Reading Like A Lawyer: Time-Saving Strategies For Reading Law Like An Expert

By Ruth Ann McKinney

Please note that the supplemental materials website has moved to caplaw.com/rll Studies show that the reading skills your students have developed in college may not be enough to ensure their success in law school. Reading law requires professionals to understand the purpose of their reading, to form and express opinions about what they're reading, to apply legal logic, to read with energy, and to adopt sophisticated reading habits that are unique to the study of law. Written for law students, pre-law students, paralegals, and others interested in developing these reading skills, Reading Like a Lawyer teaches each of the following critical legal reading skills: how to read legal casebooks and engage in class, as well as how to use your reading to prepare for exams; how to read published court cases outside of a casebook; how to read legislative material; and how to read online effectively. Based on sound educational research, each chapter includes exercises that challenge students to apply what that chapter has taught. A website accompanies the book and includes additional readings (e.g., on logic) plus opportunities for students to gain confidence by testing their own thoughts against those of the author. For faculty, Reading Like a Lawyer includes a separate teacher's manual and a faculty website with a powerpoint that mirrors the book's principle lessons.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1611631106
• ISBN13: 9781611631104
• Release Date: July 2012
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Awesome Book!!!

I just bought this book about 3 weeks ago, and from the time that I opened the book, I could not stop reading it. The format in which the book is laid out makes it very easy for a person to learn the tips to increase their understanding of the cases they read, but also increase the speed in which they are able to read. I am a legal studies major, preparing for law school, and this book is one that I will definitely reference to if I find myselfing needing to be refreshed.

1L Law Student Must Have!!!

I didn't know how to read before I read this book. It is so frustrating that you can go through so much school and never have anyone sit down and discuss the proper techniques of reading with you. The ideas in this book should be taught to American students every three years or so. I understand anything I read 1000% better after having read this book. Thanks be to the author for this sorely needed information!!!

Becoming a lawyer

I bought this book for my wife as she was getting ready to start law school in the fall of 2007. Prior to buying this book, she had taken a summer enrichment class aimed at developing the skills necessary to succeed in her first year in law school. My wife read this book after finishing her summer class and before the actual start of her real classes; she did this following one of her professor's advice. Well, she is glad she did! Everything she had done in class was referred to in the book, plus further tips on how to be on top on her law school assignments. So, if you have decided to go to law school, this is the book you need to ace your first year!! I, myself, am a lawyer too, and I know what a head start she has accomplished.

Mandatory Reading For Law Students -- Critical Reading Curriculum Instructor, Phillip G. Hubbard Law

When I was asked to teach the "critical reading curriculum" at The University of Iowa's Phillip G. Hubbard Law School Preparation Program, I researched methodically to find a text that would be "on point" as they say in the legal world. Ruth Ann McKinney's Reading Like A Lawyer is just that. Written in an engaging and easy to read style, McKinney teaches prospective and current law students all the skills necessary to successfully understand a variety of legal documents. These skills include learning to brief a law case and analyze casebook law, learning how to decipher the complexities of analyzing statutes, and discovering how to read legal cases outside a law classroom's casebook. The strength of McKinney's text is that she provides you with real edited casebook cases, real-world statutes, and real non-casebook (i.e. unedited) cases, ready for the reader to read first-hand. McKinney then supplies the student with a list of questions to help them hone valuable legal reading skills. After a student finishes learning how to read a case, and then reads it, a highlighted and annotated version of the same legal case appears, wherein McKinney demonstrates the areas in the case that are important and should have been identified as important by the reader. Reading these annotated cases is akin to entering the mind of an experienced high level attorney as s/he reads and analyzes a case. When I brought McKinney's Reading Like A Lawyer to the attention of the Dean of Students at The University of Iowa's School of Law, Dean R. Chayce Ramey, I was delighted to learn that he often recommends McKinney's text to law students, and that he himself refers to it when teaching legal skills. I was surprised to see so few reviews of McKinney's text, and I suspect part of the reason is that this is one book many competitive law students would like to keep a secret. Well, the secret's out of the bag -- McKinney's book is an outstanding must read for all prospective and current law students! Dr. Ervin Nieves Critical Reading Instructor, Phillip G. Hubbard Law School Preparation Program The University of Iowa

Phenomenal

I may not be the most unbiased reviewer (I want to UNC Law and know Ruth well) but this is one of the best, if not THE best, book to help law students get through their first days of law school. I use the book myself (I also teach law) and it has the best skill-building exercises I have used. As a legal writing collegue of mine said, "Ruth should walk around with a tiara all day--she really is the queen of legal writing!" Incredible book. If you buy one book before starting law school to help you prepare for your first semester, this should be it.