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Yale University

A Law Student's Toolkit

Whether you are an advanced law student looking to review the basics, or an aspiring law student looking for head start, this course will help you build the foundation you will need to succeed in law school and beyond. This course will introduce you to terminology, concepts, and tools lawyers and legal academics use to make their arguments. It will help you follow these arguments—and make arguments of your own. This course consists of a series of short lectures and assignments. A reading list complements each lesson, providing you with a roadmap to help you explore the subject matter more deeply on your own. Although the lessons may cross-reference each other, they are modular in nature: you should feel free to approach them in whatever order fits your schedule, interests, and needs.

Status: Legal Research
Status: Legal Proceedings
Course22 hours

Featured reviews

JP

4.0Reviewed Dec 15, 2020

Very informative. Not for a beginner. The readings took much longer than estimated in the syllabus. Peer grading can be challenging. Much heavier workload than I expected but well worth it.

CJ

5.0Reviewed May 5, 2020

It was great time spending with this cource. It truely helped me in developing and purishing my skills and spending the time in an efficent and highly effective manner. Thanks!!!!

A

5.0Reviewed Aug 22, 2020

Extremely informative and well structured. I found it quite hard since I'm still in secondary school, but all the new information I have learnt was definitely worth the challenge!

KE

5.0Reviewed Nov 27, 2017

Really interesting course, quite intense, especially in week 1. Good instructor who engages students (quite a feat for an online course) and encourages one to think about law in different ways.

AT

5.0Reviewed May 17, 2020

a aspiring high school graduate or a first year law student both can find such a course very useful. this course helped me a lot in bringing my concepts clear and i am thankful for that.

LS

5.0Reviewed Aug 8, 2022

I ​love Ian Ayres. Thank you Ian, for starting off my law degree on firm foundations and providing the intellectual kindling for my future learning. You are welfome round at my dinner table, anytime.

SS

5.0Reviewed Jul 16, 2023

A very interesting and thought povoking course, the content is clear and concise and delivered with an array of easy to interpret examples, truly simpifies legal concepts and challenges the viewer.

RG

5.0Reviewed Dec 14, 2016

Very useful information to get a glimpse of what's involved in law. His funny one-legged video at the end suggests too conservative of a trading and investing strategy for me, though.

HK

4.0Reviewed Nov 12, 2015

it is great for citizens students, However, the speaker uses such a little hard vocabulary to understand for international students as me. I really enjoy in this course. Thanks.

AS

5.0Reviewed Feb 26, 2023

Great course! Very helpful for understanding tools and ideas that can be used in different areas of law. Knowing these tools changed how I see the law and some events in everyday life.

SP

5.0Reviewed Aug 5, 2019

A very intriguing and challenging course. First week was intense but as the course progressed, it became easier to deal with while also becoming more and more interesting. Great course overall!

WX

4.0Reviewed Jun 6, 2017

Very challenging but there are many lessons to be learned. Law is a challenging and complex field, and prof. Ayres comes at it with good analogies and helpful advice

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 454

Trevor Ward
2.0
Reviewed Feb 11, 2018
Michelle Liu
5.0
Reviewed May 28, 2020
Kathy Meyer
1.0
Reviewed May 1, 2017
Hilde Komoda
5.0
Reviewed Mar 29, 2016
Panda
3.0
Reviewed May 11, 2020
Ahmed Khalid
4.0
Reviewed Mar 5, 2019
C. morgan
5.0
Reviewed Nov 12, 2018
Joel A. Cilento-Ross
4.0
Reviewed Jan 29, 2019
Jolene R. Connelly
3.0
Reviewed Feb 10, 2016
Chumachenko Tatiana
5.0
Reviewed Oct 15, 2018
Brian Brenner
5.0
Reviewed May 25, 2020
Kratika Vyas
4.0
Reviewed Jun 23, 2018
Xuan
5.0
Reviewed Apr 23, 2020
Bei Wu
5.0
Reviewed Jul 12, 2016
Koen Van Eynde
5.0
Reviewed Nov 28, 2017
Nadhia Gurrola
5.0
Reviewed Mar 15, 2018
Paulo
5.0
Reviewed May 4, 2018
Anant Singh
5.0
Reviewed Oct 23, 2017
Ayush Rao
5.0
Reviewed Aug 16, 2018
Raju Raval
5.0
Reviewed Sep 18, 2020