Exploring the common practices of law students in the reading of legal cases: a case study of an EAP course at the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws

The ability to read legal cases is one of the most essential skills for law students to be successful in their discipline. It is particularly fundamental since case law is one of the main sources of law. However, the most common assumption is that students would have possessed this skill when they enrol in a law school. This attitudinal fallacy is referred to as ‘skills deployment assumption’ (Stratman, 1990). Thus, this research attempted to explore the quintessential traits in the reading of legal cases among law students at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) whereby the main objectives were to discern the common practices and the problems faced by learners and lecturers in teaching and learning the reading of cases. The data for this study were collected via semi-structured interview and documentary evidence. A total of 9 respondents (6 students and 3 lecturers) were involved in the semi-structured interview while the documentary evidence included course outline and course modules. This research was able to uncover fundamental issues related to the legal skills training, case reading skills, problems faced and suggestions to overcome them. These findings culminated in a Model on Effective Reading of Legal Cases which can become a useful guideline in developing legal skill courses and improving existing ones. This study has crucial implications on the teaching of case reading in legal education particularly to the curriculum designers, material developers, ESP instructors, legal educators and law student