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.

The supplemental materials website containing feedback to the end-of-chapter exercises has been changed to www.caplaw.com/rll From Reading Like a Lawyer: "Just as storytelling is rooted in a rich oral history, and art is rooted in a rich visual history, law is rooted in a rich history of the written word. . . . the development of law rests primarily on written precedent and written rules housed in centuries of court opinions and statute books. To be understood, law has to be read, and read well." Written in an engaging style and full of real-life examples, Reading Like a Lawyer approaches the topic of reading law with contagious enthusiasm and an abiding respect for the importance of learning to read law well. Now in its third edition, Reading Like a Lawyer enjoys a fresh new look and continues to include practice exercises at the end of each chapter and an accompanying website that allows students to test their growing knowledge about legal reading against that of the author. Written for law students, pre-law students, paralegals, and the public, Reading Like a Lawyer uses active learning principles to help readers adapt their incoming reading skills to the skills needed to succeed in law: how to read legal casebooks and engage confidently in class; how to use assigned reading and class time to prepare for exams; how to read published court cases outside of a casebook; how to read legislative material (statutes) accurately; and how to make wise reading choices online. For faculty, Reading Like a Lawyer includes a separate teacher's manual with ideas for using the book and its examples with individuals and groups, a list of additional cases for more student practice, and access to a Powerpoint they can use to illustrate the book's principle lessons. Included on the American Bar Association's "Summer Syllabus: List of Books to Read Before the Start of Law School," Student Lawyer magazine, June 2019, Reading Like a Lawyer can be assigned in a class setting or as a recommended summer read, or can be read independently by anyone who has ever wondered, "how do lawyers read the law?"

In this linguistic study of law school education, Mertz shows how law professors employ the Socratic method between teacher and student, forcing the student to shift away from moral and emotional terms in thinking about conflict, toward frameworks of legal authority instead.

Law students, law professors, and lawyers frequently refer to the process of "thinking like a lawyer," but attempts to analyze in any systematic way what is meant by that phrase are rare. In his classic book, Kenneth J. Vandevelde defines this elusive phrase and identifies the techniques involved in thinking like a lawyer. Unlike most legal writings, which are plagued by difficult, virtually incomprehensible language, this book is accessible and clearly written and will help students, professionals, and general readers gain important insight into this well-developed and valuable way of thinking. Updated for a new generation of lawyers, the second edition features a new chapter on contemporary perspectives on legal reasoning. A useful new appendix serves as a survival guide for current and prospective law students and describes how to apply the techniques in the book to excel in law school.

With the aim of decreasing students' anxiety and increasing their chances of achieving academic success, What Every Law Student Really Needs to Know: An Introduction to the Study of Law, Third Edition prepares students to get through their first year of law school. It also serves as a valuable reference over an entire law school career, contributing to students' continuing academic success. With a friendly and informal writing style, this guide to law school features insights into how and why law school classes work the way they do, and the tools and techniques to better understand the substance of the first-year courses. It helps students enter law school with an understanding of legal concepts, the American legal system, and court structures, allowing the students not only to succeed, but to thrive in the classroom. New to the Third Edition: Improved graphics Up-to-date information Expanded explanations of difficult concepts Professors and students will benefit from: An introduction to analytic tools and methods of reasoning. Exercises that allow students to independently test their understanding of the material in each section. Visual aids that help students grasp and remember the material. A self-study resource that students may use as they need throughout their entire law school career. Grounding in discrete non-legal topics that are important to the contemporary study of law. A look ahead at the goals of a legal education and the life, duties, and responsibilities of being a lawyer.

Publisher description: This widely used book in many printings begins with answers to forty commonly asked questions of first-year law students. It specifies a six-step approach to briefing a case with specific guidelines for accomplishing each step. The process of briefing cases is then demonstrated with excellent and poor briefs of increasing complexity. Emphasis is placed initially on the techniques of briefing as an introduction to the learning of legal reasoning, the first priority of the first year of law school. In addition, the book also demonstrates the relevance of more advanced modes of legal reasoning, including positivist, pragmatic, policy oriented, natural-law and other perspectives applied in decoding and understanding cases. In its introduction of jurisprudential perspectives, Learning Legal Reasoning transcends the typical technical/positivist orientation of most first-year materials.