Law Students: 10 Reasons You Should Drop Everything And Start WeCiting… Right Now

WeCite is an awesome new contest just for law students, designed to help law students understand and contribute to legal research.

WeCite is an awesome new contest just for law students, designed to help law students understand and contribute to legal research. Basically, WeCite gives you two judicial cases, and you choose from four options to explain what the newer case says about the older case (like if it affirms it or overturns it). The more you WeCite, the more you’ll learn how to read and understand cases, the more prizes you get, the more professional opportunities you’ll earn, and the higher you’ll move up in the WeCite leaderboards — all while contributing critical information to an effort to make the law free to access and understand.

To start WeCiting right now, click here. To learn why you’ll love it, read on!

1.  Become amazing at reading and interpreting cases

WeCiting is an easy and effective way to practice skills that you’ll absolutely need in law school and your legal career. As you WeCite, you’ll be reading cases, quickly pulling out important information, and understanding the way judges communicate through opinions. All this practice will put you ahead of the curve in your classes, clinics, and your legal career.

2.  Be a part of the movement to free the law

By WeCiting, you are making a major impact on how people can access and understand the law. Your efforts become part of a shared mission, which law students across the country are already taking part in, to make the law free and accessible for anyone and everyone who wants to better understand it.

3.  Win prizes for learning and doing something good

By WeCiting, you can earn a ton of awesome (and useful!) prizes, from t-shirts, hoodies, and water bottles to bigger prizes like gift cards to your favorite local restaurant and, for the most avid WeCiters, covering the cost of your textbooks next semester.

4.  … and you can earn some flair

Some of these prizes are reputation badges, which will appear on your Casetext profile as you earn them and show other users (fellow law students, but also attorneys and legal professionals who you may want to connect with in the future) that you have made an impact on free legal research. Plus, they make your profile look badass.

5.  WeCiting fits with your law school schedule

WeCite as much or as little as you want. You can WeCite on your way to class, waiting in the morning coffee line, or while you zone out in a particularly boring lecture. Or, you can stay up all night, blow off all your reading, and WeCite 24/7 (although we kind of recommend against this strategy, for the sake of your GPA).

6.  Earn opportunities for mentorship from experienced lawyers and law entrepreneurs

Did you ever just want to bounce ideas off of someone who’s been around the block a time or two? Maybe someone who’s already clerked, litigated, or even started their own legal technology company? One huge opportunity for avid WeCiters is the chance to build mentorship relationships with lawyers who’ve seen and done some very interesting things, who could be a big help as you move forward with your legal career.

7.  Earn bragging rights for yourself and your school

WeCite leaderboards provide an opportunity for you to prove to your rival law school that you are indisputably better than them at legal research. Leaderboards can also be sorted by individual students, giving you another opportunity to compete with your peers (because law students love a little healthy competition, right?).

8.  It’s fun (and even a little addicting!)

WeCiting is fun — even addicting! Don’t believe us? Never thought “case law” and “fun” should be used in the same sentence? Try just one WeCite and see how tempting it is to do another one… and another one… and another one…

9.  Build an awesome résumé that shows you’re involved and interested in the law

If you WeCite regularly enough and your contributions substantially strengthen the resource, we’ll give you the opportunity to be an official Research Fellow with Casetext. That means you can list the position proudly on your résumé to show future employers your legal research savviness, and you’ll be featured on our site alongside other dedicated contributors.

10.  It’s a super productive way to procrastinate

Starting to fade after 6 straight hours of studying? Or trying to put off 6 straight hours of studying for as long as possible? Take a short WeCite break before you dive back into your notes (or open them up for the first time all night). And stop scrolling through social media and shopping online to drown out your professor during class — kill time with WeCite instead.

Go to https://www.casetext.com/wecite to get started!


Hannah Doherty is the Communications Associate at Casetext, the best place to read and write about the law (and recently named one of the 25 Hottest Startups in SF), and a 2015 Northwestern grad. She plans to become an avid WeCiter once she starts law school in the next few years!