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KTCOOLS SALES WILL REOPEN IN JANUARY 2016
IF YOU ARE NOW A 1L and want to know when you can buy KTCOOLS again, sign up here:
IF YOU INTEND TO START LAW SCHOOL IN FALL 2016 and want to know when you can buy KTCOOLS, sign up here:
If you need more information and are unsure if you want to buy KTCOOLS, keep reading.
Wait . . . in law school, I can work hard and STILL get terrible grades?”
“The last thing I would want is to work really hard for average grades.”
“I actually just started law school this week and am feeling slightly overwhelmed.”
“I am a struggling 1L . . . and need help just getting my stuff together and staying for exams.”
“I just finished my first semester and I got all B+’s so I’d like to try and figure out what I can change to get over the hump and into A territory this semester.”
“I feel that professors do not tell you what they are looking for until after they grade your work.”
“I am in desperate need of a tutor.”
“My short term goal is to pull up my grades so . . . I can really see myself reaching my career aspirations.”
You’re not alone: these are real emails I received from real students.
Almost all law students – even the most successful ones if they are honest with you – freak out about law school and think these same thoughts:
- How do I get good grades in law school?
- How do I manage the work load and the stress?
- How do I get the job of my dreams?
- How do I avoid being one of the many broke-ass law students with no job and $250,000 in debt?
Even the most successful law students had these concerns.
The question is – for those who succeeded – what did they do?
Like, what secrets are these devious jerks hiding from us?
And who do I have to sleep with/threaten with violence/bribe/blackmail to get these secrets?
Good news! You don’t have to sleep with, threaten, bribe or blackmail anyone!
(Because that would be a terrible start to your legal career, no?)
Keep reading!
Summertime and the pull in your stomach when you think of starting law school
So, now that I have your attention, back to you.
Picture it.
It’s your last summer before law school.
Maybe you just finished college (congrats!) or maybe you’ve been working a couple of years and are taking a breather before starting school again.
You try to have a fun, easy summer. Maybe you go out a lot at home – drinking, hanging out, chain-watching Game of Thrones or Orange Is The New Black, or whatever. Maybe you hit the road and go backpacking in Europe.
Sometimes you can enjoy the relaxation.
Sometimes you are even excited thinking about your future as a lawyer. In your head, the law seems exciting. You imagine saving the world at the United Nations. Or arguing a huge case before the Supreme Court. Or closing a massive, Wall Street Journal-headline deal.
Why not, right? It’s just a lot of hard work. You did very well in college — you graduated with honors, maybe even straight As. (That’s why you’re at a good law school to begin with.)
You feel pretty confident. Sometimes.
But sometimes, too, you have to admit, you’re a little scared.
Maybe, late at night, you’re even terrified.
You’re about to make a HUGE investment in your future. You’ve read the horror stories. Three tough years and $250,000 in debt and a tough job market. With no guarantees that you’ll get straight As.
So do you just sit there? Obviously not. You’re smart and resourceful. You try to help yourself. Or you ask around.
You hit the Interwebs and google something silly like “how do I totally kick ass in law school without breaking a sweat on this gorgeous face of mine.” Or you buy a book on Amazon. Or you ask every lawyer and every friend who went to law school how to do well in law school.
(Or maybe you’ve started school, and you hear all sorts of advice — from new classmates and friends, from professors, from your parents, from your other relatives.)
And the advice — everyone seems to have very strong views on what to do or what not to do. And this is when the confusion starts. You get a bunch of different views on law school success. Worse, the advice is all contradictory:
“Brief cases!”/“Don’t brief cases!”
“Do practice exams!”/“Don’t do practice exams!”
“Outline early!”/“Wait until the end to outline!”
“Don’t prepare over the summer; you’ll study wrong.”/“Totally prepare over the summer! Everyone else is ready!”
“Never miss class class!”/“Ignore that old white man running his mouth!”
Um, WTF?
And what’s worse, when you ask your older friends how they did in law school, how they really did in law school, they look down at the floor. These former straight-A students are straight-B law students.
Seriously, WTF WTF?!?!
Wait,how did that happen? Your friend was smart and hard working. She got Bs. You are smart and hard working. … but you don’t want Bs. And you think to yourself, I’ll just out-work my friend. But you suddenly remember: your friend was an absolute workaholic beast. And she tells you – I worked really hard and got Bs.
And the terrifying realization: Oh crappetty crap crap crap: I can be smart AND work hard AND get mediocre grades. NOW WHAT?
In Douglas Adams’ immortal words: DON’T PANIC!
Let’s work through this problem together. Something does not add up here. How can smart, hard-working people get crappy grades? Once we understand that, we are half way to a solution.
Here is the problem
Let’s look at one of the quotes from a panicked law student:
“I feel that professors do not tell you what they are looking for until after they grade your work.”
Well, what is it that they want you to do during the semester?
Many professors ask you to:
- Do the reading to prepare for class.
- Brief cases.
- Be prepared to be called on in class. OR FACE UTTER AND COMPLETE RIDICULE A LA THE PAPER CHASE.
- But even if you’re prepared your professor may MOCK YOU TO YOUR FACE.
You’re asked about the tiniest, stupidest details in cases. So you frantically read cases and brief and study to avoid looking stupid in class.
You hate looking stupid in class.
But then as the fall turns into winter, the professors tells you: Hey, maybe you should outline and take some practice exams.
You get passed a second-hand outline and have no idea why it is what it is. So you basically condense your notes and try to copy other old outlines.
And you take some practice exams.
They make no sense to you.
You stay up late nights before your finals. Too much Red Bull and coffee. You frantically re-read your outline, your books and old exams.
You still feel lost.
You go to sleep, wake up and walk to class. You sit down.
You open your first real exam and this is the first page of 6 pages of craziness:
(That was a real exam that my students took when I was a teaching assistant in law school.)
WTF?
Um, WTMFF?
How do I answer that?
People around you just start typing.
Type type type type type type.
So you begin to type and freak out more – what do they know that you don’t that they are typing already one minute after you start?
You read the exam and type again.
You flip your outline. You sweat more.
One hour passes. Just two left.
Everyone is still typing. So you start typing half-hearted answers. You curse because each of your answers seems stupid.
One hour left. You’ve barely answered the first question and there are two more. So you begin typing quickly. You see claims or defenses; you don’t know if what you’ve written is right, but you are running out of time.
Suddenly the proctor calls five minutes left.
You type even faster.
Your palms sweat.
Time.
You stand up. You gather your computer and papers, pack up and stagger back to your room.
What just happened?
What the f— just happened?
You go home for Christmas. Weeks later you check your grades online only to get straight Bs, putting you in the middle of your class.
What happened to meeeeee?
Good question.
Here is the heart of the problem: When you went to college, the recipe to get an A was to work very hard doing what your professor asked you to do.
But when you go to law school, the recipe to get a flat B is to work very hard doing what your professor asks you to do.
In other words, law school is a bait and switch.
And what’s worse, your final exam is 100% of your grade.
And you never get a mark-up.
You only get one chance to make a first impression.
* * *
So what do I do? And who the hell are you, Larry Law Law, to tell me what to do?
Now, before you hear the solution, you might be asking, “Why should I listen to you?”
Fair enough.
I am Larry Law Law (formerly known as Mansfield J Park, Larry the Law Tutor or the Law School Hacker).
This is me (I’m shy…):
(Imagine me saying “I am Larry Law Law” in the Christian Bale as Batman voice.)
Why you should listen to me despite my insane pictures:
First, I was a top law student myself.
I graduated from NYU Law magna cum laude and Order of the Coif (top 10%), and a member of the Executive Board on NYU Law Review.
I was a top lawyer
In 2012 and 2013, I was named a Rising Star in New York Superlawyers, a magazine that tracks the top 2.5% of lawyers in New York City in 2012 and 2013.
I worked at a top law firm
I worked at Debevoise & Plimpton, The #1 Law Firm according to one set of measures by American Lawyer over the last 10 years (To be honest I do not think of Debevoise as the best law firm in the country, but it is an excellent law firm). While at Debevoise, I won the very first Cyrus Vance Access to Justice Award (an award which has gone to much more important people than me):
Most importantly I was a top-rated law tutor to top law students at top schools who got top grades
For some years, on the side, I tutored law school students at Harvard, Texas, Columbia, NYU and other schools. (Mansfield Park was my pseudonym for some time).
My students get As.
Check out my students’ results (one real transcript of the many real student I worked with who kicked the crap out of law school):
I used to tutor law students directly, one on one.
I love to help students succeed.
I hate the way law school is taught.
Professors test you on issue-spotting, but never teach you how to issue-spot.
And you have no opportunity for feedback. You will never learn from your mistakes because your professor likely will never tell you what you did wrong.
You will never get a marked-up exam. The only thing you get back is your grade.
This course does exactly what a professor should do: Give you a chance to practice, make mistakes and learn from them before your real exams.
I don’t tutor students anymore.
I have a day job I love. And a family I love.
They take time.
Also, even if I had all the time in the world, as I tutor, I could not reach everyone personally.
Even if I spent every waking hour tutoring, I couldn’t help everyone I wanted.
I have a life, and tutoring was beginning to fill all of my extra hours.
So I decided I had to create this online course to help as many law students as I could.
Specifically, YOU.
Now, back to you.
What do you need?
Well, you don’t need stupid generic advice:
“Study hard.” “Listen in class.” “Read all the cases.” “Eat breakfast the morning of the exam.”
(You should do that, but, duh.)
No. You need more.
You need super-specific advice that has worked for other students and is going to work for you.
And you need not just the what to do, but how to do what you need to do to success.
Real, nitty-gritty how.
You’re smart. (Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten into law school).
You work hard.
You’ve always known what to do. (Before law school, anyway.)
But now, for the first time, you are (understandably) a bit unsure on what you have to do to get good grades.
What if there were a straightforward guide on how to study law the right way, with specific, step-by-step tactics?
That is, a guide on exactly how to prepare for and write excellent law school exams:
First, spend 20 minutes reading the question and taking notes. Don’t panic and start writing an answer yet; that will sink you. Next, after reading, sketch out your outline answer. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just do it. Then apply the facts to the law by doing X, Y and Z. You may feel scared at first but facing a totally new set of facts. Everyone is. And here’s what you do if you absolutely get stuck.
A specific set of step-by-step tactics on how to study law and for preparing for and excelling on your law school exams.
I would have really have loved to have something like this on how to study law when I started as a law student.
I would have loved knowing that there were specific, battle-tested tested tactics on doing well in law school.
A real system to study law.
I developed this system through trial and error tutoring law students. I was a very good law student, but it was not until I really tutored law students that I really understood consciously how to do well in law school.
The program I have put together for your reflects years of experience working with real law students on law schools exam and learning to help them focus on the things that really matter.
Just for you: A proven, battle-tested system to get top grades in law school
I am inviting you to join KICK THE CRAP OUT OF LAW SCHOOL (KTCOOLS).
If you enroll now at the introductory rate, you will still get all the improvements that come along the way.
First, this means that when we add new lessons, questions, and videos, you will get immediate access while having paid an insanely good price because you’re actually going to be a crucial part in how the content is developed.
Here’s how the course will work:
- Start the course online. It’s ready now, and will keep on getting better with time
- Ask me questions on the site by commenting on lessons.
- Each week, there will be more content added, which you can access immediately.
- When the topic calls for it, I’ll call up some of my lawyer or professor friends and get awesome guest interviews for you, pinpointing exactly what you want to know. You’ll get a transcript of that as well.
- I’ll do regular Q&A calls so we can attack issues and difficulties you may have in preparing for law exams. It’s your chance to have me clarify anything that might not be totally clear to you.
The lessons walk you through my best recommendations on smart, tactical preparation and exam-taking strategy, step by step by step.
The course progresses so that at each point, you’ve got something valuable you can use right away, but you’re also building something bigger.
Also, your participation will help shape this course. I know what’s worked for me, for my law school classmates, my best lawyer friends, and for my tutoring students.
But I am always learning, too.
But what if that’s not exactly what you need? Here, you can tell me what you need.
If the group needs a lot more on how to create great outlines without going insane, I’ll add more material on that.
If the group wants to really dive into topic-specific exam taking advice (how is a contracts exam different form a con law exam?), we’ll do that.
And if there’s something I don’t cover that many of you want to hear about (say, acing your legal research and writing course? How to get on to law review?), we’ll develop a killer strategy for it.
Just for you.
This course will be like group coaching or tutoring.
Your specific needs get met, your deep concerns and worries get tackled. And you get the best price that will ever be offered in the history of anything.
What’s in this course?
This is a screenshot of what is waiting for your right now — the main page of the course.
This premium online course provides a mix of video and written lessons.
But it is not passive.
You must work.
There are exercises, especially in Module 3, where you will write out written answers to issue-spotting exercises, so that you develop the specific skill that will get you As in law school.
I will give you the tools you need to assess your r own performance so you can become better, faster and stronger!!!
My job is to help you help yourself.
Now, at a high level, here is the overall structure of the course: (Guaranteed, this will change later, but this is it for now).
As you can see there are 4 main MODULES:
MODULE 1: FUNDAMENTALS
- Includes 20 lessons (several hours of material) on a general strategy for approaching law school. Basically I advocate focusing on 3 major areas: mastering the law, mastering issue spotting, and mastering your professor. This strategy is connected to the specific things in law school that drive success (your grades, which are based on your final exams, which are based on your ability to master the three things I just mentioned).
- Since the final exam is all-important, we begin with a discussion of that and just what a strange thing it is.
- Meanwhile, we provide specific tactics and, more importantly, the deep psychology of law school. Despite final exams being the only thing that mattered, law school piles on a lot of other work that gets in the way. I give you super-specific tactics on how to avoid the huge TIME SUCKS that do not matter for your final grades.
- Now, if you go through this module alone and apply these tactics to your law school life — I mean more than just reading them, actually apply them to your law school life — you will be ahead of the vast majority of your law school classmates and feel much better about law school.
- Here is a preview of MODULE 1:
MODULE 2: MASTER THE LAW
- Includes 10 separate lessons on how to “pre-study” the law, how to read and think about cases, and how to outline (and why you should start at the beginning of the semester, not the end).
- Includes resources to help you self-study the law (my old outlines), including videos on tricky parts of each 1L subject: criminal law, torts, contracts, civil procedure, and property. (Con law and legislation/regulation will be coming soon).
- Here is a sample of a video lesson from Master the Law (an explanation of a doctrine in property law):
MODULE 3: MASTER ISSUE SPOTTING
- Includes 20 separate written and video lessons providing super-specific exam tactics, including how to actually apply IRAC.
- This is the nitty gritty. You want and need tactics that you can’t find anywhere else. They are here.
- Here is a preview of the main lessons in MODULE 3:
Modules 3a to 3d
- These are applications of MODULE 3, but they are the very heart of this program. You take the tactics that you read about in MODULE 3, and APPLY THEM in specific exercises for specifc classes for your 1st year in law school, in Modules 3a (criminal law), 3b (torts
- This section, in my mind, is the beating heart of the course. You will get a lot of value out of the other Modules. But if you skip this one, you really risk not . Let me put this another way: my students who worked diligently through these exercises are the ones who excelled at the highest levels at top law schools: I am talking top-of-the-class students at Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago, Texas, etc., etc., etc
- NO OTHER COURSE that I know of provides this many hypotheticals and mini-exams, AND self-assessment tools
- IMPORTANT NOTE: On top of the self-assessment and scoring materials I give you here, some of you have asked for tutoring. I will be offering tutoring services (through this site) only for paid users of KTCOOLS AND on the condition that you work through these exercises.
- I will be adding other units shortly, including property and con law in the near future. Admin or legislation/regulation – a staple of many first year programs — will come later in the future.
- Below are previous of 3a (criminal law) and 3c (contracts law). Notice that each subject has more than 10 issue spotting exercises (hypos) for you to work through and include “debriefs”:
And here is an example of a hypo exam:
And the here is an example of a self-scoring sheet (it’s called a quiz, but it’s not. I include only the first 12 answers here):
And here is a video analysis of a real student answer (I don’t have these or model student answers for every exam yet, but we’re getting there):
MODULE 4: MASTER YOUR PROFESSOR
- Includes specific tips on reading your professor, different kinds of professorial styles.
- This section is super psychological, and it is the last step between and A- and an A. Most of the work is in mastering the law and mastering issue spotting. You should be able to get at least decent grades with those two skills alone (a lot of B+s and A-s, and occasional As). But this part separates the A-s from the As.
- Think of this as how to run fast in the last part of the marathon.
- Here is a sample video from this section, which I am still building out:
Maybe you have some questions before you buy KTCOOLS…
Q: Does this really work?
A: Yes. Mostly I have noticed that students who do the work — those who get the A.
Q: OK, what if I try it and don’t love it?
A: You can test drive the course. If you don’t like it, just cancel within 60 days of your payment, and we’ll refund your money. No worries, no hard feelings. I think you will find that my step-by-step tips on how to study law are unique and helpful, that the worksheets will help you apply these techniques, and that your fellow students will be a huge source of support (and you will be able to grab my ear and have me answer your questions for no additional charge – I will give you individual advice that previously I only gave my tutoring students). You will find that this entire experience is worth not just the modest price (remember, so-called law prep courses start at several thousand dollars), but also your time and attention. Again, if you don’t agree, you can cancel within 60 days of purchasing the course. No worries at all. By the way, if you stick around, you will have early access to new materials I create. Once the core six modules of the course are complete, you will still have access to advanced and bonus material that I throw in down the line, and to the goodies and bonuses I add later to stack value and make the course even better. It’s my goal to make sure there’s always valuable new material for you to enjoy during your law school journey (and after).
Q: What makes KTCOOLS better than Law Preview or other courses?
A: Other programs buy into the professor’s view of things. It is professors teaching the course and they lack perspective, funny enough, on how to do well on exams. They tend to provide you “previews” of substantive areas as well. But they spend very little time on exam-specific tactics and don’t give you comprehensive practice doing issue spotting. Law Preview, in particular, spends much more time trying to teach you substantive law than
Q: Can you guarantee that I will get As?
A: No. Seriously, if that is what you want — a guarantee of As — this course is for you. I will give you a 60 day money back guarantee, but a metaphysical guarantee? No. Anyone who tells you they can “guarantee” you 100% that you will get straight As is lying. I can tell you that the techniques you will learn are tested and have resulted in students at the best law schools getting top grades.
The difference is you. You need to work hard. And you need to be creative on your own. But I give you all the tools you need to do well.
In my experience, if you follow the system, you are very, very likely to do as well as you need to get the legal career of your dreams. But you have to follow the system.
Q: Do I really need to study over the summer? Do I really need this?
A: That’s up to you. Do you really want to wait and find out only later that you should have studied over the summer?
Q: I bought 7Sage Law School Prep (LSP) already. Do I need to buy this as well?
A: No. As part of my agreement with 7Sage LSP, you will be grandfathered in. However, I have not transferred everyone to.
Many of you have already received emails giving you your
Q: I bought 7Sage LSAT Prep already. Do I need to buy this as well?
A: Well, yes, if you want access. 7Sage LSAT Prep is an awesome, awesome LSAT prep program (I love you JY and Alan!). I used to work with them, but we are not together anymore. Some students were confused and thought that as LSAT students they got access to LSP and KTCOOLS for free. Not correct. LSAT is a distinct product from LSP.
Q: I am currently a 1L. Can I buy thiscourse? bought 7Sage LSAT Prep already. Do I need to buy this as well?
Okay. What are you waiting for?
In many years as a lawyer, I learned to give advice that people did not want but had to hear.
That has been useful (sometimes) in my non-lawyer life and sitting down with friends and telling them shit that they did not want to hear.
So here it is: As your trusted counselor and adviser (I AM NOT GIVING LEGAL ADVICE HERE, I am giving friendly career advice), I really believe it is my job to tell you that it is in your interest to buy this course.
You get ONE SHOT at doing law school right.
You can’t go back and re-do it.
You have before you a system — a tested system based on hard-earned experience that has worked for other students who followed it diligently before you.
This system, in my view, maximizes your chances at doing well in law school.
And doing well in law school NOW can change your future forever.
Doing well in law school can mean the difference between debt and success, a career filled with boredom taking orders, and a career in which you can be .
Law school is not for everyone. (In fact, I think it is not for most people.)
But if you are truly committed to excellence in your legal career — buy my course and learn my system.
This is a great value for money.
In exchange for the price of about one hour of tutoring, you get hours upon hours of powerful material.
It is like sitting with me for hours AND getting the benefit of my best exam tips and actual commentary I have made on my students practice tests.
To get all this, sign up below to buy when KTCOOLS is available again: