How to outline

What is an outline?

An outline condenses all the information from a particular course into one organized document. It combines the information from your casebook, information that professor discussed in class, and big-picture concepts that run across multiple class sessions.

Outlines come in many different formats. Some students like a “traditional” style with Roman numerals, then As and Bs. Other students may like formats like charts or mind maps. Like a case brief, an outline is a thing that you create for yourself. Your outline might look totally different from a friend’s, and that’s fine.

I never outlined in college. Why do I need an outline for law school?

A law school class covers far more material than that of a typical undergraduate class, and it’s important to see how all of the topics of a particular class fit together. Outlining helps you see that big picture. It helps you connect the cases you read to the discussions you have in class. If you have an open book exam, you can refer to your outline during that exam.

I put all of my case briefs and all of my class notes into one document. That’s an outline, right?

Sadly, no. An outline isn’t about assembling information. It’s about organizing the information so that you understand how all of the pieces fit together. If you’re just cutting and pasting, or using AI to make your outline for you, you’re not really outlining.

How do I start outlining?

Start with your professor’s syllabus and the Table of Contents for your textbook. This should give you a list of all the topics you covered in that class. Try to first make a list of the major topics, then list of the smaller topics that fall under each one.

For example, say you’re outlining Contracts. Your syllabus and casebook may give you these major topics:

• Contract formation

• Performance and breach

• Defenses

• Remedies

Under this strategy, you would start filling in the topics under each umbrella:

• Contract formation

  • Offer

  • Acceptance

  • Consideration

• Performance and breach

  • Material versus minor breach

  • Repudiation

  • Conditional performance

• Defenses

  • Duress

  • Unconscionability

  • Mistake of fact

• Remedies

  • Expectation damages

  • Reliance damages

  • Specific performance

Also, note that this skeleton is organized by rule and concept, not by case. With these concepts in place, you can fill in each subtopic with rules, key cases, and professor-specific information.

This is the biggest difference between a list of case briefs for a class and an outline. Case briefs are organized case by case. An outline is organized around rules.

Can’t I just use someone else’s outline?

You can do that, but you can't do that only. You need to create your own outline because the process of building the outline is far more important than the final product that you have.

Have you heard the phrase “it’s about the journey, not the destination It’s the process of creating an outline that is useful to a law student, not the final product. You can have the outline of the student who took the CALI in your class last year, and if that’s all you have, you will probably get a low grade.

It’s fine to look at other students’ outlines to see examples of how different students organize material or phrase particular rules. Many student organizations have outline banks that you can access. Just remember that no one vets those submissions—you don’t know what grade the author of that outline earned or whether the outline has mistakes!

When should I start outlining?

I recommend starting 4 to 8  weeks into the semester. Any earlier and you won’t know enough to outline well, and some students will even start later than that. Most students will plan to do a lot of work on their course outlines over fall break. But you want to be finished with your outline before reading period. You should not be working on it right up until the exam period because you want to be taking practice exams with it.

As you outline, pay attention to any topics that come up on more than one day of class. If your professor mentions something like “tragedy of the commons,” they might not ask a specific exam question about it, but they would love to see you incorporate it into your answers if appropriate.

How long should be my outline be?

There is no standard length. The longest outline is usually not the best one. Strive for a document that is practical and usable for you. The length will also vary by course, as some classes will yield a longer outline than others.

Why should my outline have a Table of Contents?

A Table of Contents creates a one- (or two-) page list of all the topics you covered in that class, which is incredibly helpful for spotting issues. After you read a hypo, you can skim your Table of Contents to see if it jogs your memory of any other issues.

What are some common mistakes students make with outlines?

It’s easy to spend too much time making your outline “pretty,” with bullets, headings, and color coding, and too little on the substantive material. Many students also keep perfecting their outline up until exam day. Remember that an outline is designed to help you learn the material, not just serve as a reference  during the exam (although you can refer to it if you have an open-note exam).

Instead, use your outline. Start by taking untimed practice tests with it, then  review your answers. Did your outline have any weaknesses? Were you missing a policy rationale? Did you slightly misstate a rule? Modify your outline accordingly.

What is an attack outline?

An attack outline is an even more condensed version of your course outline, perhaps a single page or a few pages. One way to think about the difference between an attack outline and “full” outline is that  an attack outline tells you what to analyze on exam, while the full outline tells you how, alongside a more thorough discussion of the topics.

How can I know if my outline is good?

If your class has a Teaching Assistant, ask them to review a few pages of your outline to see if you’re on the right track. It isn’t reasonable to ask the TA to review the entire thing, but a few pages is a very good idea.

Here's a 12-minute video that explains how to outline.