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Learner Reviews & Feedback for A Law Student's Toolkit by Yale University

4.7
stars
1,374 ratings

About the Course

Whether you are an advanced law student looking to review the basics, or an aspiring law student looking for head start, this course will help you build the foundation you will need to succeed in law school and beyond. This course will introduce you to terminology, concepts, and tools lawyers and legal academics use to make their arguments. It will help you follow these arguments—and make arguments of your own. This course consists of a series of short lectures and assignments. A reading list complements each lesson, providing you with a roadmap to help you explore the subject matter more deeply on your own. Although the lessons may cross-reference each other, they are modular in nature: you should feel free to approach them in whatever order fits your schedule, interests, and needs....

Top reviews

HK

Mar 28, 2016

I enjoyed this course but you really need to have some legal background to get the most out of it. The assignments were worth the time they took and I learned a lot trying to grade my fellow students.

CT

Oct 14, 2018

The course is gorgeous!!! Although I am an experienced lawyer in my country it was an excellent training for my brains, more over, the lectures were really very interesting!!! Strongly recommended!!!

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26 - 50 of 398 Reviews for A Law Student's Toolkit

By Rick M G

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Dec 15, 2016

Very useful information to get a glimpse of what's involved in law. His funny one-legged video at the end suggests too conservative of a trading and investing strategy for me, though.

By Layssa I M S

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Jul 25, 2019

This course was extremely interesting!I'm so grateful to Coursera and Yale

By Marc L

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May 28, 2020

Wonderful Professor, he makes the Law interesting.

By Julius G

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Jul 17, 2017

This course is far more difficult to complete for credit than it seems based on the syllabus and marketing materials, and that is a good thing for serious learner. The readings are long and complex and must be completed in order to get anything of value from the course. Just watching the lectures only gives you a small percentage of the concepts being transmitted in this course which is really for pre-law students or serious learners.

One serious drawback is the peer grading system which you have to go through in order to complete assignments and get a certificate. Too many of the students do not complete the assigned readings and then try to answer the professor's question based only on the 5-10 minute lecture or their pure opinion. Often written in poor English (because the student is not a native English speaker), these same students are the ones who will grade my serious assignment. The results are not good - too much pettiness and downright revengeful grading. I got through it but it is a serious flaw because it's unfair. These are not peers.

Other flaws are the the course length (it should be spread over about four to six weeks instead of three), and there is no participation by teaching assistants (none, zero, zilch).

In the end I got a lot out this course but I was persistent and I have already have two degrees from major universities.

By Laura B

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Dec 12, 2017

This course lies about how long it takes. You need much more time than predicted. If you plan to do the set reading, it it likely to take you a minimum of 100 hours. It is also badly organised, with more work in the first two weeks than in the final week and with easier topics in the final week than the first two weeks. The transcripts are full of misheard transcriptions. The passing grade for the assessments appears to be 80% and you cannot pass the course without getting a minimum of this grade on each of the assignments. Most of the assignments require considerable reading and therefore cannot be done in the time anticipated.

By Deleted A

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Apr 16, 2016

The content is interesting but the professor is bad at lecturing (lack of structure, some rambling).

By John C U

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Nov 24, 2020

This online course is very timely because of this pandemic. Yet, it made me feel that I have the capability to show especially in critical thinking about laws and some cases. I know these are just the basics yet I've learned a lot! I'm genuinely happy! I'm excited to take another online course from Yale University! God bless! As I give this review, I feel like I'm answering a new assignment. Cheers!

By Deleted A

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Sep 25, 2020

This was an unbelievable journey to learning about the basics of the law. As a potential law student, I feel I am already ahead of the curve-- which it is needless to say. Professor Ayres does a great job taking you the student step by step through the aggressive curriculum. Very great starter kit for law students everywhere in America today!

By Jose M R S

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Feb 10, 2021

Excelent course, as I´m about to begin law school, this was a great introduction, even though I have not a lot of knowledge of the terms, this course requires a certain level of experience, but if you work hard enough, you´ll be able to complete it even if you don´t have previous knowledge about law.

By Victor A

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Dec 3, 2020

This course is a very important gateway into law. It equips a student with the tools to make sense of legal rules of all kinds. I have benefited immensely from it and highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in law.

By Özge Ş

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Feb 25, 2021

It was a beneficial course for me as a third-year law school student but I would not recommend it to students who have not studied at least one year in law school, it cannot be said to be a very easy course.

By Laura S

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Aug 9, 2022

I love Ian Ayres. Thank you Ian, for starting off my law degree on firm foundations and providing the intellectual kindling for my future learning. You are welfome round at my dinner table, anytime.

By Raymond M I G

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Jul 19, 2021

OUTSTANDING!!!!! Professor Ayres is "PALMARIUS".... (Latin) meaning "deserving of a palm" or in this case a major HIGH FIVE!!!

By MEHER M T

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Sep 7, 2020

a short and amazing course to induce that bug of law into you. very useful especially for law students.

By Avijit S

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May 4, 2021

It covers almost all the pros and cons of law. A very useful course for a beginner law student.

By Joshua S J

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Sep 8, 2020

A must course if you are pursuing law!!!

By Daily L i D w M S

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Mar 24, 2021

Very useful for aspiring Law students!

By Laurence C

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Jun 6, 2023

The course is insightful, but it may be a little too difficult for beginners. It requires a lot of reading, so the time commitment may be 2 to 3 times greater than what is indicated on the course information page. The professor is humorous, but he sometimes uses language that is too advanced for beginners. This course may be more appropriate for law school students only.

By Ahunnaya D A

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Dec 18, 2019

I think the explanation of the whole course is too advanced. I'm a slow learner and it took me lots of self research for me to understand even a topic. The explanation is very extremely low and I don't these topics.

By Romero K

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Aug 21, 2020

the instructor does a poor job explaining concepts

By Deleted A

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Sep 2, 2023

The material was presented in a manner which allowed for more fluid learning and made studying the material much easier. One unfortunate experience, however, was that certain class participants were giving one-word or two-word responses on the class submissions, and then giving very low ratings on my submissions. Specifically, I received peer-reviews stating my submission needed to be more concise and eliminate references. I edited the assignment and re-submitted it. The same three participants reviewed the assignment the second time, and stated it still required editing and to be more concise. Since that particular assignment required citing outside material, the citations were required (in order to avoid plagiarism policies). Finally, when I re-submitted the assignment the third time, I included a note stating that the assignment required citations, and those citations required source identification, to avoid plagiarism violations. Imagine my surprise when the same three participants reviewed the assignment the third time, and ironically, all three left gave a non-passing grade, and left comments saying the submission appeared plagiarized. As a last resort, I notified Coursera about the events, and identified the one-word and two-word submissions by these students, which seemed to indicate they were taking the course merely for the purpose of harassing others who were genuinely attempting to become more familiar with the course material.

By Daniel H

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May 18, 2020

The course is very good and well organized, although, given its objective of approaching certain basic concepts, it can sometimes surprise and seem disjointed. But the course self has a high level.

Personally I studied law in Belgium and there are chapters that I had to revise several times to understand all the nuances and subtleties, so I suppose that all students, who do not have a basic training in law, must face a number of problems and need more time..

Small negative point: the evaluation of the number of hours necessary to complete the course. To really benefit from it, you need to review lectures several times and some readings are 80 pages. So I took about 3 times more time than the advertised time (19 hours) while in other systems, the advertised time corresponds more or less to the time that I need.

By Raghunandan P

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Aug 4, 2020

The course was exceptional and the way it was designed by the Yale university also looks very interesting , lot of videos by prominent professor, very good links for the readings on particular topics and I give a grand of applause to the people who have really worked out with "Reading Resources" and the important one is "Assessment" part which have been tremendously made (which could improve and works on the Analysis, Reading, Judging part of the students or the enrolled) I have learned many new concepts of the Law which were interesting and awesome and I definitely make an attempt to recommend the course to others as well, One last thing is The certificate could have been given free of cost to some of the best performers - Considering the pandemic situation

By JoAnne E R

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Jul 24, 2017

Coursera: Please note that we had a series of tornado storms, and flash floods. Over the weekend my previous session automatically switched to the next session. I have already completed my last essay, and I believe I am ready to take the final. Should I wait until the next start date, or should I ask you to return me to my last session? The next session doesnot start until August 14, 2017. I can wait, or if you immediately switch me back, I can complete the course now. Please email me. Comet, JoAnneRichardson@gmail.com. I just completed the William v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. Please reply, I must know now.

By Dr. B

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Apr 4, 2020

When I received an invitation to do a law program at Yale University, I could not believe an Ivy League University would allow me to attend without a rigorous prerequisite! I have always maintained A's throughout college; yet, I knew Yale University would be challenging. I did it again! In addition, learned a tremendous amount about legal tools, terminology, writing briefs, and case studies. All of which I can instantly apply in today's world. Thank you Professor Ian Ayres.

- Dr. Manya Boyd