So I have nothing to do this summer...and I don't plan on "studying" for law school (I'm starting this Fall) but I want to at least have in my mind a plan of action for when I do get into study mode. These may be dumb questions but I've heard so much talk of commercial outlines and hornbooks. What are they? Where do I get them? Which ones should I get? When should I get them? What do I do with them when I get them? Thanks.
Like the previous poster said, you should focus on taking good notes in your classes and creating your own outline based on those notes. That being said, I've found it helpful to use supplements/outlines in classes that are particularly confusing or when I need to fill in gaps in my notes. You can usually get pretty cheap, used versions of these books at Amazon marketplace. You can also get them at your law school bookstore but they'll be more expensive.
I'll try to explain what the different types of supplements are:
Hornbooks are large treatises that provide in-depth explanations of certain areas of law. They're supplements to the primary casebooks you'll use for your classes. I personally have never used one and I don't think they're particularly helpful. As far as I can tell, they're largely a relic of the past that most students don't use anymore.
Commercial outlines are detailed summaries of the legal concepts you'll study in your 1L classes. In form, they replicate the type of outlines that many students create for each of their classes. They're helpful when you don't understand what a concept is or how it fits into the big picture of the course. The downside, of course, is that every prof teaches things a little bit differently, so what's in the outline might not be what your prof wants. Some popular brands include: Emmanuel, Gilberts, and Black Letter Law.
I suppose another subset of supplements is the Examples and Explanations series. I found these books to be the most helpful. They basically provide short summaries of areas of law (with some case explanation) and then a series of examples to test your understanding.
The only supplement that I'm sure you will use (as most 1Ls do) is Glannon's Examples and Explanations on Civil Procedure. I learned Civ Pro from this book, and if you want to go ahead and buy it then I don't think it would hurt. Other than that, stop worrying about law school and go get drunk. Enjoy your summer, NOW!