I practice law in California. Lawyers absolutely read every word of court decisions—citations, notes, appendices, concurrences, and dissents. Usually multiple

I practice law in California. Lawyers absolutely read every word of court decisions—citations, notes, appendices, concurrences, and dissents. Usually multiple times. But that tends to happen when looking to cite, criticize, or argue about a particular decision that matters. In other words, when you might have to defend your interpretation against another lawyer. And when you have the time. Which is money. Lawyers reading for other reasons may skim, hunt for specific passages, or even just glance any provided syllabus, depending on why they are reading. When you've read enough of these, by the same judges, living and dead, over and over, you get a sense not just of formatting and structure but written and thinking style, as well. You get better at determining whether and when it's worth a full, deep read. One of the things American law schools teach by experience in the first year is that the level of attention, organization, and critical thinking expected in reading is far higher, in its own peculiar way, than what most students are used to putting in, even from very strong academic backgrounds. Then they develop endurance for it, by assigning many cases to read for each class session, several times a week, for several classes at once. All in a competitive environment where your hiring prospects largely come down to grades and your grades come down to a single exam per subject, each awarded on strict statistical curves. Part of it's that you learn what you need to read. Part of it's that you just grind. When you've been grinding long enough, you don't even feel it anymore. It still hurts, but it's a long, slow abrasion on your mind and personality. Not a stitch in your side anymore. I'll never tell anyone off from reading Supreme Court opinions. It's your court! As long as you can keep it. But for most folks reading for interest, the syllabus is fine. If you want just a little more than that, read the intro and concluding sections of the "opinion of the court". Then read the intro of each dissent, if there are any.