Hand-write or Type Notes

[jakebrigance99]

What do experienced law students generally recommend? Do you find the pace of the lectures too fast to write longhand? What about for readings? Thanks! 

[QueensDenning]

I know a lot of people who started out hand writing then switched. There’s a lot of info in law school, a lot of which you just need to learn in whatever way works best for you. I found typing to be more useful because then you can use other good outlines (if you can get them from upper years) and delete sections/copy paste from your own notes/reformat to make them your own, which saves a lot of time compared to making yours from scratch. The search function and particularly the “Nav pane” option in word was particularly useful for me during exams/classes. If you don’t know what that is, PM me and I can send you an example of one of my outlines from last year. 

[historicaladvantage]

99% of people will type and, in my opinion, should type because it's too much information. 

[CleanHands]

I handwrote notes in 1L and then mostly did not take notes at all in upper years.

There are studies about handwritten notes being more effective as a memory encoding and retention process, and that's why I did this. But if I could do it all again, I would have just downloaded CANs from the previous year at the beginning of the term and went along with the material in class and edited it on the fly as needed.

At the time I justified to myself going through my handwritten notes and typing them out into CANs as basically a study process forcing me to remind myself of the material, but in retrospect I think it was inefficient and largely a waste of time.

I do not agree with the above comments that there is so much information that it is necessary to type to take notes effectively, though. On the contrary, I think with typed notes there is a tendency to be overinclusive and basically transcribe the lectures instead of focusing on what's important. There are benefits to typed notes but this is not one of them, as an average handwriter should have no difficulty in writing down what they should during lectures.

[SlytherinLLP]

23 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

I handwrote notes in 1L and then mostly did not take notes at all in upper years.

There are studies about handwritten notes being more effective as a memory encoding and retention process, and that's why I did this. But if I could do it all again, I would have just downloaded CANs from the previous year at the beginning of the term and went along with the material in class and edited it on the fly as needed.

At the time I justified to myself going through my handwritten notes and typing them out into CANs as basically a study process forcing me to remind myself of the material, but in retrospect I think it was inefficient and largely a waste of time.

I do not agree with the above comments that there is so much information that it is necessary to type to take notes effectively, though. On the contrary, I think with typed notes there is a tendency to be overinclusive and basically transcribe the lectures instead of focusing on what's important. There are benefits to typed notes but this is not one of them, as an average handwriter should have no difficulty in writing down what they should during lectures.

This is spot on. 

I also took handwritten notes and would at most produce a page or a page and a half of notes. Most of which were short references to read something later (something like **review Palsgraf paragraph 62: causation).

Most of what is discussed in class is found in past summaries. I found it more helpful to listen carefully and think through the lecture.

[historicaladvantage]

1 minute ago, SlytherinLLP said:

This is spot on. 

I also took handwritten notes and would at most produce a page or a page and a half of notes. Most of which were short references to read something later (something like **review Palsgraf paragraph 62: causation).

Most of what is discussed in class is found in past summaries. I found it more helpful to listen carefully and think through the lecture.

Depends on whether you're the kind of student that likes to have as much information from the lectures as possible and then fine-tune the information for your summary later, or you're the kind of student that likes to prioritize information during the lecture. I was the former, not the latter. It depends on your learning style. At least at Osgoode, the reality was that 99% of people typed for this very reason.

Edited June 24, 2021 by historicaladvantage

[LMP]

2 minutes ago, historicaladvantage said:

Depends on whether you're the kind of student that likes to have as much information from the lectures as possible and then fine-tune the information for your summary later, or you're the kind of student that likes to prioritize information during the lecture. I was the former, not the latter. It depends on your learning style. At least at Osgoode, the reality was that 99% of people typed for this very reason.

At last, a chance to be part of the 1%. 

[Vizslaw]

They are both good skills to have. I used CANS and took notes on my computer to update/edit them. I would say as a student, it's a good skill to be able to sit through client meetings, hearings, trials, etc. and be able to type fast (and accurately) enough that you can make detailed notes, if not an unofficial transcript of sorts. 

However, beyond articling, I do handwritten notes for trials on a legal pad, at least for witnesses or matters where I need to reply. If I am taking trial notes for someone else's witness or legal argument, I will use my computer to try and pump out a transcript. When handwriting, I like to draw a line vertically down the page on the right side, so that I can make bullet point notes on what the witness or other counsel is saying and then jot down my bullet point reply, case name, or other reference (like a crude pictograph) on the right.

You can always start off by handwriting your notes and if it becomes too stressful, you can switch to typing. I also think not having your computer in class will help you stay focused, since you will be less tempted to check this forum to see what's up when you should be paying attention! At the end of the day, do what works best for you.

[Civil2Common]

As someone with terrible handwriting, those courses where profs banned the use of laptops were somewhat rough at times (I would often go back and re-type my hand written notes). Personally I don't think it was so much the action of handwriting which helped me retain the information, it was more-so actively listening to the prof and making an effort to 'understand' the material that was being discussed which helped the most. 

[Nightwing]

I started off taking handwriting notes and switched after midterms in 1L. I found it made a big difference in the amount of info I could get down-- and I had written all of my notes by hand in undergrad. Looking through my property notes after class was like trying to decipher a foreign language. I was reluctant at first to change my strategies from undergrad, but I'm glad I did. I would say start off with whatever you're more comfortable with and be prepared to shift as needed. 

[Scrivener]

I prefer to handwrite, but regretted having done so when exams rolled around. I typed instead after midterms, and did better on the finals.

I may still handwrite depending on a prof's style, moving forward, but I'll be keeping in mind: law school exams are completely open-book, and it is far easier to find the information you're looking for in a word processor than in handwritten notes (at least ones like mine, anyway). I wasted so much time frantically flipping through my notebook on that midterm, and I never want to be in that position again.

 

As a side note, it would have been fine if I had later gone over my written notes, and summarized the points in a word processor. However, I did not have the time (pandemic, situations at home) so if you go this route, I would recommend keeping up with summaries every week, and switch to typing if you get even a week behind in first year.

In first year, I had no idea how an exam was going to feel, so I wanted to take notes on everything lest I not have what I needed. Moving forward, I may have a better feel for it to weigh out my handwriting/typing decisions.

 

[Homosapiens]

I remember there was one time during a law school exam I brought my handwritten notes with me. AND I COULD NOT RECOGNIZE WHAT I WROTE. I stopped taking handwritten notes.

[Psychometronic]

On 7/28/2021 at 5:13 AM, Scrivener said:

I may still handwrite depending on a prof's style, moving forward, but I'll be keeping in mind: law school exams are completely open-book, and it is far easier to find the information you're looking for in a word processor than in handwritten notes (at least ones like mine, anyway). I wasted so much time frantically flipping through my notebook on that midterm, and I never want to be in that position again.

Pre-pandemic, my school's exam software locked out every other application on our computer so we had to print everything and rely on paper CANs. 

[Scrivener]

On 7/29/2021 at 3:30 PM, Psychometronic said:

Pre-pandemic, my school's exam software locked out every other application on our computer so we had to print everything and rely on paper CANs. 

Oh my! Well, on the bright side, that means learning to create a pretty Table of Contents may come to serve its purpose. 

Thank you for the heads-up!

[GreyDude]

On 6/24/2021 at 1:20 PM, Vizslaw said:

They are both good skills to have. I used CANS and took notes on my computer to update/edit them. I would say as a student, it's a good skill to be able to sit through client meetings, hearings, trials, etc. and be able to type fast (and accurately) enough that you can make detailed notes, if not an unofficial transcript of sorts. 

I suppose I’m late to the party here, but: a few years ago I was on a Labour-side bargaining team negotiating a collective agreement. We always assigned one of our members to recording duty (we rotated). The recorder’s job was to type out as complete and accurate a transcript as possible of discussions at the bargaining table. This was really great later on, as the team could use the transcripts to unofficially remind ourselves of what they, and we, had said (the transcripts had no official weight as such). However, the problem was that typically when I was the note-taker I was also the one who most poorly remembered the discussion. it was weird. 

Later on, reading the literature on this, I understood that when you type out a verbatim account of what is being said, you don’t have to think about what you’re typing—you just type what you hear and it washes over you. When you have to organise it somehow, for example summarising rather than transcribing, it sticks more.  
 
As a teacher I encourage my students not to use laptops to type their notes, because research shows that retention is stronger when students write by hand (for more reasons than I have just offered, by the way). But if they do use laptops, I urge them to try to summarise rather than transcribe. Also, I ask them to disconnect their machines from wifi to reduce distractions. 

Your mileage may vary, but for now I’m a fan of pen and ink. We’ll see if that changes if I become a law student next year. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by GreyDude
Grammar and clarity!