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Should I be taking notes while reading?Underlining? Highlighting? I don't know what to focus on

identify & extract laws

Underline in pencil only using brand new books. Take notes in the margins. Break the case down into sections. Generally, there will be a discussion of facts. Then, mention of the legal issue that has to be decided. Then, the court will discuss a rule that governs the issue. Then, the court will apply the rule to the facts and come up with a holding.

Try and predict what sentences the professor is going to focus on. If the professor focuses on some sentence or sentences you did not underline and put a star next to, try and understand why you missed it. Once you are consistently identifying the issue and the rule, you're on the right track.

You might want to start with briefing cases, which is basically writing a summary of the case. The method I describe above (called book briefing) is what I used after I had done full case briefs enough to be confident that I could read a case and extract everything I needed from it.

In the end, what you care about is the issues and how they relate to the rule. As you read more cases, they might illustrate how a rule has evolved over time to address new fact patterns never seen before, which raise new issues that have to be decided.

What you want to get good at is reading facts and identifying what the issue will be, and then figuring out what rule to apply. This is how the basic essay exam will go in law school. You'll have a massive fact pattern, and your job will be to spot the issues raised by the facts and apply the appropriate rule, just like the judges did in the cases you read.

This was my general method, but there are surely other methods. The last thing I'll say - survey different peoples methods, pick the one that works for you, and trust your own judgment. Don't worry if other people are doing other things - trust your judgment and do what you think is best. Good luck

Edit: Oh, and get the book 8 secrets to top law school exam performance, by Prof. whitebread. Don't read it until like before thanksgiving, it might not make sense until you have some law school under your belt. If you read one book on how to do well in lawschool, have it be that one. People mention Getting to Maybe - I never read it and still aced exams. I read that Whitebread book literally two days before my first exam, and I honestly credit my success in law school to that book.

Highlight the Issue and Rule and anything else that may sound like something your Prof will bring up. I usually relied on the casebrief book keyed to my casebook.
Or check for your case here: http://www.casebriefs.com/

Each case is going to stand for a new rule, modification of a rule, or sophisticated application of a rule. You should focus on extracting that from the casebook. Facts help only insofar as they will key you into knowing when to apply a rule or analyze a problem in a certain way. Procedural posture doesn't matter AT ALL. The judge's reasoning matters and I would take note of it, but it doesn't matter nearly as much as being able to walk away from each case with an concise idea about how it fits into the course.

If you're having trouble doing this, consult supplements and outlines. Doesn't matter at all how you notate or how detailed your notes are. That only matters in so far as it will help you recall what you need to know come outlining and finals. It's shocking how little you need to know compared to how much you are assigned at the end of the day.

Mal Reynolds wrote:Each case is going to stand for a new rule, modification of a rule, or sophisticated application of a rule. You should focus on extracting that from the casebook. Facts help only insofar as they will key you into knowing when to apply a rule or analyze a problem in a certain way. Procedural posture doesn't matter AT ALL. The judge's reasoning matters and I would take note of it, but it doesn't matter nearly as much as being able to walk away from each case with an concise idea about how it fits into the course.

If you're having trouble doing this, consult supplements and outlines. Doesn't matter at all how you notate or how detailed your notes are. That only matters in so far as it will help you recall what you need to know come outlining and finals. It's shocking how little you need to know compared to how much you are assigned at the end of the day.

I'll second this. In the end, I boiled every class down into a single page listing of all rules and their elements that I could recall from memory and write down on a blank sheet of paper as soon as the exam began. The readings seem overwhelming, But if I hadn't done the readings and written my own outlines, I wouldn't know how to apply all the rules to a new set of facts.

If there is a wiki or online brief read it before.

Know: (1) plaintiff's argument (2) defendant's argument (3) procedural background (4) the law (5) exceptions to this law.

Brief in whatever way makes sense to you. Keep your briefs reallyyyy short. Re-read them before class to jog your memory. Add professor's comments to your brief. Profit.

ETA: procedural background is helpful in this way- the lower court is not full of dumbasses. They may have incorrectly interpreted the law, but not in an idiotic way. So their basis gives you a way to make arguments on the exam. It might not be the winning argument. But when the goal of law school exam is to get every point available, making every argument under the sun is a way to do that.

This is all valuable information. thank ya'll so much. So should I take my own notes on the assigned reading, then add on the professors take when I am in class?

Yeah. But distinguish his notes from yours. Use a different color text or have a separate doc

gurlja18 wrote:This is all valuable information. thank ya'll so much. So should I take my own notes on the assigned reading, then add on the professors take when I am in class?

Uhhh yes. This is how all of school works.

Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

Tanicius wrote:Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

People learn differently, do what works for you bro. I learned a lot from reading cases and did well in law school. I'm sure you could do well using other methods as well, but I figured I should learn to read cases since that is what I'm going to be doing as, you know, a lawyer that people will pay to provide legal advice on developments in case law. You might be able to find case briefs online for law school cases, but you're not learning how to actually interpret cases yourself. If you end up doing litigation, knowing how to actually read cases will come in handy. Practice how you play is what I say, but that's just my approach.

NotMyRealName09 wrote:

Tanicius wrote:Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

People learn differently, do what works for you bro. I learned a lot from reading cases and did well in law school. I'm sure you could do well using other methods as well, but I figured I should learn to read cases since that is what I'm going to be doing as, you know, a lawyer.

This. And the fact that whether you should read cases or not is way too heavily class/professor-specific to give any categorical rule on the issue.

Tanicius wrote:Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

I agree only in part, because as the previous poster highlighted everyone learns differently. By my 2nd/3rd year I finally stopped reading the casebook. It was a colossal time sink. I think during 1L you have no idea what do do except what is instructed (reading the casebook), so you do that.

LAWYER2 wrote:

Tanicius wrote:Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

I agree only in part, because as the previous poster highlighted everyone learns differently. By my 2nd/3rd year I finally stopped reading the casebook. It was a colossal time sink. I think during 1L you have no idea what do do except what is instructed (reading the casebook), so you do that.

I agree with this. IMO starting day 1 I think you should read to learn how to read cases and also because you don't know wtf is going on so you should be structured. And every prof. is definitely different. By the middle of my 1L semester I stopped reading completely for 2 substantive classes (and legal writing, lol), but for my other 2 I sometimes read the cases 2 or 3 times to make sure I knew I had it. And all my grades were in the same range.

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jk148706 wrote:

Tanicius wrote:Why is no one actually answering his question? The answer is that you don't read these shitty books. They're a monumental waste of time (and money). Look up the cases online if you have to, but read the whole fucking thing? No way. Every time I actually opened a casebook in my 1L year, I walked away from the case way more confused than I would have been if I had just read a paragraph outline. For complicated cases where you know you will be on call, read the Westlaw headnotes and call it a day.

Seriously, don't waste your time reading your Pennoyers and Twomblys. Casebook reading is basically nothing more than a 1L hazing ritual. After first semester I never even bought the casebooks again.

If you don't suggest reading a casebook, what should we spend our time doing?

Getting drunk and hooking up with classmates OBVIOUSLY.

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ymmv wrote:This. And the fact that whether you should read cases or not is way too heavily class/professor-specific to give any categorical rule on the issue.

Echoing this sentiment. It is 180.

I've had classes where I sold the CB back by week 4 in the same semester that I absolutely had to read every case assigned in the CB. I even had a professor last semester who changed up what he assigned each semester, so even the previous outlines from his class wouldn't really help you.