do what my friend did and do no work in Michaelmas: that will come back to bite you, hard.

- Criminal is harder than you think it will be. It's also harshly marked. Roman law is easy to learn but you're unlikely to get a first in it.

- Your Part IA grade has the least weighting in anything. Most people improve and *very* few will get a first in Part IA so don't be too put out if you're not getting firsts. You might be brilliant - but so is everyone else on the course.

- Don't compete with everyone else. You're not being marked on a curve, it's stupid, juvenile and tiring. Make friends with the other law students and work together. You'll see more if you work together and you won't be wasting time trying to trip them up. It also makes learning more enjoyable.

Anyone have any advice on books or general survival for Part 1A?