Supplements I Recommend for 1L
One of the most common questions I get asked by students is what supplements they should purchase and how to use them. A well-chosen supplement can be the difference between staring at a confusing casebook assignment and actually understanding the rule underneath it. But the market is flooded, every classmate swears by something different, and it's easy to spend a few hundred dollars on books you'll never open.
So I want to keep this simple. In this post I'm going to tell you exactly which supplement I recommend for each 1L doctrinal course, and why. I'm saving the how to use them for a separate post on tackling 1L.
A few ground rules before the list:
One supplement per class is usually plenty. You do not need an E&E and a treatise and a flashcard set for the same subject. Pick one, work it hard.
A supplement complements your casebook rather than replace it. Use the supplement to clarify and to practice, not to skip the reading.
Notice that I don't recommend the same series across the board. Different subjects reward different formats, and the books below reflect that. That's intentional, and I'll explain the strategy in the follow-up post.
Quick disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy through the links below, it costs you nothing extra and helps support this site. I only recommend books I actually use with my own students.
Contracts — Examples & Explanations for Contracts (Brian A. Blum)
Contracts is rule-dense and tends to live in the gap between the common law and the UCC. The Examples & Explanations format is built for exactly this: a short, clear statement of the rule, followed by worked hypotheticals where you apply it and then check your reasoning against the explanation. That application loop is how Contracts actually gets tested, which is why this is my default pick for the subject.
Property — Examples & Explanations for Property (Barlow Burke & Joseph Snoe)
Property is the subject most 1Ls find genuinely disorienting — estates in land, future interests, recording acts, the whole vocabulary feels like a foreign language at first. Burke and Snoe’s E&E is strong precisely where students struggle, with charts and diagrams that make the estates system click. If there’s one course where a good supplement earns its keep early, it's this one.
Constitutional Law — Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Erwin Chemerinsky)
This one is different in kind from the others — it's a student treatise, not a quick study aid, and it reads more like a really clear professor talking you through the doctrine and the policy behind it. Con Law is a conceptual course, and Chemerinsky is the gold standard for understanding why the law is the way it is, not just what it says. Use it as a reference you return to, not a book you read cover to cover in a weekend.
Civil Procedure — Glannon Guide to Civil Procedure (Joseph Glannon)
Civ Pro rewards practice more than almost any other 1L subject, and it's frequently tested with multiple-choice questions. The Glannon Guide interleaves multiple-choice questions throughout each chapter and walks you through why each answer is right or wrong. That mirrors how the material is actually assessed and forces you to apply rules instead of just recognizing them.
Criminal Law — Understanding Criminal Law (Joshua Dressler)
Dressler is the authoritative treatment of substantive criminal law. He is frequently cited by courts and scholars, and it's especially strong on the common-law-versus-Model-Penal-Code comparison that 1L Crim turns on. If your professor cares about mens rea distinctions and the structure of defenses (most do), this is the book that makes those crisp.
Torts — Understanding Torts (John Diamond, Lawrence Levine & Anita Bernstein)
Torts is the most intuitive 1L subject for a lot of students, but the negligence framework still has a lot of moving parts: duty, breach, causation, defenses. Understanding Torts is clear, well-organized, and pairs cleanly with any casebook. It's a reliable companion that keeps the framework straight without burying you.
