Because of the cost of audio tapes (typically $50/set) they are not something that everyone buys.  In my experience operating the Legal Recourse book store, I've heard two compelling arguments (repeatedly) from students who favor buying the tapes: The professor lectures poorly (which is usually expressed as 'really sucks' or something similar); and "I'm driving home/to a friend's house for the break, and want to have something useful to do during my 14 hours on the road.  Both seem to be good arguments for buying tapes.

Your question asks specifically about the Law School Legends series, which is published under Harcourt Brace's Gilbert label.  Sum & Substance publishes an even broader line of audio tapes than Gilbert's.  There is also a small line of very well respected tapes known as Text Tour.  They're sometimes hard to find because the company went out of business last year, but the tapes were picked up by a new company and are again available.  And finally, Aspen (nee Little Brown) publishes Glannon's fireside chat about civil procedure.

So, among all these, which should you buy (if any)?  Between the big two (Gilbert and Sum & Substance), the former seems to be more of an exam prep style. In fact, many of the lecturers are on the BarBri circuit.  The latter seem to run at a more relaxed "Welcome to class, here's what we are going to be talking about during the next several hours ..." pace. As a rule of thumb, I usually recommend Gilbert's at exam time and Sum & Substance at the beginning of the semester. The TextTour tapes are really good, if you can get them.  Problem is, there aren't many in the line, and many stores aren't carrying them because they couldn't re-order when the original company shut down. So, I'd say, if TextTour is available for your course, grab it. Finally, the firside chat with Glannon is, I hear, good. But it's a sleeper in that student's just don't know about it.  Glannon wrote the Examples & Explanations book on Civil Procedure, which has been very successful and launched the entire E&E series.  I'd say that an hour or two spent listening to his recorded thoughts on CivPro could be productive.

This is not intended to be a commercial advertisement for my employer's tape sales, but if you can't find the tapes you want at your local or favorite store, all four lines are available at Legal Recourse's web site. The URL is www.legal.com/hazel.  Just type the subject (Civil Procedure, Contracts, etc.) in the Title field and the system will retrieve every product available.  Use the word "audio" to limit the search to audio tapes.

I would also appreciate any feedback on the various tapes, since I remember and rely upon students' comments to select the best products, not stock the poor ones, and advise future generations of students.  I am particularly interested in what people may think of my rule of thumb: Gilbert's for exam prep and S&S for the beginning of a new course.  I think that replies should be posted to the list for everyone to benefit from.  But if you want to send email to me directly, please note and delete the anti-spam asterisk in my return email address.

I hope that this has been helpful.

Please send comments, questions and article proposals to information@smartpros.com.