Law Preview reviews

Our alums explain how Law Preview has helped thousands of incoming 1Ls become top law students

Our students thrive

Since 1998, BARBRI Law Preview has been helping students find success in law schools across the country. Consistently, they attribute their law school success to Law Preview and the important difference it made for them during their first year and beyond.

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"It made scheduling and not getting overwhelmed so much easier. [3.6 GPA after the first semester]."
Anonymous, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Yeshiva University, Class of 2022
"Great experience with Law Preview. Support material (online videos) after the course and continual study tips helped reinforce the material taught in the classroom. Highly recommend. Felt prepared for class discussions and received A-s in the two courses that were introduced in-depth at Law Preview."
Anonymous, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
"I was able to achieve a 3.9 GPA during my first semester, and I was even asked to serve as a TA by one of my professors. I believe that my Law Preview course definitely contributed to my academic success so far, and I plan to continue applying Law Preview strategies for the rest of my law school career. I think the most important thing that helped me was being consistent about working hard throughout the semester. Law Preview’s email reminders and tips throughout the fall semester really helped keep me on track."
Anonymous, Columbia University Law School, 2019
"I attended the Law Preview session in Austin. I was just writing to let you know how I did the first semester. I attend the University of Houston Law Center, and I received all A’s my first semester and am ranked #1 out of 266 students. Law Preview gave me the right mindset entering into law school, and I feel the class was a big part of my success. Not only did it help me succeed grades wise, but the class also gave me a sense of excitement to attend U of H, as there were 3 professors from the school who lectured at Law Preview, and I enjoyed all three!"
Shaun C., University of Houston Law Center, Class of 2013
"Law Preview kept me on course while my classmates seemed confused."
Joshua W., University of Arkansas Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, Class of 2011
"Law school is a lot about expectations. Many people enter law school thinking that this is undergrad part two, but it is much more than that. Law Preview helped me to understand the type of time and effort commitment that law school would require of me. My last semester in undergrad, I took one class on Monday nights and basically just hung out the rest of the time. Law Preview was a fantastic eye-opener to the reality that awaited me in law school and no doubt my success was greatly predicated on the preparation and advice Law Preview provided."
Conrad S., SMU Dedman School of Law, Class of 2013
"Law Preview has given me a firm foundation as to how I should approach my classes to do well. After attending LP, I was able to formulate an attack plan for law school such that when school actually started, I felt better prepared."
Anonymous, University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2022
"Law Preview helped me make a very intimidating experience a little less daunting. Throughout the semester, I recognized many concepts and cases that were studied in the program. My understanding of, and ability to think about, legal issues were dramatically enhanced by the background I acquired through Law Preview. I am thankful for how the program helped me feel more confident going into my first semester of law school."
Eduardo K., Syracuse University College of Law, Class of 2024
"I was able to crush my first semester of law school having knowledge of cases already discussed during the course. I felt confident and established myself early on."
Anonymous, Howard University School of Law
"Law Preview prepared me for what I should expect with law school in regards to course load, outlining, type of people that will surround you, and how professors teach. ‘Law school’ sounds intimidating, but like with anything you do in life, to be successful you must prepare yourself. Law Preview is almost necessary, because why would you put your heart into something for three years, and not use a source like Law Preview to put you a step ahead of your peers? Law Preview should be considered an essential step to the Law School process if you want to be ahead of the competition, or help with the stress that comes with law school."
Ryan B., University of Baltimore School of Law, Class of 2013
"Before starting law school I had no idea what a case brief was or what to expect in law school. After taking the Law Preview course all of my anxieties were gone and I was confident that I could excel in law school. The recommended reading and outlining schedule helped me organize my time (which is one of the hardest things to master during your 1L year) and the e-mail reminders throughout the year gave me the guidance I needed to put my best foot forward in law school. Furthermore, the hornbooks I received from the program helped me master my 1L classes. My high grades from 1L year were undoubtedly influenced by my experience in the Law Preview course and I would definitely recommend that prospective law students take this course."
Camilla G., University of Pennsylvania Law School, Class of 2013
"Law Preview played a large part in my success during my first year. The program benefited me in several ways. It provided an accurate experience of what law school classes are like. For me, this was extremely helpful. My background is in science and I had been out of school for seven years before going back to law school. I was also unsure about how good of a fit law school would be for me, so Law Preview was a way for me try it out before quitting my job and taking on student loan debt. Law school is a stressful experience, and any way you can find to reduce that stress gives you an advantage. Some people in my class were overwhelmed and felt lost after the first week of school because they didn’t know how to read or brief cases. The reading assignments and case briefs I did for Law Preview helped me hit the ground running when school started and gave me an advantage over a lot of my classmates. Most importantly, it gave me confidence that law school was a good fit for me, which helped me fully commit to it. One of the keys to success in law school is finding a work schedule that allows you to complete your assigned readings and start preparing early for finals. The most beneficial part of Law Preview for me was that it provided a proven schedule for managing the heavy workload. I would have been lost without this schedule. It helped me stay on track throughout the semester and gave me an idea of when I needed to start my outlines for each class. Some people in my class waited until November or later to start their outlines. You can’t do that in law school. There is just too much information to process. Closely following the schedule Law Preview provided gave me significantly more time to prepare for finals than many of my classmates. This advantage was crucial in helping me excel in my classes. The post-program support provided by Law Preview also helped me to stay on track. Throughout the first semester, Don sent emails reminding alumni where we should be in terms of preparation and provided tips for succeeding on law school exams. Again, law school is all about finding ways to gain an advantage and these tips definitely helped. The thing that impressed me most, though, was that Don made himself available to alumni by email or phone after the program ended. During the first semester, I emailed Don about 6 weeks before finals starting to make sure I wasn’t too far behind on my preparation. He suggested we schedule a time to talk on the phone and we ended up speaking for 20 minutes about where I was and what I needed to do. He also convinced me to use the Law-in-a-Flash flashcards to prepare for my exams. I was concerned about the cost, but he assured me they were worthwhile. He was right. They were great and helped me excel at spotting issues on my exams. This type of individual feedback and support that Don provided is simply not available in law school. Having access to it gave me a definite advantage in preparing for finals. . . . Law school is expensive and you might be concerned about adding to that cost by signing up for Law Preview. I completely understand and had the same concerns. Ultimately, I chose to look at Law Preview as an investment, and it has really paid off for me. My law school doesn’t post individual class rankings, but I finished significantly above the class average first semester and did even better second semester. I owe a lot of my success to the preparation and support I received from Law Preview. For most people, attending law school is a $100k-180k investment. You wouldn’t invest that much money in the stock market without doing research and preparation to increase your odds of success. Law Preview is a proven way to increase your of odds of achieving a significant return on your investment in law school by earning high grades during your crucial 1L year. Given the current legal job market, you need to give yourself every advantage you can."
Anonymous, Notre Dame Law School, Class of 2011
"Law Preview prepared me for what I would face in law school. It gave me confidence and relieved a great deal of stress before and during law school."
Anonymous, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Class of 2011
"As a student with a media arts background, I was apprehensive about starting law school. I tried to read some cases on my own and become familiar with the terms of art in the legal profession, but nothing could prepare me as well as Law Preview did! I completed some of the recommended additional readings, took the on demand course in the weeks before law school, and felt prepared to dive in with my case briefs and confidently answering questions in class. My first semester was abundantly challenging as it was; I would hate to think how difficult it would have been without the foundation I obtained during Law Preview."
Anonymous, Gonzaga University School of Law, Class of 2022
"I attended the Houston seminar at University of Houston in July 2010. I think the product you offer is excellent. Law Preview provided me with an advantage over my peers in a fair academic way. I would recommend taking the six day class to anyone entering law school. The class provided a foundation that allowed me to find clarity in the pile of case law assigned. The week before my Law Preview class, I read the entire prep book. I did not understand much of what I read, but I went though the exercise. I struggled to interpret the class discussions, but managed to stay focused. The six day work load was a serious grind, like a law school boot camp. While it may have been difficult, the course gave me exactly what I wanted out of it. It gave me a vision of what was to come. I was able to brace myself for impact and ride the turbulent wave through the first semester finish line. Even though preparation is key to success, hard work through out the semester is an essential element as well. My goal for this semester is to study more efficiently, to work smarter not harder. By finals in the fall, I was losing stamina. The work load started to wear me down and I may have wandered into the forest losing myself in the trees. In the end, I still managed to finish in a good place. This semester I have a new and improved game plan, but it is important to note that my original game plan came from Law Preview. Without this original game plan, I would have been lost in the trees from day one. Now, as my peers are wandering to a clearing, I am already crossing the field."
Lucas C., South Texas College of Law Houston, Class of 2013
"I would definitely recommend Law Preview to any incoming 1L. I found the subject lessons to be extremely helpful and many of the cases in the Law Preview book were also in most of the school casebooks. I also benefited greatly from the advice Law Preview gives about how to brief, study, and manage time. The continuing emails I received from Don were also very helpful and encouraging. I believe the program is very worth taking. After my first semester I earned a 3.75/4.0 GPA."
Anna K., University of Miami School of Law, Class of 2013
"Law Preview provided me with invaluable insight and helpful tools for tackling the rigors of 1L. The program gave me a level of confidence which allowed me to hit the ground running as I embarked on my law school experience. There is no doubt in my mind that Law Preview was instrumental in enabling me to finish my 1L year in the top 10% of my class and being invited to join the Law Review. Don, thank you for an outstanding course!"
Paul G., Boston College Law School, 2020
"Law Preview was beneficial in that it helped strip away some of the anxiety and myths about first year law school while also conveying the reality of the large amount of time and effort that would be required of students if they wanted to succeed. There are no magic words or formulas to success but Law Preview passed on tools and techniques for studying so that I was able to hit the ground running from the very first day of school. The tools and practice from Law Preview allowed me to focus on the substance of what was being discussed in class and in the readings. Rather than trying to remember what the heck IRAC was or learning how to write case briefs and read case books effectively the first few weeks of the semester I’d already had a week of practice on how to accomplish those tasks thanks to my time with Law Preview. One of the first legal writing assignments at my school during first semester was to write a case brief which I already knew how to write thanks to the templates from Law Preview and session on the topic. I got 100% on the brief. The familiarity and introduction to various topics and projects covered during the first year of law school became a huge time saver. And any law school student will tell you that anything that saves time is invaluable in law school."
Anonymous, Whittier Law School, Class of 2011
"Thanks to Law Preview, I started 1L year with an effective study schedule and knew how to prepare for class and final exams. In the end, it paid off and I finished in the top 5% of my class."
Megan S., University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law, Class of 2021
"Law Preview provided a good insight into the law school experience before I actually started which calmed all my anxieties by having an idea of what to expect. The knowledge of the subject matter discussed in Law Preview also came in handy when it came up during the lectures which made it seem more like a revision as it was familiar, especially in areas like Torts and Contracts."
Farari M., Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Class of 2024
"Law Preview helped decrease the nerousness about starting law school because it gave me a good idea of what to expect and how to cope with certain pressures inherent to it."
Anonymous, University of Texas School of Law, Class of 2012
"Law preview gave me the tools and confidence I needed to hit the ground running when school began. It was just like you said, when I was outlining everyone else was still reading, when I was breaking my outline down to something I could internalize, everyone else was outlining. This left me time to take plenty of practice exams and bring my A game during exams. [Ranked #14 out of 150 students]."
Anonymous, Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School, Class of 2013
"Law Preview gave me the confidence and the tool set to hit the ground running during the first semester. While other students were falling behind on the readings, not studying smartly, and fearing the inevitable Socratic exchange, I was confidently working (instead of struggling) through the semester. When finals arrived, I knew how to study, what to study, and had a great overall plan to arrive in a good spot at the end of the semester. I’m glad I took Law Preview before beginning my law school career. I would have been lost without it."
Dustin L., Southwestern Law School, Class of 2011
"Law Preview was critical in giving me the strategic advantages that allowed me to excel during the 1L year. Many of my colleagues did not realize the correct pacing and preparation schedule until it was far too late. I appreciated Don’s realistic and blunt advice about the difficulties you will face during the first year. Law school is about hard work and proper preparation, and Law Preview made this unambiguously clear through the Strategies for Academic Success sessions, as well as the experience of preparing for the mini-courses at Law Preview. . . . Last, and maybe most important, I left Law Preview excited to start school. When the year began I was able to step through the doors with the confidence of having an explicit and detailed plan about what was going to happen. Carrying through with the Law Preview schedule allowed me to go into exams confident, relatively stress-free, and somewhat rested. While this it was not a particularly fun experience to go through finals, I know that my experience was far better than most. [Ranked top 1% after first year]."
Anonymous, Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington, Class of 2011
"I just wanted to thank you guys for the program – as an evening student I was already extremely nervous to tackle classes on top of everything else in life, but I went into my first year focused, ready to analyze and brief cases in a way that I wouldn’t have figured out on my own until halfway through the year. A good chunk of cases we read was stuff we’d already covered during the program! Following that great calendar that was sent out to us, I outlined early and was taking practice tests when everyone else was just starting to prepare to outline . . . and now at the end of my first year, I’ve got a 4.09 GPA and I’m ranked first in my class. You turned a difficult journey into a smooth one and I wanted to thank you!"
Anonymous, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Class of 2011
"It introduced me material and helped the learning curve on subjects before the first day of class started. It reduced the fear of not knowing the subject material and gave me the confidence knowing I had a plan from the very first day of classes."
Anonymous, Marquette University Law School, Class of 2022
"Law Preview gave me the ultimate ‘heads up’ that I needed for law school. Don and all of the distinguished Professors tell you what nobody else will. During orientation and for several weeks after the semester began, it seemed everyone was running around without much of a clue of what was going on. Because of Law Preview, I already knew what I needed to do in order to focus solely on the important aspects of my courses. Law Preview pays off through every aspect of the first semester, and even beyond. I had my outlines complete by the time others were just learning how to get the most out of briefing a case. A small number of the students in my section even began to withdraw from classes during this time. Law Preview emphasizes methods that will help you stick through attrition. After the exams, many of the students were very worried about the grades they received. This was clearly the first time the others encountered receiving what they considered such low grades. Law Preview discusses this, so I was already prepared. . . . Law Preview clearly gives you the tools needed to cut through the confusion. They get down to brass tacks by clearly illustrating what we did and did not need to worry about."
Daniel S., Mitchell Hamline School of Law (formerly William Mitchell College of Law), Class of 2012
"Law Preview took away the learning curve of the first few weeks of law school. When other classmates were struggling to adjust to learning via cases and figuring out what details in a case were important to the class itself, I had already gained these skills through my week of Law Preview. Law school doesn’t teach you how to learn the material, but Law Preview did."
Lewis S., Drexel University School of Law, 2021
"I was able to crush my first semester of law school having knowledge of cases already discussed during the course. I felt confident and established myself early on."
Anonymous, Cornell University Law School, Class of 2022
"I really feel like I was more prepared than anyone else in my class. This definitely gave me an edge. After the first year I did so well, I’ll be attending Washington University in St. Louis in the Fall! Thank you Law Preview! =) [Ranked #1 out of 63 students]."
Jonathan S., University of Akron School of Law, Class of 2013 (transferred to Washington University School of Law)