Read a Textbook

I have to confess that I am a reader.  Go figure! Being a reader is trait that has been particularly helpful in my practice as a non-lawyer legal researcher, and given the high volume of use in my law libraries text collection (both print and online), I am not alone in this.

Often texts used in the legal research process are simply skimmed. The index points you to a place of interest, you skim a few pages, and valuable footnotes or embedded citations lead you out of the text to other resources.

Today’s Tip – pick up a textbook and read it. Use a legal text to discover details about an area of law that is loosely related to your practice.  Use a legal text to remind yourself about fundamentals.  Use a legal text like a book – discover the whole of it.  Reading a legal text this way means you can gloss over the footnotes and stay tuned to the authored work.

Try it out.  You may remember how much you enjoy the law.