Legal Education Commons^™

Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman Interview; Oral History Project, Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman, Cristina E. Salazar, Shelby Nivitanont

Wyoming Oral History

Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman, Kepler Professor of Law, Director of School of Culture, Gender & Social Justice.

In this oral history, Professor Bridgeman discuses what it was like to grow up in Laramie, WY, her experience as a woman of color in the legal career field, and her accomplishments as a lawyer, law professor, and magistrate. Professor Bridgeman touches on stories from when President Obama was her professor at University of Chicago Law School, insights into current events in the Wyoming Legislature, and her perspective on diversity recruitment.

Making The Case For Law Tech, Janet Kearney

Staff Publications

As the concept of a “practice-ready” attorney continues to grow in both law firms and law schools, law school libraries are meeting this need by offering programming related to legal technology. In this article, a law librarian from the United States discusses their successes and failures in creating and maintaining legal technology programming, a first step in a larger conversation on practice-ready law graduates. This article is based on a June 2021 presentation given at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians.

Law Library Usage For Legal Information Seeking Among The Law Students In Public Sector Universities: An Empirical Study, Jibran Jamshed, Muhammad Kashan Jamshaid, Iram Saleemi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to determine the Law Library usage patterns of law students in the public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. It analyzed the legal information needs of law students along with the purpose of their visits, availability of services, and major problems faced by law students in the law libraries.

Methodology: This empirical study was conducted while using a survey design. A structured questionnaire was distributed among the participants of the study using a convenience sampling technique. Collected data was analyzed and interpreted through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V23). …

How Intelligent Ci Instruction Gives Law Students A Competitive Edge, Heather Simmons, Beau Steenken, Liz Whittington, Joshua Pluta

Presentations

"Competitive intelligence" (CI) is a term that gets bandied about across many sectors, but how exactly do law firms use it to further their business? Academics are aware of CI as a concept, but teaching students how to conduct competitive intelligence requires a more nuanced understanding of how it is actually used. In a discussion moderated by a newer academic librarian who will be teaching competitive intelligence for the first time, a firm librarian will share insights into how competitive intelligence can and should be used, and an academic librarian who regularly teaches competitive intelligence will offer tips on how …

Cultivating A Culture Of Mindfulness In The Law Library And Beyond, Heather Simmons

Presentations

In this presentation Heather J.E. Simmons, Associate Director for Instruction and Access Services, University of Georgia School of Law, Alexander Campbell King Law Library shared her experiences in creating a more mindful environment for students, including methods and resources she has used in her current and past positions.

Fake News, Post-Truth & Information Literacy, Carol A. Watson, Caroline Osborne, Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Caroline L. Osborne

What is fake news? How did it arise? Why does recognizing fake news matter? How do we create information literate consumers in the legal community? This program will discuss the intersection of fake news and information literacy theory. We’ll provide an overview of the rise and proliferation of fake news including highlights of historical instances; a discussion of the impact of failing to detect fake news; and strategies for creating successful information literacy programming.

Time Traveling With Timelines: Web Apps For Storytelling In Libraries, Sharon Bradley, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

From online embeds to interactive displays, timelines can serve many purposes and tell powerful stories. At the University of Georgia’s Law Library we have teamed up with faculty and staff to bring history to life, engage students, and preserve scholarly and institutional milestones. Through trial and error we have found a variety of tools for creating timelines digitally. In this article we share our four favorite web-based applications for creating timelines including Tiki-Toki, TimeToast, Prezi and Piktochart.

Reflections From Calicon19: Two Best Sessions, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Rachel Evans summarizes the recent Computer Assisted Legal Education (CALI) conference held in Columbia, SC in June 2019. Specifically Evans reviews two sessions related to automating work in institutional repositories and using eResources for more affordable course materials.

TechScans is a blog to share the latest trends and technology tools for technical services law librarians. The official blog of the TS-SIS and OBS-SIS AALL groups.

An Introduction To Legal Research, Anne Burnett, Stephen Wolfson

Presentations

As part of UGA Summer Academy Legal Camp two law librarians teamed up to give an introduction to legal research to high school students from across the country, including tips and strategies for using Google effectively.

News - University Of Georgia School Of Law, Rachel S. Evans

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Hybrid Law Library Orientation: Video Creation, Face-To-Face Reconfiguration And Comparative Assessment, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

In Fall 2018 UGA Law Library changed the orientation process for incoming students. The 3-pronged approach (1) updated a libguide which served as home-base for the online orientation experience, (2) created a brand new video to deliver basic information to 1Ls in the form of a virtual tour, and (3) introduced a one-day outreach which included a resource fair, librarian meet-and-greet, and in-person library tours event to re-enforce the guide and video content. This program will share the reasons why we designed orientation this way, how we did it and assessed impact, and what our results were.

From Print To Digital And Back Again: Three Decades Of Lessons From A Library Newsletter, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

This session shared the many lessons learned over the years of publishing the UGA Law Library’s longstanding newsletter Amicus Briefs both in print and electronically. It also shared current tools used for online and print publication, as well as assessing readership including Drupal, WordPress, MailChimp, Google Analytics and DataStudio, Piktochart, iTunes, YouTube, Feedburner, and Digital Commons.

Ereserves, Annotations, And Registration: Copyright At The 11th Circuit, Stephen Wolfson

Presentations

This presentation discusses eReserves, the 11th circuit and copyright issues surrounding the Georgia State University case heard by Judge Evans in 2008.

Of Mind Maps And Makerspaces: Technology Approach To Law Teaching, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Mind maps and makerspaces are two potential approaches to instruction that might inject a little fun and zing into the classroom. Mind maps are a more visual or graphical tool for teaching analysis, problem solving, and decision-making. Makerspaces embrace Langdell’s model of the law library as the “laboratory” of the law school. A makerspace could allow students to experiment, create, and learn to evaluate the “benefits and risks associated with relevant technology,” as reflected in the recent change to Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Designing Effective Legal Research Rubrics: The Foundation For Successful Assessment, Carol A. Watson, Katie Hanschke, Zanada Joyner

Presentations

Increasingly librarians are teaching many, if not all, of the legal research courses at their law schools. Most librarians are not experts in education assessment design. Assessment with rubrics creates a learner centric environments in which instructors objectively evaluate student progress and assures that students receive consistent and meaningful feedback. Rubrics provide both students and instructors with a clear understanding of whether learning outcomes have been achieved. Guided by the instructors' experience and an in-depth review of the literature law librarians will be exposed to the best practices when creating rubrics including alignment with the course goals and instructor expectations.

Fake News, Post-Truth & Information Literacy, Carol A. Watson, Caroline Osborne, Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Presentations

What is fake news? How did it arise? Why does recognizing fake news matter? How do we create information literate consumers in the legal community? This program will discuss the intersection of fake news and information literacy theory. We’ll provide an overview of the rise and proliferation of fake news including highlights of historical instances; a discussion of the impact of failing to detect fake news; and strategies for creating successful information literacy programming.

The Changing Landscape Of Digitization And Preservation, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Digitization and the preservation of digitized materials presents many complex legal questions, like ownership, copyright, and conflicting laws. Digital materials may be subject to many levels of legal restrictions like copying, storage, access, and modification of content. The speaker will probably confuse things even more by talking about some issues that are coming over the hill including legally enforceable duties of stewardship, loss of academic scholarship and legal authority, and arguments against strict enforcement of copyright law. It’s also time to move from collaborations, because they’re good idea, to legally established partnerships, because they have teeth.

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

James G. Milles

Academic law librarians have long insisted on the value of autonomy from the university library system, usually basing their arguments on strict adherence to ABA standards. However, law librarians have failed to construct an explicit and consistent definition of autonomy. Lacking such a definition, they have tended to rely on an outmoded Langdellian view of the law as a closed system. This view has long been discredited, as approaches such as law and economics and sociolegal research have become mainstream, and courts increasingly resort to nonlegal sources of information. Blind attachment to autonomy as a goal rather than a means …

Legal Education In Crisis, And Why Law Libraries Are Doomed, James G. Milles

James G. Milles

The dual crises facing legal education - the economic crisis affecting both the job market and the pool of law school applicants, and the crisis of confidence in the ability of law schools and the ABA accreditation process to meet the needs of lawyers or society at large - have undermined the case for not only the autonomy, but the very existence, of law school libraries as we have known them. Legal education in the United States is about to undergo a long-term contraction, and law libraries will be among the first to go. A few law schools may abandon …

Legal Research Instruction And Law Librarianship In China: An Updated View Of Current Practices And A Comparison With The U.S. Legal Education System, Ning Han, Liying Yu, Anne Mostad-Jensen

Ning Han

This article follows up on Liying Yu’s 2008 survey exploring the state of legal research instruction in Chinese law schools. The updated survey revisits the state of legal research instruction in China, explores several aspects not previously addressed, and discusses broader issues relevant to law librarianship in China such as management models, funding, staffing, and law librarian faculty status.

Lawyer ≠ Luddite, Jason Tubinis, Khelani Clay, Jim Henneberger, Zanada Joyner, Shannon Roddy

Presentations

Being a competent attorney means being a competent technologist. ABA Model Rule 1.1 (Competence) requires all lawyers to stay abreast of technology even if they still use a Dictaphone and typewriter and think “the cloud” refers to the fluffy white stuff in the sky. It can be malpractice to misuse or misunderstand technology, and this misuse can take many forms. Lack of familiarity with technology can lead to improper production of confidential information, delays in litigation, wasting time and client funds, ending up on Above the Law (and not in a good way), and more.

Legal technology courses are becoming …

Decision Making Models In 2/2 Time: Two Speakers, Two Models (Maybe), Sharon Bradley, Tim Tarvin

Presentations

Our students have to learn so many new skills to be successful in law school and law practice. Legal research, client interviewing, and case analysis just for starters. Our teaching methods have to engage our students while preparing them to “think like a lawyer.” We also have the responsibility to familiarize students in evaluating the “benefits and risks associated with relevant technology” and to develop efficient practices and processes. The speakers will look at decision making models that are practical and useable.

One speaker will discuss his experiences in a clinical setting using decision trees, teaching his students to visualize …

Library Director As Opportunity Identifier, Ronald E. Wheeler

Faculty Scholarship

A successful contemporary law library director should seek opportunities to insert the law library, wherever possible, into projects that benefit the law school and its mission and that draw on the talents and expertise of the law librarians. The goal of the modern law library director should be to make the law library an integral part of each and every undertaking within the law school community. Every facet of the law school and its various departments and offices can benefit from either law library research and instructional services or the creative thinking and analytical orientation that librarians bring to the …

Legal Education In Crisis, And Why Law Libraries Are Doomed, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

The dual crises facing legal education - the economic crisis affecting both the job market and the pool of law school applicants, and the crisis of confidence in the ability of law schools and the ABA accreditation process to meet the needs of lawyers or society at large - have undermined the case for not only the autonomy, but the very existence, of law school libraries as we have known them. Legal education in the United States is about to undergo a long-term contraction, and law libraries will be among the first to go. A few law schools may abandon …

Universal Citation In Sixty Seconds, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A large format infographic describing the system for citation which permits reference to legal or law-related information in any medium without requiring reference to proprietary products. Includes a timeline of the Universal Citation Guide from 1993 to 2012, citation elements, a list of states and territories that adopted the practice and an interactive QR code for accessing AALL's page on this citation format. The poster also encouraged viewers to advocate for adopting Universal citation with judges, attorneys and legislators.

What's In A Name? A Gen Xer And Gen Yer Explore What It Means To Be Members Of Their Generations In The Workplace, Lauren M. Collins, Elizabeth A. Yates

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide by Rachel Singer Gordon, the author cites several reasons this time is different than times before in librarianship. Those that are most relevant to law librarianship include:

• Flattening workplace hierarchies and participative management increase the input of newer librarians in workplace decision making

• New technologies require changing skills that affect attitudes toward the integration of those technologies into our daily work

• Outside pressures, such as the prevalence of the Internet, impose a need for librarians to continually prove our relevance and improve relations with younger patrons

• The much talked about …

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

Academic law librarians have long insisted on the value of autonomy from the university library system, usually basing their arguments on strict adherence to ABA standards. However, law librarians have failed to construct an explicit and consistent definition of autonomy. Lacking such a definition, they have tended to rely on an outmoded Langdellian view of the law as a closed system. This view has long been discredited, as approaches such as law and economics and sociolegal research have become mainstream, and courts increasingly resort to nonlegal sources of information. Blind attachment to autonomy as a goal rather than a means …

Moving Into Management From The Outside, Lynn Wishart

Library Staff Articles

When accepting a promotion from outside the organization, the new manager must understand what is being given up and left behind, and must also realize clearly what expectations the new library holds. In the new position, the outside manager must articulate goals and find common ground with supervisors and subordinates. The take-charge period should be used for judicious decision making and intense learning.