Pre-Law Library

The pre-law program library holdings are located in the political science department conference room (DC 273A) on the second floor of the DeVos Communication Building. The library collection includes books about the legal profession, the law school experience, legal practice, Christian perspectives on law and more. Catalogues and information from various law schools throughout the United States, as well as LSAT preparation material, are also available. Materials may be utilized in the office and may also be checked out, using the procedures noted in the library area.

• Books

  The legal profession

  Title	Author(s)
  The American Legal Profession	Christopher P. Banks
  Becoming a Lawyer: A Video Collection
  Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More	Alan B. Morrison, Diane T. Chin
  Careers in Law	Gary A. Munneke
  The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law	Nancy Levit & Douglas O. Linder
  Just Mercy	Bryan Stevenson
  Lawyers and Fidelity to the Law	W. Bradley Wendel
  The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer: Truth, Justice, Power and Greed	Richard Zitrin, Carol M. Langford
  The Official Guide to Legal Specialties: An Insider's Guide to Every Major Practice Area	Lisa L. Abrams
  On Being a Happy, Healthy and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy and Unethical Profession	Patrick J. Schiltz
  Recent News & Commentary on the Legal Profession      Who's Eating Law Firms Lunch?      What They Don't Teach Law Students: Lawyering      To Practice Law, Apprentice First
  Should You Really Be a Lawyer? The Guide to Smart Career Choices Before, During and After Law School	Deborah Schneider & Gary Belsky
  Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future	Richard Susskind
  24 Hours with 24 Lawyers: Profiles of Traditional and Non-Traditional Careers	Jasper Kim
  What Can You Do With a Law Degree? A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside and Around the Law	Larry Richard & Tanya Harrison

  Law and legal practice

  Title	Source
  Banking and Finance Law	Presentation by Jon Van Gorp, 1/8/2013
  Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study	Karl N. Llewellyn
  Concept of Law	H.L.A. Hart
  Contracts in the Real World: Stories of Popular Contracts and Why They matter	Lawrence A. Cunningham
  Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage	Bryan A. Garner
  Garner on Language and Writing	Bryan A. Garner
  Introduction to the Legal System of the United States	E. Allan Farnsworth
  Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About American Law	Jay Feinman
  Legal Filings	Selected course cases
  The Nature of the Judicial Process	Benjamin N. Cardozo
  The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness	Mitchell Alexander
  The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents	Corey Brettschneider
  Pepperdine Law Review	Volume 32, No. 2
  Province of Jurisprudence Determined: Legal Treatises, 1800–1926	John Austin
  Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts	Antonin Scalia, Bryan A. Garner
  The Seven Deadly Sins of Legal Writing	Theodore L. Blumberg
  Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Legal Issues	M. Ethan Katsh
  Thinking Like a Lawyer: An Introduction to Legal Reasoning	Kenneth J. Vandevelde
  Thinking Like a Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning	Frederick Schauer
  University of Detroit Mercy Law Review	Summer 2013
  The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts	Bryan A. Garner
  The Winning Oral Argument: Enduring Principles with Supporting Comments from the Literature	Bryan A. Garner
  Women-at-Law: Lessons Learned Along the Pathway to Success	Phyllis Horn Epstein

  Law school experience & preparation

  Title	Author(s)
  Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won't Learn in Class	Shana Connel Noyes & Henry S. Noyes
  Articles About Law School      Before They Even Start: Hope and Incoming 1LS      One L-ow Brick Road      Helping You Get Ready for the Law      Law School is Worth the Money      Applications Fall as Costs Rise & Jobs are Cut      Drastic Changes in Educating New Lawyers      Is Law School a Losing Game?
  The Elements of Style	William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
  Financing a Legal Education: Investing in Your Future
  Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams	Richard Michael Fischl & Jeremy Paul
  Helping You Get Ready for the Law	Michigan State University College of Law
  The Language of Law School: Learning to “Think Like a Lawyer”	Elizabeth Mertz
  The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert	Ann K. Levine
  Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience, by Students for Students	Robert H. Miller
  The Law School Gamble: Things You Must Consider Before Placing Your Bet	Matthew Marzetti
  Law School: Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold	Thane Messenger
  Law School Insider: The Comprehensive 21st Century Guide to Success in Admissions, Classes, Law Review, Bar Exams and Job Searches for Prospective Students and Their Loved Ones	Jeremy B. Horowitz
  Looking at Law School: A Student Guide from the Society of American Law Teachers	Stephen Gillers
  1001 Legal Words You Need to Know: The Ultimate Guide to the Language of Law	Jay M. Feinman
  Planet Law School II: What You Need to Know (Before You Go)—But Didn't Know to Ask...And No One Else Will Tell You	Atticus Falcon
  Starting Off Right in Law School	Carolyn J. Nygren

  Christian perspectives on law

  Title	Author(s)
  Biblical Foundations of the Criminal Law	Institute for Christian Legal Studies
  Biblical Foundations of Procedural Law	Institute for Christian Legal Studies
  Conflict: Its Resolution and the Completion of Creation	John Feikens
  Law and the Bible: Justice, Mercy and Legal Institutions	Robert F. Cochran, Jr. & David Van Drunen
  The Lawyer's Calling: Christian Faith and Legal Practice	Joseph G. Allegretti
  On Being a Christian and a Lawyer: Law for the Innocent	Thomas L. Shaffer
  Redeeming Law: Christian Calling and the Legal Profession	Michael P. Schutt

• LSAT Testing Materials
  • ABA-LSAC Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, 2008
  • ABA-LSAC Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, 2009
  • ABA-LSAC Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, 2010
  • ABA-LSAC Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, 2011
  • ABA-LSAC Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, 2012
  • Blueprint for LSAT Reading Comprehension (Trent Tedi, Jodi Tedi, Matthew Riley)
  • LSAT 101: Core Concepts (Princeton Review)
  • LSAT 201: Master the Approach (Princeton Review)
  • LSAT 301: Pacing and Refining (Princeton Review)
  • LSAT 401: Advanced Skills (Princeton Review)
  • LSAT Diagnostic Exams (Princeton Review)
  • LSAT Endurance Practice (Kaplan)
  • LSAT Extreme (Kaplan)
  • LSAT Logic Games on Demand (Kaplan)
  • LSAT: Mastery and Training (Kaplan)
  • LSAT Online Companion (Kaplan)
  • LSAT: Ten More Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests (Prep Tests 19-28, 1996–1999)
  • LSAT: The Next Ten Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests (Prep Tests 29-38, 1999–2002)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, December 2003 (Test 42)
  • Ten Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests (Prep Tests 7-18, 1992–1993)
  • Ten New, Actual, Official LSAT Prep Tests (Prep Tests 52-61, 2007–2010)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, December 2010 (Test 62)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, June 2011 (Test 63)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, October 2011 (Test 64)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, December 2011 (Test 65)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, June 2012 (Test 66)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, October 2012 (Test 67)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, December 2012 (Test 68)
  • The Official LSAT Prep Test, June 2017 (Test 81)
• Law School Catalogues
  • University of Akron, Akron, Ohio
  • University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • Albany Law School, Albany, New York
  • American University, Washington D.C.
  • Ave Maria School of Law, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Naples, Florida
  • Baylor Law School, Waco, Texas
  • Boston College of Law, Newton, Massachusetts
  • Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, New York
  • University of California Irvine, Irvine, California
  • Cardozo Law at Yeshiva University, New York, New York
  • Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Chapman University, Orange, California
  • University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  • Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois
  • University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Columbia University, New York, New York
  • University of Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut
  • Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit, Michigan
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
  • Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
  • University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
  • DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
  • University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Michigan
  • Dickinson Law, Pennsylvania State University, Carlisle, PA
  • Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
  • Drexel University, Earle Mack School of Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  • Elon University School of Law, Elon, North Carolina
  • Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
  • University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville, Florida
  • Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
  • George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia
  • George Washington University, Washington D.C.
  • Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
  • University of Georgia Law, Athens, Georgia
  • Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California
  • Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
  • University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
  • University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
  • Indiana Tech Law School, Fort Wayne, Indiana
  • University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
  • University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
  • Lewis and Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon
  • Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
  • Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • University of Massachusetts School of Law - Dartmouth, N. Dartmouth, Massachusetts
  • Mercer Law School, Macon, Georgia
  • Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi
  • Mississippi College of Law, Jackson, Mississippi
  • New England Law, Boston, Massachusetts
  • New York Law School, New York, New York
  • New York University, New York, New York
  • Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
  • Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky
  • Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
  • University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
  • Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio
  • Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
  • University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
  • Pace Law School, White Plains, New York
  • University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, California
  • University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Pepperdine University, Malibu, California
  • Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut
  • Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
  • Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island
  • Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Camden, New Jersey
  • Saint Louis University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri
  • University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • University of San Diego, San Diego, California
  • Seattle University, Seattle, Washington
  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
  • Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
  • Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Dallas, Texas
  • Southern New England School of Law, Dartmouth, Massachusetts
  • Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
  • Stetson Law, Tampa Bay, Florida
  • Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts
  • University of Texas, Austin, Texas
  • Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
  • University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio
  • University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana
  • Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
  • Vermont Law School, South Royalton, Vermont
  • University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Wake Forest University, Winton-Salem, North Carolina
  • Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
  • Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
  • University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Washington
  • Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
  • Western New England College of Law, Springfield, Massachusetts
  • College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia
  • University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
  • Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut