1L Readings: Are They All Necessary?

There’s no sugar-coating law school: as a student, you’re expected to do a lot of reading. During orientation, professors will tell you that you need to do every reading, review notes weekly, start CANs right away, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Understandably, for many students, this is a difficult standard to maintain once the semester is underway. As a result, a common question many 1L’s ponder is whether it’s necessary to do every reading. I will do my best to answer this question based on my 1L experience.

Full disclosure, I did most of the readings in 1L. However, in retrospect, for some classes, this probably wasn’t necessary. I did the vast majority of readings because I didn’t want to enter an exam feeling unprepared and because I enjoyed the discipline of it. So, take what I say with a grain of salt because while I did avoid some unnecessary readings, I don’t want to advocate for something different than what I practiced. Instead, I hope to share what I learned so that students can look for signs to recognize low priority readings.

Before sharing some cues for recognizing low priority readings, I recommend that everyone in 1L starts by doing all of the readings. Starting law school is exciting, and it comes with a rush of energy and enthusiasm, use this to fuel your study schedule and establish good habits. Building a strong study schedule with healthy study habits early on will pay dividends later in the semester when you’re gearing up for exams. Furthermore, many of the early readings in 1L are building blocks for the rest of the year. Thus, it’s beneficial to have a strong understanding of these core concepts before engaging with some of the complexities of the law. Moreover, learning how to read case law properly is imperative for success in law school; take the time at the start of the year to do so.

Note: start 1L by doing every reading to formulate good study habits and have a thorough understanding of core concepts.

Before sharing my strategies for recognizing low priority readings, it is necessary to state that this is predicated on my 1L experience. This may not work for you; professors at your university may have an entirely different way of teaching. Moreover, there’s no class that I can definitively say is filled with more non-essential readings. It’s largely subjective to the professor. Therefore, employ these strategies cautiously.

Here are three signals that can help a student recognize that a reading may be low priority:

1. Some professors like to assign readings outside of the jurisdiction of study. For example, I had a property professor in 1L that loved to teach property law from other provinces and countries. The professor used this as a method to illustrate the fundamentals of BC law; however, it was never examinable. I learned that readings concerning property law from other jurisdictions were largely non-essential and that the information from lectures was sufficient. Therefore, these readings became a low priority.

That being said, this does not apply to reading case law from England. Thus, the 1863 case from England is not outside your jurisdiction; instead, it may be the most essential reading from the concept you’re learning.

2. Another sign that the readings may be a low priority is the amount of time the professor spends on them in class. Granted, this is not always the case. For example, I had a professor in 1L that specifically tested on subjects that were glanced over in lectures as a way to break the curve. However, for most other classes, the concepts emphasized on the exam received a lot of attention in lectures. These are essential readings, and you should know them well. Consequently, this meant readings that the professor brushed over in lectures were not as important for most classes. Therefore, these readings could also be labelled as low priority.

Obviously, this strategy stipulates not having every reading done before class, so use it with discretion if you have a professor who employs the Socratic method.

3. Some professors would openly say they were not going to examine certain subjects. If you’re pressed for time, then readings that will not be examined are obvious candidates to be skipped.

Summary:

I introduced three signs to help recognize low priority readings:

1. When the professor uses readings outside the jurisdiction of study, such as Alberta property law in a BC property law course, to illustrate a point.

2. If the professor brushes over a reading in class.

3. When the professor says the reading is non-examinable.