Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Reading is foundational to lawyers' work. Whatever matter a lawyer is working on, the facts and the arguments are captured in prose. Reading is likewise how lawyers maintain and hone their craft, reading to keep abreast of changes in the law and "maintain the requisite knowledge and skill" in representing clients by continuing study and education (ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.1 and Comment 8). This type of reading goes beyond the passive reading of a magazine, newspaper or novel. It requires a richer and more robust interaction with text, known as active reading.
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages. Lawyers need to create, find and compare a variety of annotations, margin notes and highlights, race among multiple sections of text and return to pinpoints in supporting documents on demand. Paper supports many active reading tasks, and with advances in hardware and software, computers are getting better at building an increasingly paper-like experience. But neither is the sine qua non of active reading.
I devoted my doctoral research and embarked on a career to develop a system tailored to the needs of active readers, especially attorneys. By studying the limitations of past systems, we created a fluidlike representation of text where lawyers can restructure, revisualize and rearrange primary and secondary sources, annotations and highlights to meet the demands of a client, project or study. This article details my journey: Defining active reading processes and noting some requirements that support it, discussing how paper and current computer systems fall short of lawyers' active reading requirements and outlining the features of an active reading system for lawyers.
This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
- Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
- Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
- Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?