Bridging the Reading Gap in the Law School Classroom

• Author: Patricia Grande Montana
• Position: Ian Gallacher, 'Who Are Those Guys?': The Results of a Survey Studying the Information Literacy of Incoming Law Students, 44 CAL. W. L. REV. 151, 151, 180?86 (2007) (studying the literacy skills of 740 students from seven different law schools and finding, among other things, that incoming law students read substantially more than the national...
• Pages: 433-455

BRIDGING THE READING GAP IN THE LAW SCHOOL

CLASSROOM

PATRICIA GRANDE MONTANA*

I.!INTRODUCTION

Many students struggle in law school, particularly in the first year,

because they are weak readers.1 They do not know how to read text closely

and have limited practice in reading complex or lengthy pieces of writing.2

Nor are they accustomed to reading works that demand deep thinking and

reflection.3

Yet legal analysis and writing depends on a careful reading and

thoughtful understanding of the authority on which a lawyer relies.4 Without

strong reading and critical thinking skills, it is no surprise that incoming law

students have difficulty following a structured analysis and mastering legal

writing. As the gap between what entering law students know and what legal

educators expect them to know widens, it’s time to further study the sources

of the problem and adjust not only teaching expectations, but also the

manner in which professors teach.5

To that end, this article explores how to close the gap in the reading

skills of entering law students so they can develop the competencies in legal

reading, analysis, and writing required to excel in law sc hool. The

“underprepared law student,” a term commonly used to describe today’s law

student, has many attributes that need attention6. But this article focuses

solely on the student’s reading ability because it is the foundation to building

Copyright © 2017, Patricia Grande Montana.

1 Ian Gallacher, “Who Are Those Guys?”: The Results of a Survey Studying the

Information Literacy of Incoming Law Students, 44 CAL. W. L. REV. 151, 151, 180–86 (2007)

(studying the literacy skills of 740 students from seven different law scho ols and finding,

among other things, that incoming law students read substantially more than the national

average, but will experience some reading problems in their first year).

2 Id. at 185.

3 Ruth Vance & Susan Stuart, Of Moby Dick and Tartar Sauce: The Academically

Underprepared Law Student and the Curse of Overconfidence, 53 DUQ. L. REV. 133, 139

(2015).

4 Susan Stuart & Ruth Vance, Bringing a Knife to the Gunfight: The Academically

Underprepared Law Student & Legal Education Reform, 48 VAL. U. L. REV. 41, 46–47

(2013).

5 See id. at 48.

6 See, e.g., Vance & Stuart, supra note 3, at 133–34 (exploring the relationship between

overconfidence and the underprepared law student and suggesting strategies to address the

problem).

434 CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [45:433

competency in all other areas.7 Law students need to be able to read legal

text to understand rules, explain legal principles, identify issues, solve legal

problems, and advocate persuasively.8 Without a strong basis in reading, a

law student’s success in these tasks is comprom ised.9

Though there are a unique group of forces that might contribute to the

underprepared law student, this article concentrates on two sources

specifically: (1) the student’s prior educational experience10 and (2) the

student’s relationship with technology.11 The article first discusses how

students are learning in their undergraduate studies and how technology has

transformed the reading experience for many.12 It also describes the

characteristics of a typically underprepared law student.13 Next, it explores

the implications a stu dent’s unpreparedness has on his or her ability to

succeed in law school.14 Finally, it suggests ways to better prepare students

so they develop into strong readers and critical thinkers.15 Specifically, it

proposes that professors use m ore guided reading exercises to ensure

students master these skills, which are critical to not only performing in law

school, but also to becoming practice-ready attorneys.16 Thus, by

demonstrating to students how expert legal readers read, professors can help

tremendously in closing the reading gap for begin ning law students.

II.!THE UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

The sentiment seems to be that undergraduate education is in crisis. A

growing number of critics contend that undergraduate education lacks both

academic rigor and inflates student achievement, not only underpreparing

students, but also misleading them into believing they have acquired the

critical reading and complex reasoning skills needed for higher learning.17

In a landmark study published in a book titled Academically Adrift: Limited

Learning on College Campuses, sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa

Roksa extensively studied the extent and quality of college-level learning,

analyzing 2,322 undergraduates at twenty-four four-year colleges and

7 Stuart & Vance, supra note 4, at 47.

8 Id.

9 Id. at 48.

10 See infra Part II.

11 See infra Part III.

12 See infra Parts II, III.

13 See infra Part II.

14 See infra Part IV.

15 See infra Part V.

16 See infra Part V.

17 RICHARD ARUM & JOSIPA ROKSA, ACADEMICALLY ADRIFT: LIMITED LEARNING ON

COLLEGE CAMPUSES 1 (2011).