The Bramble Bush

Written over 80 years ago, but highly relevant still, THE BRAMBLE BUSH remains one of the books most frequently and strongly recommended for students to read when considering law school, just before beginning its study, or early in the first semester. Its first edition began as a collection from a series of introductory lectures given by legal legend Karl Llewellyn to new law students at Columbia University. It still speaks to law, legal reasoning, class prep, and exam-taking skills in a way that makes it a classic for each new generation. 


Llewellyn's pointed and clear explanations of case-briefing before class, visualization of case facts, active learning in class, note-taking, the use of precedent, exam formats, and the limits of logic have proved timeless and highly practical. They remain excellent advice for current students to consider and implement in their own journey into the law. This is no Chamber of Commerce speech of mere platitudes about law practice and the grandeur of the bar. To be sure, Llewellyn believed in law school and legal education, and in dreaming big about a life in the law. But he was--famously--a realist above all, and this book gets to the nitty gritty about studying law successfully in traditional legal education. 


Whether from the enduring nature of his hands-on advice, or from the reality that the first year of law study and its classroom method just have not changed very much over many years, the book remains, by all accounts, targeted to the way 'thinking like a lawyer' continues in the modern law school.


Now in a high-quality eBook edition from Quid Pro Books, THE BRAMBLE BUSH is part of the Legal Legends Series. It features active contents, linked notes, and even embedded page numbers from the previous, classic print editions--for continuity of assignments, referencing, and citations.


Karl N. Llewellyn (1893-1962) was a distinguished legal scholar and professor of law, teaching at Columbia and the University of Chicago. He was a  leading figure in the school of Legal Realism, and the author of acclaimed books on law study, commercial law, jurisprudence, and legal anthropology.