Guest: Professor Scott Burnham, University of Montana School of Law

Topic: Conflicts: Choice of Law

Running Time: 9:25

Click here to download the mp3 file: Burnham_ChoiceOF_Law.mp3

Prof. Burnham, author of many CALI lessons and podcasts, discusses choice of law in contract cases.Choice of law occurs when there is an issue of which jurisdiction’s law the courts will apply to a substantive issue.Choice of law is not a question of where a case will be heard, but instead what law applies when hearing the case.Prof. Burnham discusses how parties can influence what law will apply as well as what restrictions apply when doing so.Also discussed are the older and revised versions of UCC Art. 1, specifically the requirement of a reasonable connection with the jurisdiction and determining whether the contract has a significant relationship with the jurisdiction.

Guest: Professor Scott Burnham, University of Montana School of Law

Topic: Exam Tips: How to be better prepared and more successful at taking law school multiple choice tests.

Running Time: 11:14

Click here to download the mp3 file: Burnham_MCQuestions.mp3

Prof. Burnham, author of a number of CALI lessons and podcasts provides students with advice on multiple choice exam questions. Prof. Burnham goes into the different aspects of a multiple choice question: the stimulus, options, key, and distracters. Additionally, Prof. Burnham discusses the different types of multiple choice questions such as questions that test a student’s ability to recall information, those that draw on materials discussed in class, and those that require analysis. Students are taught how to respond to the call of a question, apply IRAC to multiple choice questions, as well as different tactics for eliminating options in a question. At the end of this lesson students will know how to decipher what type of question is being asked, how to spot the specific issue in the question, and how to eliminate the other choices.

Guest: Professor Jennifer Martin, Western New England College School of Law

Topic:Exam Advice: A discussion of common errors that students make and can avoid when writing a law school essay exam.

Running Time: 11:20

Click here to download the mp3 file: Martin_commomessaymistakes.mp3

In this podcast, Prof. Jennifer Martin discusses the top ten mistakes law students make in law school examinations. These are poor issue spotting, poor issue spotting, poor knowledge and understanding of the law, poor application of the law to the facts, giving only conclusory answers, lack of organization, errors in the facts, failure to understand the role you are given in the examination, padding, fact inventing, and question begging. Included in this discussion is guidance on spotting the issues, avoiding being bottom line oriented, how to use the facts, how to approach a question, and using words efficiently. Prof. Martin also discusses the hallmarks of a good essay answer. These answers are lawyerlike, responsive to the question asked, logical, thought out, well organized, fact and issue centered, and use cogent reasoning and good rule application.

Prof. Martin is also the author of a number of CALI lessons and other podcasts.

Guest: Professor Robert C. Lind, Southwestern Law School

Topic: Copyright Law: "Songs", derivative works and sound recordings; and the unavailability of copyright protection for some performances.

Running Time: 20:15

Click here to download the mp3 file: LindCopyrightSong.mp3

Prof. Lind teaches Copyright, Trademark, Entertainment Law, Mass Media law, and Museum and Art Law at Southwestern. He is also the author of several CALI lessons on copyright and trademark law. In this podcast, he explains the confusion that arises from the use of the term "song." Prof. Lind also discusses the terms "author" and "sound recording" and their implications for protection under the U.S. Copyright Act. In this podcast Prof. Lind analyzes several performances (a vocalist and comedy improv troupe) and discusses whether their performances are protected by Copyright Law and the role of the Bootlegging statutes.

Guests: Professor Douglas McFarland, Hamline University

Topic: A Question and Answer session with Prof. McFarland, author of several of CALI’s lessons in Tort Law and Civil Procedure. Prof. McFarland has been teaching for over 30 years. His comments in this podcast about the first semester of law school focus on the Socratic method, preparing for class, note-taking during class, class participation, "riding out" that "lost at sea" feel common during the first few weeks of law school, the appropriate use of study aids, advice about law school exams, and general advice on doing well in law school.

Running Time: 14:56

Click here to download the mp3 file: McFarland1L_advice.mp3

Guest: Professor Ron Eades, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville

Topic: Things to Know About Torts Class Before Class Starts – Advice for a 1L

Running Time: 18:15

Click here to download the mp3file:Eades1L_advice.mp3

Professor Ron Eades has taught Torts Law for over 25 years. In this podcast Prof. Eades offers advice on preparing for class, classroom dynamics, note taking, post-class studying, outlining, ways to measure your progress, "pitfalls" to studying Torts, what students should try and get from class. He also offers general advice for 1Ls starting law school and the study of Torts.

Related Material:

• CALI’s lesson by Prof. Edward Martin on Briefing a Case
• In this podcast Prof. Eades mentions a law review article by Prof. Green; it is available from HeinOnline.org, or in paper. Leon Green, Study and Teaching of Tort Law, 34 Tex. L. Rev. 1 (1955-1956).

Guests: Professors Ron Brown and Joe Grohman, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center

Topic: Study Techniques for 1Ls from Two 1L Professors

Running Time: 24:33

Click here to download the mp3 file:GrohmanBrown1L_advice.mp3

ProfessorsBrown and Grohman, are the authors of many CALI lessons. Additionally, both teach 1L courses. In this podcast they share their experiences and insights on time mangement issues for law school students, preparing for class, how to brief a case, research tips applicable for 1L writing assignments (and the eventual practice of law), how to develop an understanding of the law, and techniques and tips for studying and preparing for the final exam.

In this podcast Professors Grohman and Brown mention several additional resources students may want to review. They are:

1. Joe Landsberger’s website: www.studygs.net/schedule

2. Cornell University:’s list of study resources: www.clt.cornell.edu/campus/learn/SSWorkshops/SKResources.html

3. Dennis Tonsing, 1000 Days to the Bar (Hein & Co., Inc. 2003). Available at Amazon.com