D. Stone’s Legal Eagles Lay Golden Eggs

Blueprint for a top lawyer’s “A” game.

Published in

Verboten Publishing

17 min readNov 19, 2019

The Blind Scales Of Justice represent the essence of Law

Here’s a summary of every important fact mentioned in Devin Stone’s Legal Eagle educational series formatted for quickest possible digestion. A sort of “Commercial Outline” if you will. By reading this you’ll get so much more out of the actual shows when you watch them. And you should definitely watch them because there’s a ton of value in this channel whether you want to be a lawyer or not. Important things like is My Cousin Vinny legally accurate and what is the Chewbacca Defense? Is Batman as big a criminal as Joker? Stick around and find out what a top lawyer thinks.

While it may have started as a small group project to help law students tackle school stress, Stone’s little experiment in new media has quickly evolved into a popular podcast reflecting the values of his Legal Eagle brand. Preparing law students by reaching millions of viewers with reaction videos pitting a real lawyer against their fantasy counter parts in movies and television. One of the original podcasts that captured the vanguard of the reaction video phenomenon when it was fresh. You may have read my work on Hot Ones.

“legal eagle. (n.) winged creature that is allowed to give evidence in a court of law. (n.) Good legal representation. Stoic, good at manipulating facts to his or her advantage. “ — Urban Dictionary

Having stumbled across his successful content production formula, and noting its similarity to structures I’ve written about in the past, I felt it worth a deep dive illustration of what’s working across this wonderful spectrum of Legal Eagle shorts. Why does everyone love this guy’s legal advice so much? Well we find out and it wasn’t what I expected. I’ll even sprinkle some quotes from the big bird himself. (His secret is “practical sincerity” by the way; placing love of the law beside what works in the real world.)

The Honest Broker

What really stands out beyond his subscriber base of 710K is the incredible like to unlike ratio. The overwhelming positive reception from any audience is noteworthy. While it’s clear the intent is to educate the views don’t really take off until the reactions and legal reviews. We can break down his show into the following major pieces.

Devin James Stone, Esq. Host of the Legal Eagle podcast on Youtube.

Objection! (School Days) underexposed substantive educational content, and the overexposed though highly entertaining supplementaries; Think Like A Lawyer (Real Law Review) ,Gets Lawyered (Real Lawyer Reacts), Law Explained (Feedback), and Laws Broken (Issue Spotting).

In essence, through dozens of video shorts, Devin leans on his personal experience in law school and then 10 years in a top “big law” firm to prepare future students for the final exam and beyond. Providing insight and motivation, recommends some accessible resources, and demonstrates applying the law through issue spotting in familiar scenarios from popular movies and shows.

The Pitch

“What if law school were easier? Fun? What worked in college doesn’t work in law school because you’re graded on a curve. You’re competing with everyone else for the top spot, but it doesn’t have to be hard. When you know the rules, the goals, and the strategies of any system it can be gamed.” — Legal Eagle Pitch

“Work smarter not harder.” — Scrooge McDuck

Top Episodes Of Legal Eagle

(1+ million views each, 28,755,046 total in the top 18 episodes. Avg. 1.6M per top episode. Quite an accomplishment.)

The infamous Rainbow Brief. Lawyers obsess about these things. Boring right? Soooooooo boring. Not like this article at all. Which is interesting. Very interesting.

Your Network, Casebooks, Summaries and Outlines

This is a casebook. A book full of cases. You get a case book for every one of your classes. They’re heavy and expensive making transporting them a chore. Summaries of all the cases your professor assigns to you, a case brief is the notes you are taking regarding substantive details of a case.

A standard case brief contains:

Case citation. Name of both parties.
Publisher
Court and year.
Procedural posture; Is it an appeal?
Statement of facts which is the narrative story.
Issues on appealingly; arguments on both sides.
Policy implications.
Black Letter Law
Rationale used to decide a case.
Dissents

Citing old cases almost never gets you extra points on an exam. Those cases just don’t come up that much nor further your understanding of substantive law. Do NOT read your case book ahead of class or do case briefs. You’re not going to cover everything in the book and professors cover cases differently. The law needs to be interpreted.

DICTA is the part of a judicial opinion which is merely a judge’s editorializing and does not directly address the specifics of the case at bar; extraneous material which is merely informative or explanatory.

Students waste the most time on case briefs. You just can’t use the information that you’re summarizing on your final exams. There are faster, more efficient ways. Case briefing grants an illusory sense of accomplishment. Book briefing is the distant cousin of case briefing where you use different coloured highlighter to underscore each section of the case. Also known as rainbow briefing.

Focus on distilling the information to the parts you’re actually going to put into a personal outline. Start day one and update every weekend. You can find example outlines at Outlines.com. Use Thomson Reuters Westlaw or LexisNexis. You’ll use this all the time in practice for accessing commercial briefs. Commercial outlines aren’t a substitute for doing your own personal outlines, which are where you really learn the law, but they are helpful at summarizing abstract law. Use them hand in hand with class notes to synthesize the information into your own personal outline. The thing that is most important about your case will be right up front in the head notes.

Traditionally, students are encouraged to use the case method. An inductive approach of analyzing cases where the law has already been applied. The intent is to teach how to read a case, reference cases, and prepare for cold calling in class. Use instead the flipped case method. Read the supplements and summaries first, then go into the case itself. If you know what you’re looking for ahead of time you can go through the case more effectively (sound familiar?). Pay attention to the black letter law. You’ll be far more prepared for cold calls.

The Socratic method, also known as method of Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate, is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions. — wiki

It’s hard to overstate how important your personal outline is in law school. It’s your primary study device. It’s how you distill all your notes, and cases, and commercial outlines into an optimally usable format. To focus your efforts on the things that will help during the final exam. However, it takes much longer than you think to process the information and time is the single greatest equalizer in law school. Those who capitalize on it get the A’s. Better to have your outline done months ahead of the final exam.

Start your outline week one and then constantly revise it as you understand more. Starting from scratch a week before finals is foolish. Do no more than one page per class per week. Keep it brief, keep it clear, keep it relevant.

Old saying: “If I had more time I’d write a shorter letter.”

The best outlines are less than 20 pages. The longer your outline the harder it is to use. You only want the tools you need on hand. It’s all about application. Better to know a short outline intimately than a long one superficially. Condensing all the relevant information from all sources is probably the hardest thing about law school and if done right the single greatest tool.

Use your weekends for outlining. Distill your supplementary material. Think about the end game. It’s all about the finals and almost all your points come from essays so better essay writing pays off. Read old outlines that were specifically tailored to your professor. Talk to upperclassmen.

It’s All About The Final (Well mostly.)

Your 1L grades determine your 1L summer job which determined you 2L summer associate job and that is largely where you get your employment prospects. Grades, while the single most important factor, aren’t enough to get into a great job. Don’t overlook the human element. Leverage office hours. Make friends with your professors and other attorneys. Network. If you do well in a class then ask for letters of recommendation from your professors. Build your personal network as you would your personal outline. Start day one and maintain the relationships well beyond school.

Networking Opportunities

Law Review is a a student run publication which reviews, curates and proofs academic papers of professors and students eg. Harvard Legal Review. Generally a real resume bump. The most prestigious extracurricular you can do, but its a ton of hard work.
Moot court. A court simulator of appellate advocacy. A great way to hone your oral argument skills.
Mock trials are full trial replications. Much more fun than Moot court but less prestigious. Good for those who want to be good trial attorneys.
Bar Review is the most popular extracurricular. It means drinking. Lots of drinking in law school. Go network and have a little fun.
Student groups and social groups. Great way to network and meet new friends.
Committees. Event set up, volunteering, etc.

Law school is taught backwards. You learn the most antiquated cases early in the semester and very little of that class work will be on the final exam. Focus on the bare recitation of the facts or a bright line legal rule.

A bright-line rule is a clearly defined rule or standard in the United States, composed of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation. The purpose of a bright-line rule is to produce predictable and consistent results in its application. — wiki

Avoid memorizing details beyond the rules or the facts of cases. Listen when your professor is talking about specific cases. Look for the bright-line rule if provided; also known as the Black Letter Law.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” — Stephen Covey

Almost all law school exams are issue spotting essays sometimes called hypotheticals or hypos for short. It all starts with a big story where bad things happen. If it’s criminal then murder, assault, conspiracy. If it’s a property exam there’d probably be some kind of land dispute or restrictions on land. Contract exam might be about a claim of invalid agreement, etc.

At the end of the story will be a vague prompt like “explain the rights of the various parties” or “what claims does Mrs. Smith have against Mr. Jones”. The reason it’s called issue spotting is because you’ll have to extract the relevant facts from the story to come up with the issues that need to be discussed. It’s not about regurgitating law or facts. It’s about discerning the relevant from the irreverent in the application to be framed in the law. You are applying the law to a given set of facts.

A Tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. It can include the intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, financial losses, injuries, invasion of privacy and many other things. — wiki

Learning how to apply the law is a skill which takes practice, but it can be learned no different than any other skill. You’ll get better with practice. Learning the substantive law is the table steaks. Then you have to master the table. You learn the law better through application. Practice taking old tests to learn how to take law school exams. Your entire grade is based on your final exam and it’s graded on a curve. You can practice to get better at taking them.

The hardest thing is the lack of feedback. Students study constantly but with so little feedback they don’t really know if they’re doing the right thing. You spend the entire semester studying complex law and it all comes down to one final exam that is unlike any under grad exam.

“This means many people study the wrong things for a long time.” — Devin James Stone, Esq.

Law school is about considering the endgame and then working backwards from there. Once you know how the pieces move you can develop strategies to improve your game. It’s hard work, but most work harder than they need to and that makes it harder on themselves. A’s are fun. You can improve your grades by 1/3 in every class by getting individual feedback through practice tests.

A lot of people have trouble translating the benefits of taking a practice exams into the classroom. The trick is to take your practice exams in non-ideal circumstances. Train for adversity. Be uncomfortable. Practice in stressful situations. Take the exam while there are people around or some construction on the road near by. Change the circumstances in which you practice and you’ll do so much better in the real final. Use a timer and don’t cheat. Don’t break up the test. Do it all in one sitting and find a way to put real steaks on the table. Don’t let the conditions on test day throw you off.

In poker and other gambling games, table stakes are a limit on the amount a player can win or lose in the play of a single hand. A player may bet no more money than they had on the table at the beginning of that hand and consequently cannot go back to their pocket for more money once a hand is dealt.

College essays are about regurgitating all the information that you can. The data dump method to show your professor you remember the facts. Law school exams are mostly issue spotting exams and it’s your job to determine who can sue who and for what. It’s about the application of the law. It’s the table steaks. The information dump is the most common mistake new law students make.

Preparation And General Advice

Get an apartment as close to campus as possible. Though expensive it can’t be helped. If you don’t you’ll end up spending so much more anyway in a number of other ways facing the practical inconveniences a close apartment helps avoid.

“Law school is a marathon not a sprint” — ancient wisdom.

Practice typing to get your wpm up as high as possible. It’s a huge advantage to take notes quickly and more accurately than your peers. Try Mavis Beacon or Mario Teaches. Aim for 100 words per minute.

Get your personal relationships in check. Sadly, most couples break up during law school so unless it’s the love of your life it may be better to let it go for now and focus entirely on school.

Mentally prepare. Do a little research. Read One L. Watch the movie “The Paper Chase”. Law Schools change but these will give you a general overview idea of what to expect.

A lot can go wrong in 3 years. Your gonna be surrounded by very smart people and some of them are gonna be gunners. Those who always jump at the chance to answer questions. They seem to have all the answers, but they don’t necessarily get the best grades. At first it’s hard to tell the difference between gunners and true geniuses.

Don’t be a gunner. Not everyone is super competitive. Not everyone is cut throat. It’s a spectrum. While there aren’t as many slackers in law school they certainly exist. Law students are actually a pretty kind bunch.

Buy old case books. Old highlighting is easy to work around and might actually be helpful.

Read through an old case brief once before you read your own first case.

In law school you have to accept ambiguity. Everything is one big gray area. In real life the cases that go to trial are the ones that can go either way and therefor require judgment. Easy cases settle before hand. Get comfortable with uncertainly and you’ll learn to use it to great effect in exams.

You’re going to meet a lot of people so think about starting a study group, but don’t over commit. Separate what’s working and what isn’t in the weeks to come. Maximize things that give you good return like outlines, but don’t feel you need to try everything out.

Class participation counts for almost nothing. Go to class and pay attention so you know what to focus on during your exam but preparing for class will not significantly prepare you for cold calling anyway. Take that time and work on your personal outline.

Start taking practice tests way earlier. At least half way through the semester.

Law is confusing at the best of times. Worry less about uncertainty. You can always get the black letter law from your outlines.

You should go to office hours. Your professors are experts in their fields. Find out what they think. Get feedback.

Work out in the morning and then do your law school work. If you focus on the high value work you’ll have lots of time left over.

Just because you have a high IQ doesn’t mean you’ll focus on the right things. Don’t assume that just because you’re smart you’ll be successful. Busy work is a huge waste of time.

Over 250 law schools in US alone. Some jobs require a higher pedigree and some don’t.

If you want to work in a specific region there are often local law schools that are well connected in that area and have advantages over another higher ranked law school.

How much you pay doesn’t actually correlate to the rank of the school. A large financial aid package can have a huge impact. It can cost over $200,000 for a law degree.

Law schools basically all teach the same thing but a handful really excel at a sub field. eg. Tax law.

If you want to go into big law you need to go to one of the most prestigious schools. Yale, Harvard, Standford, etc. You need to be in the top half of the class to be competitive. Beyond this there is a top tier. The top 10% NYU, Berkeley, UCLA, etc. There is also a 2nd tier list of schools. To get in a big firm through a 2nd tier you need to be in the top 2% of your class. Beyond this you’d have to be the top student in your class and really stand out. The American Bar Association publishes stats on all schools.

If the rank is close but one school will give you the money take the money. You’d be very happy to graduate from law school with no debt thanks in part to financial aid.

It takes 3 stressful years, but a law degree is a gateway to becoming a lawyer. Average tuition is more than 40k per year. With living expenses your looking at well over 50k a year. The avg. grad in 2015 had over 140k in student debt. High interest rates on loans (7–8%).

Consider opportunity cost of money you would have earned somewhere else. Median income in US is 60k a year. 180K in lost income over 3 years if you go to law school.

Average salary of an attorney in big firms is 165k-190k a year. Within 3 years you can earn well over 200k per year.

More than 20% of grads end up in jobs that don’t even need a law degree. Only 40% worked in law firms.

The odds of getting a medium to large firm job are much lower than it used to be.

Median pay is $64,800 or only $5000 more than general average. Given the debt and opportunity cost there is a serious risk of making only a little more than average. If you aren’t really sure you want to go to law school then don’t go.

You have to be able to manage high debt liability and it takes a long time to pay it back so if you can manage that then it may be for you.

If you are confident you can get in the top 10% and you’re prepared to work the 3000+ hours a year that big firms demand then go for it.

If you’re a full time law student then you should not work on the side. This is a full time investment and it will take everything you have. The ABA actually has set a limit of no more than 20 hours per week for full time students.

You’re trying to increase your earning power by getting into the state run monopoly which is the Attorney’s Bar. The competition is fierce so don’t get distracted.

Get good grades. Do high school mock trials. Do a couple business classes to get a handle on civil procedure. Lawsuits, etc. Don’t do a gap year. Study for the LSAT. The law school entrance exam. Get a really high LSAT score. Do practice tests every day for at least 2 months before hand.

Being a lawyer takes a lot of different skills. You have to be a great writer. Good at researching. A logical thinker. (Occasionally… dodge bullets.) You have to make good policy arguments. Understand historical precedent. A good orator. You have to use this all together. No one major can prepare you for law school.

Equipment and Resources:

Humble portable book stand. You’re still gonna have to spend some time reading your case book.

Law school starts in August and you need a backpack. Casebooks are heavy. You need a heavy duty backpack that can hold your laptop with your casebooks. Must be big enough to carry at least 2 casebooks. Protects laptop. Durable to last at least 1 year.

“These are things that really punch above their weight and you can get for pennies on the dollar.” — D. Stone

Traditional backpack. Swiss gear. If chest strap is a must Try Ogio Gambit. Or the Herschel which is the more fashionable option. There is also REI and Burton.

Messenger Bag. Timbuk2 makes the messenger bags that lawyers swear by. Only down side is they are single strap. Leather bags are not durable enough.

Rolie bags are for people who want the most comfortable option. They look like rolling luggage with a few straps like a traditional backpack.

Get a white board, markers and erasers. Learn to diagram. A chalk board will work. Or butcher paper which you can save for later.

Ear plugs. A big problem in law school is getting enough sleep.

Get a physical, paper calendar. You need to be able to see how much time is left and whether you’re falling behind. A physical calendar shows you were you are in time and helps you plan out your semester.

Get an alarm. Do NOT use your cellphone and keep your cellphone in a different room from where you sleep. The emails that come in at 2am can wait. Consider a sunrise alarm.

Anki digital flash card software. There is no better way to help you memorize things. Spaced repetition learning can super charge your recall.

A tablet for reading cases and using apps like WestlawNext (one of the two major case databases the other being LexisNexis) and acting as a second screen for laptop.

Your Law School Librarian. They can help you with just about everything. Writing, assignment, research, etc. They can also help you find the practice tests for your particular professor. They are the gatekeepers to all the hidden secrets of law.

School gym. Stay in shape because better health means better grades.

Consider case summary services like Quimbee.

Well that’s it folks. You got the gist of it. Now go watch all those reaction videos knowing you didn’t miss out on the education this series was intended to impart. You’ll like the fun stuff more knowing how the law works. Re-enforce what you’ve gathered here and learn to think like a Legal Eagle.

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