Typical Reading Assignment for 1 Class Forum

[Kobe_Teeth]

What would you consider a "light" night of reading for one particular class?

What does a "medium" night entail for one class?

And what does a "long night of reading for one stupid class" look like?

Is it one class period = one case? Or do you sometimes have to read multiple cases for one class period and discuss how they interact with each other?

[LoyolaLaw2012]

This all depends on the class and professor.

Generally, "light" reading is about 20 pages for one class period. "Medium" would be about 40 pages. "Long night of reading" is about 60-80 pages for one class period. I have not been assigned just one case for a class period.

[Aberzombie1892]

One class period we covered seven cases (1 hour and 15 min).

It was definitely far from the norm.

You will probably cover around 2-4 in class period (depending on how important the cases are and what course you are in).

Constitutional Law generally spends the most time on cases.

(i.e. you may devote a over a single class period to one case relatively frequently as compared to your other courses)

[Kobe_Teeth]

Good to know. Thanks.

[Warhawk]

Aberzombie basically nailed it. I found that Con Law, for instance, involved fewer but more complex cases.

OTOH, we pretty much steamrolled through cases in Torts and Property.

Part of the reason for this is that in Torts and Property, the cases you'll be reading are more likely to be focused on a very narrow area of law or rule, and you'll likely need to do less critical thinking about those cases - they essentially just serve as examples of how the courts apply (or establish) the rules.

The cases you'll be reading in Con Law, though, will tend to be broader conceptually, and in the same vein, more ambiguous in their reasoning and application.

[BobSacamano]

Totally depends on the class and the professor.

For Torts we would read anywhere between 3 and 7ish cases a night, the norm probably being 3 or 4. Some were rather short. A "long" Torts case is a few pages while a short one may be half a page long.

For Con Law we would read one case a night, and rarely two. These cases were heavily edited and usually ran maybe 7-12 pages. They are usually far more complex than the cases you tackle in other classes. We often spent the whole class period covering one case. Then again, YMMV as my class was only 50 minutes long (but 4 days a week).

The other subjects are pretty much a crapshoot. You might have one reaaaally long, reeeeally complex Civ Pro case (the 10-20 page kind) or four Crim cases. Or maybe vice versa. One word of warning - do NOT assume that a short reading assignment means a light load. Sometimes those short cases are extremely hard to understand and end up taking more time than a longer, more readable case.

[sconnielaw13]

OP for the record I typically had to read and brief 4-7 cases per class per week for my undergrad Admin Law and Con Law classes. So with this being said I would expect the average in law school to be at least that amount...

[Kobe_Teeth]

Solid answers. I just wanted a ballpark idea. Out of all the information I have read here, I haven't seen this asked or answered (though I'm sure the search function would tell a different story).

Thanks everybody.