How to take law school notes on iPad

Law school notes don't work like undergrad notes. Most of the learning happens before class, in the reading. Class itself is a professor asking questions about cases, often of one student at a time, and the answers rarely arrive as neat statements you can copy down. The exam, often a single one at the end of the term, gives you a long fact pattern and asks you to spot issues and apply rules you pulled together yourself.

So a 1L course really has three kinds of notes: case briefs, class notes and the outline. Each has a different job. Here's how to handle all three on an iPad. (This is about note-taking, not legal advice.)

Brief cases so you can use them in class

A case brief is a short summary of a court opinion, written so you can answer questions about it on the spot. The usual parts:

• Caption: the case name and court.
• Facts: only the ones the court relied on, in a few lines.
• Procedural history: who sued whom, what the lower courts did, and how the case got here.
• Issue: the legal question, phrased as a yes-or-no question.
• Holding: the court's answer to the issue.
• Rule: the legal principle the case stands for.
• Reasoning: why the court decided as it did.
• Concurrences and dissents: a sentence each, if your professor asks about them.

Keep briefs short. A two-page brief takes as long to scan as the opinion. Many students shorten their briefs over the first semester, moving toward "book briefing": marking up the casebook directly, with one highlighter color each for facts, issue, holding and reasoning, plus a few words in the margin.

If your readings are PDFs, import them into your notebook and book brief right on the page. In Scribba, PDF text is searchable, so you can find a case name or phrase later from the library. See annotate PDF readings on iPad.

Tip: at the top of every brief, write the case in one sentence, like "Contract formed by conduct even without a signed agreement." When you're cold called, that's the sentence you start with.

Prepare for cold calls

Many law professors use the Socratic method: they call on a student, question them about a case, then change the facts to see whether the rule still holds. Your brief is what you lean on while you're on the spot.

Before class, add two things to each brief:

• Your answer to "why?" Why did the court rule this way, in your own words? That's usually the second question.
• One hypothetical. Change one key fact and decide whether the outcome changes. Professors love this move, and thinking it through ahead of time takes much of the stress out of it.

Class notes: follow the questions

In class, don't transcribe the student on the hot seat. Listen for where the professor is steering. The questions show what the professor thinks matters, and the same person writes the exam.

• Write the rule as the professor states it, which may differ from the casebook's wording.
• Write every hypothetical the professor poses, and where the class landed. These are close to exam questions.
• Note the policy reasons, like why a rule exists and what it protects. Exam answers often need them.
• Flag open questions in the margin, and resolve them before the topic ends.

Scribba's Cornell Notes paper works well here. Take class notes in the NOTES column, put the issue or hypothetical in the CUES & QUESTIONS column, and use the SUMMARY box for the rule the class ended up with. Later, Scribba can read your cues and turn them into flashcards; review and fix the words first. See Cornell notes on iPad. If you'd rather write on something familiar, there's also Legal Pad paper: yellow by default, with a red double margin line on the left.

Recording rules vary

Law schools differ a lot on recording. Some record classes themselves, some allow student recording only as an accommodation, and some professors don't allow it at all. Check your school's policy and ask your professor before you record. If you're allowed, Scribba links every stroke you write to the moment in the recording, so a hypothetical you only half caught can be replayed by tapping it. See is it OK to record lectures?

Build your outline as you go

An outline is your own organized summary of the course: the rules, their elements, exceptions and the cases that illustrate each. It's built from your briefs and class notes, and it's what most students study from. Adding to it every week is far easier than building it in the last week before exams.

A practical structure:

1. Organize by topic, not by case. In torts, that might be intentional torts, then negligence, then strict liability.
2. Under each topic, write the rule and list its elements.
3. Add exceptions and defenses.
4. Add case names as short examples under the rule they illustrate, with a one-line reminder of the facts.
5. Add the professor's hypotheticals where they fit.

Many students also write a shorter "attack outline" before the exam: a checklist of issues to look for in a fact pattern, in the order you'd write them up.

You can handwrite the outline in its own notebook and add a bookmark for each topic, so the page sidebar reads like a table of contents. For the general method, see the outline method.

Learn the rules, then practice applying them

Law exams reward applying rules to new facts, not reciting them. But you can't apply what you don't know, so drill the elements first.

• Rule cards: on Vocabulary paper, write each rule's name in the TERM column and its elements in the second column. Scribba turns each row into a flashcard. This doesn't need Apple Intelligence.
• Study tape: drag tape over the elements in your outline, recite them, then tap to check. See study tape on iPad.
• Practice exams: many professors post old exams. Write answers under time pressure, then compare them with any model answers.

Find out early how your exams work. Many law school exams are taken on a laptop with exam software, some are handwritten, and some schools restrict which devices you can bring. Your iPad notes are for preparing; follow your school's rules on exam day.

Frequently asked questions

Should I brief every case?

In the first few weeks, briefing every case builds the skill. Many students then move to shorter briefs or book briefing. Either way, be ready to state each case's facts, issue, holding and reasoning in class.

Can I use my iPad during law school exams?

It depends on your school and the exam. Check the exam rules well ahead of time.

What's the best paper for case briefs?

Ruled paper works for written briefs, and Cornell Notes paper suits class notes, with issues in the cue column. For book briefing, mark up the PDF of the reading directly.