A Few Suggestions for 1L Readers

Congratulations as you begin to embark on your legal education as entering first year law students!  It's an exciting time!

But, as others have pointed out, amidst the buzz, there can also be a lot of anxiety.  Stress especially seems to mount at the most inopportune times, like when we've been assigned lots of stiff reading in preparation for our first law school classes.  

So, here's a few suggestions about how to read for classes.  

But first, I have a confession...

I hear voices.  Not all of the time, mind you.  But, definitely at the most inconvenient of times...like when I'm trying to read!  [I think this is called sub-vocalization.]  You see, I can only read as fast as I speak (and I don't tend to speak very fast unless I'm excited or nervous, which I often am, particularly when I'm trying to digest dense legal materials).  

Indeed, I'm not a very good reader.  To be frank, when someone asks me to work with them through a reading passage (whether a case, a statute, a multiple-choice problem or an essay prompt), I really want to go in hiding, into a "sound chamber" so to speak, so that I can read slowly and not so-silently, as I work out the meaning of the text through hearing.  That's because as I hear the words the words become alive, the punctuation marks spring up from the page into my voice, and the paragraph breaks give me a chance to catch my breath and digest what I've just vocalized.   But that takes time.

In short, if you haven't caught the gist of what I am saying, I feel like I am a poor reader because I am a slow reader.

So here's my first tip:  Rushed reading is not reading. To paraphrase Socrate's famous line that the "unexamined life is not worth living," an "unexamined case" is not worth reading.  In other words, in law school, it's not how fast you read but what your learn about the law and legal problem-solving as you read.  To cut to the chase, reading is about examining the cases and the statutes and the legal texts assigned in law school.  It takes lots of time so plan on it.  To put it bluntly, it means "cross-examine" the cases, asking questions, evaluating the arguments and analysis, and then forming your own opinion about those arguments.

Second, don't let the "gold" bindings on the fancy case books and the big name judges that signed the cases intimidate you.  In my opinion, many of the cases in the casebook are just wrong because, to be honest, there's no perfect opinion.  There are always weaknesses.  So be bold and give it your best shot and challenge the opinion.

Third, realize that reading is a skill; it's not something that comes natural to us, especially critical legal reading.  But that's great news because, as a skill, it is something that we can learn to do and learn to do well.  In other words, believe in yourself.

Fourth, don't just dive into the cases. Instead, model what expert readers do prior to reading by engaging in pre-reading strategies.  Take a look at where the case is located in the syllabus and in the casebook table of contents.  Based on that placement, try to predict the purpose behind being assigned to read that case.  Then, get to know the players.  Learn something about the case from the case caption, which might be as simple as the jurisdiction (state or location) in which the dispute took place.  Then skim the case to capture the sorts of sections of the case and how it looks organizationally.  Finally, here's my favorite pre-reading strategy: Peek at the end of the case to see how it comes out.

Fifth, read with your heart.  Recognize that behind each case lies real individuals and organizations with heart-felt disputes that they couldn't resolve without going to court.  Put yourself in the shoes of the parties.  Let the facts as related by the court speak to you.  As you read, look up words that you don't know.  Write the meaning of those words in your own words.  Then feel free to draw lots of pictures and diagrams to help you visualize what is happening. Realize that each case is subject to multiple interpretations so you have much more freedom than you might think at first to really dialogue with the text.  Indeed, try to catch mistakes by the court.  Talk back to the court and with the court as you read the opinions.

Finally, realize that reading doesn't stop after you read.  Instead, after reading, be an explorer to construct your own meaning of the case.  As a suggestion, compile a list of questions that you would like to have asked the court or the advocates.  Or, summarize in your own words what you think the case stands for (and why it was assigned for your course).  Or, evaluate the case as to whether its reasoning was puzzling, or startling, or settling (and why).  Or, conjure up different facts to test how the decision might have been impacted in different circumstances.  Then, to wrap up, synthesis a one sentence statement or phrase for what you've learned from the case, such as: "Vosburg (involving a schoolhouse kick) stands for the proposition that people are liable for battery even when they don't intend to harm anyone as long as they intended the contact because the purpose of battery is to protect people from - not just harmful contacts - but from all contacts that interfere with another's bodily integrity as a co-human being."

Before I let you go, let me say a word about speed.  

You don't get faster at reading cases by trying to read fast.  

Rather, over time, much like water as it heats slowly on the oven range, using these strategies won't feel like much of an improvement...at all.  Instead, if  you're like me, you'll feel like it's taking a lot more time, energy, and perspiration to learn to be a critical legal reader.   And, it is!  

But, by going slow, conversationally with the text, through practice in pre-reading strategies, then reading the text with robust gusto, and finally polishing off the reading by making sense and connections with the text for future use, you'll end up becoming a faster reader without even trying.  Indeed, much like learning to ride a bike, you'll surely fall lots and get bruises along the way.  That's okay because learning is difficult work.  But, just like learning to ride a bike, once you get the hang of it, you'll be well on your way to being a better legal reader (and a better advocate on behalf of your future clients too).  (Scott Johns).