As someone who is taking Civil Procedure this semester, you can imagine the look of joy on my face when the tutor told us that the exam would be open book. But if you have ever looked at the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, you can also envisage the subsequent look of horror on my face when I saw that it was over 700 pages. The prospect of having to flip through 700 pages of legislation during an hour-long exam just to find the relevant rule seemed ridiculous. Surely, there must be a better way.
Thankfully, there is. LexisNexis’ Quick Reference Card for Civil Procedure offers a concise summary of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules in 4 laminated A4 pages, designed to be used during open-book exams and study revision. The summary contains the most important rules of the UCPR, set out logically into five colour coded categories: Introductory Matters, Matters preceding the commencement of an action, Commencing and Conducting proceedings, Costs and Judgment before Hearing.
This Quick Reference Card has been incredibly useful for assignments as well as exam preparation. It is the perfect study aid for those of us who don’t want to rummage through countless pages of our textbooks or legislation to find the relevant rule. During exams, you can refer to the relevant heading and find the applicable law within minutes, as opposed to shuffling through your notes and wasting precious time.
Often when you are studying and come across a term or phrase that you are unfamiliar with, your first instinct may be to refer to a textbook, Google it or message the group chat. This can result in wasted time and contradictory answers, when all you wanted was a simple definition. One thing that I found particularly useful was the Card’s ‘Definitions’ feature. It provides handy definitions for terms such as ‘oppressive’, ‘fishing expedition’ and ‘abuse of process’ and the authoritative case for them.
I cannot recommend this Quick Reference Card enough, especially to those who have upcoming open book exams. It is a wonderful study aid for law students and a quick go-to reference for paralegals or practitioners. LexisNexis also publishes Quick Reference Cards for various other legal topics such as Constitutional Law and Insolvency Law, so I would strongly suggest getting them for other law subjects. As someone who often runs out of time during open book exams flipping frantically through her notes to find a particular case, this Quick Reference Card will definitely be a time and life saver.
Check it out at LexisNexis.
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