Printing Out Cases/Statutes/etc. Forum

[thebrownnote]

This will no doubt be an odd question, but I must ask it.

I have always had a hard time reading anything longer than a news article on a computer screen. This dates back to high school and college (English major), and I've always printed out articles, stories, what have you, to actually read and understand them. This hasn't been a problem in my several years of professional work since college, since nobody cared if I was hogging a printer, and I wasn't expected to bill anything to anybody. But I just started a "legal" summer internship (I'm a 0L), and my boss told me to read the entirety of a state's legal statute on a particular subject matter and then read all of a particular regulatory agency's recent advisory opinions and a bunch of recent cases to see if they are relevant. I'm going to need to print this out to have a fighting chance at comprehension (I'm already out of my element as it is.)

So in short, I'm wondering if it is reasonable to print out just about everything I need for work, or if this is going to make me that weird guy printing out cases while everybody else reads them on their computer. I swear I'm not that old, nor am I otherwise a luddite.

[BlackAndOrange84]

This will no doubt be an odd question, but I must ask it.

I have always had a hard time reading anything longer than a news article on a computer screen. This dates back to high school and college (English major), and I've always printed out articles, stories, what have you, to actually read and understand them. This hasn't been a problem in my several years of professional work since college, since nobody cared if I was hogging a printer, and I wasn't expected to bill anything to anybody. But I just started a "legal" summer internship (I'm a 0L), and my boss told me to read the entirety of a state's legal statute on a particular subject matter and then read all of a particular regulatory agency's recent advisory opinions and a bunch of recent cases to see if they are relevant. I'm going to need to print this out to have a fighting chance at comprehension (I'm already out of my element as it is.)

So in short, I'm wondering if it is reasonable to print out just about everything I need for work, or if this is going to make me that weird guy printing out cases while everybody else reads them on their computer. I swear I'm not that old, nor am I otherwise a luddite.

At the firms I've summered at, I always printed out reams and reams of cases, etc. I don't think anyone thought twice about it. No one ever said anything. There are lots of folks, particularly older folks, who find it easier to really read something on paper.

That said, it might depend a bit on where your are. I can imagine that if you're at a place that has a tight budget, they may not want you printing out 1000s of pages.

[thebrownnote]

At the firms I've summered at, I always printed out reams and reams of cases, etc. I don't think anyone thought twice about it. No one ever said anything. There are lots of folks, particularly older folks, who find it easier to really read something on paper.

That said, it might depend a bit on where your are. I can imagine that if you're at a place that has a tight budget, they may not want you printing out 1000s of pages.

Cool, thanks! I wasn't so much worried about the resources required as appearing to be a weirdo who is spending a lot of time running back and forth from the printer, so I guess I'm in the clear.

[NY_Sea]

At the firms I've summered at, I always printed out reams and reams of cases, etc. I don't think anyone thought twice about it. No one ever said anything. There are lots of folks, particularly older folks, who find it easier to really read something on paper.

That said, it might depend a bit on where your are. I can imagine that if you're at a place that has a tight budget, they may not want you printing out 1000s of pages.

Cool, thanks! I wasn't so much worried about the resources required as appearing to be a weirdo who is spending a lot of time running back and forth from the printer, so I guess I'm in the clear.

I would think that the place you're working won't really care how you get the work done as long as it gets done and it's good quality... I still print almost everything out and read it off the paper. I've done everything to try and make me be able to read off the computer, including installing F.lux, but nothing seems to work as well as paper, so I'm the guy you're describing and are worried about appearing to be lol.

The work gets done on time, and done well... Which is all anyone should really care about. Only thing that sucks about this method is keeping your office and desk clean... Still trying to figure that one out completely lol.

[Londonbear]

Print away. At the firm I interned with last summer, it was rather rare to see people not print stuff out to work on. I think its easier to process, especially when you're editing, and gives you a break from staring at the screen.