Read Law Right

Break down the reading in each section to make it more manageable.

When you identify a section of the textbook for your next 30-minute reading challenge, you are again aiming to extract the maximum value from your time.

Here you should start by reading the first sentence of each paragraph so that you rapidly get a sense of the whole section. A well written paragraph has a structure all of its own, with a first sentence that introduces the theme of the paragraph, subsequent sentences that build on that theme and explain a particular point, and a concluding sentence that wraps it up and provides a link to the next paragraph.

So reading the first sentences gives you a very rapid sense of the scope of that section of the chapter.

What is the value of this rapid scan of the section? You identify a great many things that help you focus your attention.

• Identify where the author explains the background and historical antecedents to the law.
• Identify quickly where the author explains the main legal principles that are current and applicable today.
• Identify where the author uses examples to illustrate the main principles.
• Identify where the author discusses exceptions to or nuances around the main principle.
• Identify where the author critiques the principle or direction of the law.
• Identify where the discussion moves on to potential reforms to the law.

Not every textbook section will have all these elements, however identifying them is very useful. Here’s why.

You won’t remember everything you read in the textbook, nor can you make detailed enough notes to avoid having to come back to it in future for assignments.

But you can make notes on the main principles, statutes, case law, critiques, academic arguments and reform proposals so you know where to look if they come up in an assignment.

If your assignment is a problem-style question, you will be focusing on explaining the current legal principles and applying them to a fictitious scenario.

If your assignment is a traditional essay-style question, you will still have to explain the current principles, but you will perhaps have to explain the historical background, or critique the law, or consider reform proposals.

In either situation, your notes will remind you where to find the appropriate parts of the discussion.

If you know your assignment questions in advance, you can now focus your reading on the specific parts of the reading that you know you will need. You read these paragraphs in full and make the necessary notes.