I'm preparing the syllabus for my Criminal Law II course, for which I'm using Julie O'Sullivan's Federal White Collar Crime casebook. This is in a new edition (4th), and it's one of the casebooks for which West is using a new cover. The old cover was a somewhat unappealing brown with gold lettering, but the new cover is a dark gray with silver lettering on a black square background. It's a classy look!
But sheesh, $150 for this book?!?
From looking back at my Amazon history I have paid just about $2375 for my books for 6 semesters here. I sold most of them back to Amazon with a net loss to me of about $1200. That does not seem that bad to me. Still wish I had $1200...but for three years its alright.
Posted by: Iowa3L | August 04, 2009 at 09:27 AM
I always thought the simple brown covers of the West casebooks were the most aesthetically pleasing, or "lawyerly" looking casebooks. They look like something you'd expect to see lining the walls of a law office. Of course, we all know that casebooks become pretty much useless after finals are over, let alone once you enter practice.
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford | August 05, 2009 at 02:57 PM
I actually found my copy of Hart & Wechsler (Fed Courts) useful during my clerkships and a little bit during practice even.
Posted by: Tung Yin | August 05, 2009 at 03:12 PM
i do not get why case books are even necessary. Cases are essentially freely downloadable, and 3-6 weeks following any case of import, there is a professional article.
If i taught contracts or torts, i would just staple some recent cases togehter and riff off a few thoughts. Screw hadley v. baxendale or tarasoff.
Posted by: neal | August 12, 2009 at 11:09 AM