The Bottom Line: Like so much of life, this book will save you time and heartache if you use it properly, but will only hurt you if you try to abuse it.
I was determined not to start reading case capsules during my first year of law school; the whole reason they put students through such hell during the 1L year is to teach us how to think like lawyers, and reading case summaries cuts out 2/3 of the analysis. However, my resolution was derailed when I got into a car accident and wound up missing the equivalent of about 1.5 months' worth of classes as a result. Rather than waste the money I'd spent on the semester, I opted not to withdraw, but I still found myself having to catch up on weeks of reading in my classes, including Contracts.
In a lot of other classes, it's really important to read every word of the cases, because the reasoning is key to understanding the court's decision. In Contracts it's a little bit easier to justify leaning on case summaries, since there's so much black letter law and lots of straightforward rules to learn. This book saved me some serious agony.
To catch up in Contracts I read the casebook discussions in between cases, and then read each High Court Summaries case summary and noted the key rule to come out of it. Then if I had any questions or confusion, I skimmed the actual text of the case to "fill in the blanks" so I'd have a better understanding. Since most of the cases are pretty straightforward, I didn't have to consult the textbook too often, which saved me huge quantities of valuable time.
The High Court Summaries are not meant to replace your casebook. Still, they can make the casebook a little bit less intimidating, especially since many of them are keyed to specific texts. They are study companions or study tools. They help you boil down each case to a simple statement of facts, a clearly-stated description of the holding and reasoning, and a "short-list" of what you need to know about that case and its rule.
Of all of the first year classes, Contracts is the one where the High Court Summaries series can be most useful as a timesaver, specifically. (I found it really helpful in clearing up confusion in Constitutional Law cases, but that really didn't save time since I still needed to read the judges' opinions in each case). Of all of the HCS books I purchased my first year of law school, "Contracts" is the one that got the most dog-eared from use. I was almost sorry to see it go when I sold it after the semester ended.
Again, I would NOT NOT NOT advise using this in place of the casebook; it won't help you develop your "lawyerly thought process" if you just read the "casebook lite." However, if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of falling behind and needing to catch up in a short period of time, I would definitely add the Contracts High Court Summaries book to your arsenal of study tools.
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