Hi Sara!
I've been following this thread and wanted to say that I too am in legal studies/criminal law at a university. I am a Junior (3rd yr total) and just starting on this major -- becoming a Legal Assistant, or Paralegal.
I am using the PR method on my HUGE criminal justice book - not laws themselves but the application of them, and crime scene management and investigation protocol. Fascinating. What I am finding is that whenever I now glance through the chapters we're on, I am so sick of seeing those same photographs and diagrams I could scream!! They are just so darn familiar to me now!!
This is what I have been doing this past month:
I preview the chapters needed and mark the end of the one I'm working on with a piece of light cardboard, PhotoRead it, wait a while (from a half hour to a day), go back and drift through the material, look for the trigger words (what the chapter or subchapter is about)- then do the "skitter and dip"; I go through the pages quickly and pick out places that draw my attention and read carefully there or at least go over those paragraphs to see if there is something there that I don't consciously know. I am also PRing the material a second time, perhaps a few days later, as the mood strikes.
As for time envolved, I stay at my special study place at a particular table for as long as it is comfortable and I stay focused on what I'm doing.
What is happening is that now when I actually "read" anything as I flip through the books, or see those darn pictures!!, it is all just too familiar. Which is good - because that's how I know it's sticking in my memory. 
We do have a couple of books that deal with substantive laws, and as I get to these I'll tell you what is happening with me there as far as the PR method goes. I have known PR for maybe 2 years, but this is the first time I've applied it to university studies. Before, I felt too intimidated by the work to relax enough to give the PR method a fair shot. I am a "returning student" (aka: non-traditional student) - meaning I am old enough to be the mother to nearly every one of my fellow classmates!! 
Take care and have "fun" practicing the PR methods. I'll check back in here with you as the semester goes along.
Ann
