Bought it for a friend who was a first year and it has helped him immensely in school.

I considered buying this when I started law school. However, my school provides law students with free subscriptions to both Westlaw and Lexis online, and the entire school is set up with wireless internet. Therefore, the full version of Black's is easily available to me online any time I'm on campus. A laptop with wireless LAN is probably more important for college students these days than most paper references.

If you don't have easy online access, this may be useful. If you are like me, and online any time you're doing schoolwork, then save your pennies and use the online versions. When you are in your own practice, and having to pay by the search for online research, then you may want a paper dictionary, however you'll probably want the full size one on your desk, rather than the pocket version in your backpack.

Don't, however, try to substitute a non-law dictionary. That won't provide what you are looking for as a lawyer or law student.

Don't take this book the wrong way. At the time of this review, it cost 29 dollars, a reasonable price when it comes to 1L book costs. It fits into a purse or backpack, if not a pocket. It will serve you well enough in Civpro or Torts in a pinch, until you can get to the Law Library and read a full size Blacks. Do NOT take this book to be an end all be all, it was never meant to be and people who gave this terrible reviews due to its lack of completeness are missing the point. This is a book for when you don't HAVE a full size Black's in front of you, which every 1L should.