Concepts and Case Analysis in the Law of Contracts

by Marvin A. Chirelstein

The Third Edition of Concepts and Case Analysis in the Law of Contracts is a brief primer that offers first-year law students a reliable overview of the major themes and leading cases in the field. This Contracts primer is vastly uncluttered - one that picks up the main themes in the first-year Contracts course, together with related cases.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Textbooks

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Meredith Holley]

I kind of love this book. When there's a book that tells me what I'm actually supposed to know about the law, it gets a special place in my heart.

At first, I hated this book and was totally baffled by the way the case summaries were arranged within the chapters. Then, someone reminded me to use my handy-dandy coloring scheme and it all became clear. Here's the thing, for all of you who I'm sure will want to be going off to law school in the near future: buy twistable crayons. Everyone studies differently, I guess, and I'm a really visual learner, so this might not work universally, but the best advice I got before going to law school was to color code the cases. You choose different colors for facts, issue, holding, and reasoning (maybe procedural history, too, but I just lumped that in with facts), and then you use different colors for underlining. In this book, it was like magic. You could do the same thing with regular highlighters, obviously, but the crayons don't smear. You can thank me later.

Chirelstein summarizes all of the common law principles of contracts in this book, and I'm pretty sure it would be pretty readable for pedestrians. Plus, there's a part about Donald Duck shaking hands with a teeny tiny Mickey Mouse living in regular Mickey Mouse's brain, or something, and that's pretty good. Plus, it's, like, really short. I don't think it would work without the highlighting, but with the highlighting, it's really great. That's it.

[Adela]

honestly, dnf

[Alex MacMillan]

I think my professor assigned this for the entire class to read because it's more efficient to spend six hours reading this than for everyone to individually spend six hours with him in office hours. This gave me the big picture overview of the scope of my introductory contracts course. I'm definitely better able to follow along and contribute to lectures. Having quick previews of the most infamous contracts cases prior to reading them also speeds up my case briefing. However, the chapter discussions are so dense that it is hard to glean the key takeaway lessons. Some boxed chapter summaries and diagrams would be helpful. The value does not match the $40 price tag, and I definitely would not recommend reading this for enjoyment's sake.

[Risa]

This has to be the most wonderful book ever written about the law of contracts (not that that's saying much...). It's easy to read; it's funny; and it's well-organized. Marvin Chirelstein is my hero. I just hope it helps me pass my final exam!

[Patrick]

Now that I'm out of school, this is almost a fun read... I'm a little depressed with nostalgia for what I missed in class, and all the homework I should have done.

[Ian]

I read it as a supplement, but it doesn't go into great detail. The author didn't intend it as a supplement, though. He very clearly sets it out as a "primer" for contracts law. I'd never heard of a primer before law school. A primer is a small introductory book on a subject. This book works effectively at that. I could have made necessary inferences about the law A LOT SOONER if I could see what was coming later in the semester.

My recommendation is to read this BEFORE you go to law school so that you get a basic, overarching understanding of contracts law before you're in the thick of casebooks and stressful exams.

[Ajdesasha]

Chirelstein gives clear explanations of the basic concepts needed for contracts. However, as an FYI to anyone planning to use it as a supplement for a class, keep in mind he also has a tendency to go into how he thinks the Restatement and UCC's should be written. It isn't just an explanation of how contract law works, but how Chirelstein thinks contract law *should* work. I found it interesting, and he never strays too far from the path, but it is something to consider when choosing supplemental books for class.

[Fay]

A hard read no doubt, but it also simplified obscure and complicated legal contract issues. This was recommended to me before I became a graduate student in translation but I didn't quite grasp it. Now that I've already become one, I felt obligated to read it and take notes like it will be the cornerstone of my career after graduation. It truly helped me understand how contract law works in the US, and it will for sure help me translate legal jargon in the near future.

[Christina]

Honestly, this book saved my ass in Contracts. I'm forever in your debt, Marvin!

[Eli]

This book saved my life

[Lark]

Wish he'd written them for all of my 1L classes. I didn't actually finish this until the new year. Convinced if I'd made it through the last 2 chapters on time, my grade would be up a single grouping in the curve... :)

[Meredith]

I love this thing. No kidding.

[Purple Wimple]

this was one of my cheat books for Contracts, in my first year at law school. It's a concise summary, and valuable inasmuch as one needs such a thing.

[Ethan]

Turned my understanding of Ks from "completely mystified" to just "mystified," so job well done, I suppose. I'm hoping a re-read already underway will help further...

[David]

more interesting than expected

[Alayne]

My purpose for reading this book was to soothe some curiousity on what is covered in law school; since this is a supplemental text for many law schools on contracts it fit the bill.

[Laura]

Really great review while studying for my contracts exam. Overview of all the main topics. I only wish I had read this before starting law school.

[Jessica]

Skimmed for my 1L Contracts exam.