A lawyer is always an avid reader. This habit of reading often develops because a lawyer goes through several long judgements and facts of cases which have been extended from the district court to the high court to the supreme court. Sometimes, these judgments are about 40-80 pages long written in very small font.
This means that one single judgement has several thousands of words and it does require some techniques to digest such a long document. These techniques are developed by a law professional while being a student in the course either during internships or during the course assignments.
Here are some ways in which you can read a long judgement in less time:
Look up the Judgement on Blog sites
In this age of wide internet usage there are many sites which provide case briefs and summaries for free. These briefs of judgements summarize the main points of the judgement in brief and are helpful because it avoids confusion in the minds of the students that can arise from reading long judgments in which half of the material is not relevant to the facts of the case. Sometimes, the facts of the case are also written in brief. Cases related to property disputes have extremely confusing facts and they are often summarized in clear bullet points. Some good case blog sites are Case Mine, AdvocatesPedia, Truth & Youth etc.
Notice the Statutes Involved
Almost all judgements have the specific sections of the statute to which the case is related. These specific sections are very short when the bare acts are read. These bare acts have a very short explanation along with the statement of the bare act as they are substantiated by real life examples on websites like Indian Kanoon and Indian Code. Once one reads the bare act, one can understand the facts of the case at once and it is easier to understand and relate the facts of the case without reading the entire explanations or the arguments from the proposition and opposition separately. One can easily skip this part and read the original statement of the judgment then.
Confusion between the Judgment and Arguments
One needs to be careful that one is not reading the contentions put forth by the lawyers of both parties and is only reading the judgment. The arguments by lawyers are always biased towards their respective parties while the analysis of the judge is not.
Original Judgment Copy
Relying on the judgment, copies released by Indian Kanoon or Manupatra and SCC Online are duplicate copies of the original judgment and are sometimes, highly amended and altered. The judgments can be downloaded from the government website of the Supreme Court (main.sci.gov.in) or the websites of the respective High Courts. These copies of judgments are not altered and resemble the original oral or written judgment of the presiding judge.
