Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Searching Govinfo.Gov/, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) database provides access to information legal, legislative, and regulatory information produced on multiple subjects by the U.S. Government. Content includes congressional bills, congressional committee hearings and prints (studies), reports on legislation, the text of laws, regulations, and executive orders and multiple U.S. Government information resources covering subjects from accounting to zoology.

The Role Of U.S. Government Regulatioms, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides detailed coverage of information resources on U.S. Government information resources for federal regulations. Features historical background on these regulations, details on the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations, includes information on individuals can participate in the federal regulatory process by commenting on proposed agency regulations via https://regulations.gov/, describes the role of presidential executive orders, refers to recent and upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases involving federal regulations, and describes current congressional legislation seeking to give Congress greater involvement in the federal regulatory process.

Exposing The Imposter: Imposter Syndrome & Legal Writing Faculty, Sara L. Ochs

Events at Dickinson Law

Legal academics often report crippling feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, symptoms of a widespread trend labeled as “imposter syndrome.” Experts have defined this phenomenon as a “deep and sometimes paralyzing belief that we have been given something we didn’t earn and don’t deserve and that at some point we’ll be exposed.” Given the evident hierarchies in legal academia, these feelings are especially prominent among legal writing faculty, and even more so among those in untenured positions. Using empirical data acquired from law professors, this presentation will analyze the prevalence and causes of imposter syndrome among legal writing faculty and will …

Research Instruction At Yale Law School, Julie Graves Krishnaswami

Events at Dickinson Law

At Yale Law School, the Law Librarians take a holistic approach to providing legal research instruction. With that approach, we meet students where they are – academically and curricularly – through courses, reference consultations, guest lectures, and workshops. We provide elective research instruction in a variety of fora to meet the needs of our students. Our research courses are elective and are supplemented by workshops and guest lectures in clinical and doctrinal courses, and for student groups. Yale Law School students recognize the need for research instruction, and we have expanded our offerings to meet demand. The Law Library’s holistic …

Making Two Separates Equal: Combining Graduation Requirements And Research And Writing Skills, Ann Walsh Long

Events at Dickinson Law

ABA Standard 303 requires that a law school offer a curriculum that requires each student to satisfactorily complete at least one professional responsibility course, one upper-level writing course, and one or more experiential course(s) totaling at least six credit hours. While the same class cannot count toward more than one of these requirements, Interpretation 303-1 allows one course to count as "either as an upper-class writing requirement or as a simulation course provided the course meets all of the requirements of both types of courses and the law school permits a student to use the course to satisfy only one …

The Traditional Legal Analysis, Research, And Writing Course: Does Subject Synthesis Serve Students Best?, Anna Hemingway, Sherri Keene

Events at Dickinson Law

Most law schools’ first-year curriculums include a course on legal analysis, research, and writing. At many law schools, the synthesis of these subjects into one course is considered the best way to teach first-year law students basic lawyering skills. Recently, however, law schools have begun to separate the topics into stand-alone courses. This presentation will review the different models law schools are currently using and will explore additional opportunities to remix the individual topics with other first-year courses.

Incorporating Short Writing Exercises Into Traditional Exam Courses: How To Do It & How To Encourage Others To Do It Too!, Candace Centeno

Events at Dickinson Law

This presentation will discuss how to incorporate short writing exercises into a traditional exam class & how to encourage others to do the same. The presentation will first briefly discuss a sample writing exercise used in an upper level elective that also has a final examination; in sum, the writing exercise builds upon the email analysis instruction provided in the 1L Legal Writing Program. This short exercise provides an opportunity for the professor to help students refine their writing and organization & to see if the students are understanding basic concepts. The presentation will then explore ways to encourage other …

Connect 4: Student + Research + Writing + Theory, Nicole R. Chong

Events at Dickinson Law

We often see first-year law students failing to make connections between research, writing, and theory. First-year students tend to view their classes in separate silos. As students advance into the upper-level curriculum, the failed connections are exacerbated. Students are unable to connect what they learned in the first year of law school to the classes they are now taking in their last two years of law school. Additionally, upper-level faculty who assume that the students are making connections when they are not further compound this connection problem. The connection failure can result in a number of problems. How do we …

From The First Day Forward: Integrating Legal Research Into Law School Doctrinal Courses, Clanitra S. Nejdl

Events at Dickinson Law

This presentation focuses on the benefits of partnering with doctrinal professors to integrate legal research into law school doctrinal classes. The presenter will discuss best practices for the integration process. She will also share ideas and tips for developing meaningful collaborations with doctrinal faculty members and explain how she worked with Civil Procedure professors to integrate research into their classes.

The Foundational Skills And Methods That Unify All First-Year Courses, Scott Rempell

Events at Dickinson Law

Many perceive LRW courses as important for practice yet largely distinct from the core “doctrinal” courses that purport to teach students how to “think like a lawyer.” However, a remarkably consistent core of skills and methods of thought unify all first-year courses. If these core skills and methods are at the heart of all first-year courses, then the professors who should cover them in class have to acknowledge they exist and work together to teach them. In short, to break down barriers, LRW professors have to bring to the surface the framework underlying core law school learning objectives – a …

Non-English Materials For The English Speaker : European Languages, Erin Gow

Erin Gow

So many legal materials are in languages other than English worldwide, that it is inevitable that most of us will need to find or access one of these documents at some point. Foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians often work with materials in languages in which they are not fluent, and can provide useful ideas and insight for the non-FCIL specialist faced with this type of research. This portion of a 2019 AALL webinar titled "Non-English Materials for the English Speaker" focuses on European languages, and provides practical guidance in finding English translations of European laws, tips and techniques …

Non-English Materials For The English Speaker : European Languages, Erin Gow

Faculty Scholarship

So many legal materials are in languages other than English worldwide, that it is inevitable that most of us will need to find or access one of these documents at some point. Foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians often work with materials in languages in which they are not fluent, and can provide useful ideas and insight for the non-FCIL specialist faced with this type of research. This portion of a 2019 AALL webinar titled "Non-English Materials for the English Speaker" focuses on European languages, and provides practical guidance in finding English translations of European laws, tips and techniques …

Dapp Legal Research Presentation 5-24-2019 Final.Pptx, Anne Hudson, Heather Hummons

Anne Hudson

Six Ways To Find Cases, Lee A. Ryan

Lee A. Ryan

Free & Low-Cost Legal Research Options - Slides, Lee A. Ryan

Lee A. Ryan

Researching Foreign Law: A Presentation For Usf's Comparative Law Class, Spring 2017, Lee A. Ryan

Lee A. Ryan

Ablj-Jlse Joint Bluebooking Panel Session.Pptx, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

The Open Access Advantage For American Law Reviews, Carol Watson, James M. Donovan, Caroline Osborne

Caroline L. Osborne

Open access within legal academia provides a case study for the effective use of digital formats to promote scholarship. The presenters review the background historical developments in this field, and consider the benefits and rationales for providing open access to legal scholarship, including the special faculty concerns arising from SSRN and its relationship to the institutional repository. Results from the presenters’ recent empirical study of the citation advantage for open access scholarship in American law reviews will be discussed and placed in broader context of the benefits of open access scholarship.

The Open Access Advantage For American Law Reviews, Carol Watson, James M. Donovan, Caroline Osborne

Presentations

Open access within legal academia provides a case study for the effective use of digital formats to promote scholarship. The presenters review the background historical developments in this field, and consider the benefits and rationales for providing open access to legal scholarship, including the special faculty concerns arising from SSRN and its relationship to the institutional repository. Results from the presenters’ recent empirical study of the citation advantage for open access scholarship in American law reviews will be discussed and placed in broader context of the benefits of open access scholarship.

Research Strategy And Assignment Intake Tips, Amy Wright

Amy J. Wright

Digital Commons And Ssrn: Turning Perceived Conflict Into Real Synergy, James M. Donovan, Carol A. Watson

Presentations

Covers the history of SSRN and the development of institutional repositories, how to positively address faculty concerns about losing SSRN download statistics, statistical analysis of downloads on each platform and research behavior, and an overview of the strengths and advantages of each platform.

The West Digest / Key Number System - Slides, Lee A. Ryan

Lee A. Ryan

These slides accompany a presentation on the West Digest / Key Number System. The presentation was created for California Legal Research and Advanced Legal Research classes. These slides are meant to be used with the instructor's notes, which are also available on this site.

Case Law Research Using Westlaw Campus, Robert Berry

Librarian Publications

Presentation by Robert Berry on the basics of Case law research.

Cultura De La Legalidad. Participación Ciudada En Transparencia, Norma E. Pimentel

Norma E Pimentel

No abstract provided.

Finding Free Legal Research Sites And Free Case Law - Slides, Lee A. Ryan

Lee A. Ryan

These slides accompany the presentation on free case-law research sites created for the June 2012 National Business Institute seminar. These slides are meant to be used with the outline of the presentation, which are also available on this site.

Formulating A Research Plan, Maureen Cahill, Tj Striepe

Presentations

Presentation, delivered to clinic and externship students on January 30 and February 1, 2012, on formulating a research plan.

Implementing Bepress' Digital Commons Institutional Repository Solution: Two Views From The Trenches, Carol A. Watson, James M. Donovan, Pamela Bluh

Carol A. Watson

Librarians from the University of Georgia Law Library and University of Maryland Law Library will discuss their experiences implementing Digital Commons' institutional repository product. Issues to be considered includes... - Creating a business plan to persuade law school administrators to establish an institutional repository -- how to justify the expenditure, distinguishing Digital Commons from SSRN, choosing Digital Commons rather than an open source solution - Obtaining content for the repository -- promoting the repository, building buy-in from contributors, establishing content policies, determining types of materials to be included in the repository, self-archiving versus mediated archiving - Copyright permissions -- appending …

2011 Presentation: Law Firm Research Results For New Attorneys, Patrick Meyer

Patrick Meyer

This presentation summarizes results from the author's 2010 law firm legal research survey, which determined what research functions, and in what formats, law firms require new hires to be proficient. This survey updates the author's 2009 article that is available at this site and which was based on this author's earlier law firm legal research survey. See also the accompanying 2011 draft article on this site.

Law & Reference: Answering Legal Reference Questions, Wendy Moore, Maureen Cahill

Presentations

Answering legal reference questions can be challenging, especially when you are not doing it on a daily basis. More and more legal information is available freely on the internet, but sometimes it is hard to know what the best sources are and how to make certain you are not accidentally practicing law at the reference desk. This presentation provides exposure to helpful internet resources and discussion of effective strategies to help you answer legal related reference questions in a non-law library setting with skill and confidence.

Persuasive Arguments For Establishing An Institutional Repository, James M. Donovan, Carol A. Watson

Presentations

Presents the business case for creating an institutional repository (IR), including a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages with Social Science Research Network (SSRN); offers advice on obtaining faculty buy-in to the project in order to obtain content; reviews copyright right issues involved in depositing published materials into the repository; and suggests ways in which creating a repository can build relationships beyond the institution.