Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Teaching Students To Use Feedback To Improve Their Legal-Writing Skills, Lara Gelbwasser Freed, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In an age in which writing-software programs tout formative feedback on student papers and advertise clear and compelling sentences, the roles of professor and student in the assessment and outcome-achievement process may appear passive, or even supplanted. Using feedback to improve learning, however, requires both professor and student to play active roles. In legal education, law professors are tasked with identifying and assessing learning outcomes. And much has been written about these tasks as they relate to both doctrinal and legal-writing courses. But less attention has been devoted to law students’ role in responding to feedback on their writing and …

A Structural Approach To Case Synthesis, Fact Application, And Persuasive Framing Of The Law, Lara Gelbwasser Freed, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Lawyering-skills courses, although typically writing-focused, address a wide array of topics. Indeed, to prepare an effective legal document, students must not only write well but analyze well. And, although teaching the pure-writing aspects of the course is certainly a challenge, teaching the analysis-related skills is often the most difficult.

Among the thorniest of these skills are synthesizing cases, applying facts, and persuasively framing the law. Professors struggle to teach these skills, and students consistently struggle to understand and implement them. To lighten the burden for both professors and students, we have approached these skills structurally and, in doing so, have …

When Tenure Standards Are Wrong, James Grimmelmann

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Final Legal-Writing Class: Parting Wisdom For Students, Joel Atlas, Estelle Mckee, Andrea J. Mooney

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The last class of a legal-writing course is a beginning rather than an end for our students. Soon, they will have the opportunity to employ, in real life, the skills they have learned in the course. And professors want their students not only to succeed, but to excel, in practice. To help realize this goal, and as a fitting finale to the course, a professor may choose to provide students with tips for the immediate and long-term future in their profession.

Due Diligence: Company Information For Law Students, Matthew M. Morrison

Cornell Law Librarians' Publications

Many law students are placed with corporate law firms whose clients are overwhelmingly companies. While many law school courses focus on doctrine, students need to learn company information and where to find it. This article explains why teaching company information is crucial, where to find sources, and how to use these sources.

Meeting The Challenges Of Instructing International Law Graduate Students In Legal Research, Nina E. Scholtz, Femi Cadmus

Cornell Law Librarians' Publications

Teaching international LL.M. students legal research offers its own peculiar challenges. The brevity of the LL.M. program and the limited time available for thoroughly introducing basic research concepts have made it particularly difficult, but the innovative and creative methods of instruction highlighted in this article have provided good solutions.

Not Your Parents' Law Library: A Tale Of Two Academic Law Libraries, Julian Aiken, Femi Cadmus, Fred Shapiro

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As academic law libraries continue to face the inevitability of a rapidly changing landscape which includes a new breed of digital users with sophisticated technological needs, it remains to be seen what libraries will look like in years to come. It is certain that libraries as we know them today will have changed, but to what extent? An ability to remain adaptable and to anticipate the evolving needs of users in a dynamic environment will continue to be key for libraries to remain relevant, and even to survive, in the 21st century; vital to this endeavor will also be an …

An Empirical Analysis Of Empirical Legal Scholarship Production, 1990-2009, Michael R. Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Inspired by the retirement of Professor Tom Ulen of the University of Illinois, the author considers the growth and development of empirical legal scholarship over two decades—a period of time that corresponds, not coincidentally, with Professor Ulen’s career. Starting in the 1990s when empirical scholarship had not yet “caught on,” the author first documents the increase in quantity of empirical scholarship over two decades. Next, the author applies a law and economics perspective to the recent surge in empirical scholarship, explaining that the trend has been fueled by an increase in the number of empirically trained scholars and also by …

Beyond The Expected: Creating And Sustaining Relationships For Your Institutions, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Not Just Key Numbers And Keywords Anymore: How User Interface Design Affects Legal Research, Julie M. Jones

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Legal research is one of the foundational skills for the practice of law. Yet law school graduates are frequently admitted to the bar without adequate competence in this area. Applying both information-foraging theory and current standards for optimal web design, Ms. Jones considers, through a heuristic analysis, whether the user interfaces of Westlaw and LexisNexis help or hinder the process of legal research and the development of effective research skills.

Legal Research And Legal Education In Africa: The Challenge For Information Literacy, Vicki Lawal

Starr Workshop Papers (2007)

This paper analyses legal research within the context of legal education in Africa, it examines some of the challenges of electronic legal research in view of the influences of online legal electronic resources and Computer Assisted legal Research (CALR) and the importance of information literacy in addressing some of the issues raised especially with regards to undergraduate legal education.

Keynote Address: Remarks At The Workshop On Tapping Into The World Of Electronic Legal Knowledge , Muna Ndulo

Starr Workshop Papers (2007)

Professor Muna Ndulo of Cornell Law School presented the keynote address at the 2007 Starr Workshop, “Tapping into the World of Electronic Legal Knowledge.” The workshop took place at Cornell Law School October 7-10, 2007 and was co-sponsored by the Starr Foundation, New York University Law Library, and Cornell Law Library.

Professor Ndulo addresses the topic of new information technologies and their importance to legal research and teaching.

U.S. Law And Legal Research, Pat Court

Starr Workshop Papers (2007)

This presentation on the basics of U.S. law offers a general outline of the fundamental sources of U.S. law. With a foundation in the three branches of government and the laws, court decisions, and regulations that flow from them, the speaker demonstrated free and fee-based electronic resources frequently used for legal research. The focus is on Westlaw, LexisNexis, PACER the Public Access to Court Electronic Records), GPOAccess, and the official U.S. Supreme Court web site. While the web has made it possible for universities, governments, courts, and others to put user-friendly law on the web for free, the most extensive …

Educating Students About The Critiquing Process In A Lawyering Skills Class, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The extreme performance anxiety of first-year law students along with the alien experience of receiving copious comments on their writing creates a potent, and potentially paralyzing, potion for stress. With that as a backdrop, lawyering skills teachers ought to educate students about the process of critiquing they will experience in a lawyering skills course.

Partnering With Decision Makers In Your Institution, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Ssrn-Based Law School Rankings, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

One noteworthy feature of the SSRN-based rankings is the high correlation between them and other rankings. Black and Caron report correlation coefficients between their two Social Science Research Network (SSRN) school rankings (one based on downloads from SSRN and one based on the number of papers posted on SSRN) and six other published rankings. The correlations provide a useful and creative measure of consistency across studies. If ranking studies are highly correlated, then the least expensive and most efficient study to conduct can be used without incurring the expense and delay of the more labor-intensive ranking methods. SSRN has a …

Pioneering Change In The Centennial Year, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Oxford: A Haven For Sabbaticals And Other Visits, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Critiquing As An Opportunity, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The path of critiquing a paper is, in all but a rare case, laced with mines: poorly constructed sentences, non-thematic paragraphs, and mangled legal standards. But rather than view these as trip interruptions, perhaps teachers can view them as challenges. After all, every student error is a learning opportunity for that student.

Foreword, Jeffrey S. Lehman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: A Vision For The Future, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Digital Legal Information: Ensuring Access To The "Official" Word Of The Law, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Closing One Gap But Opening Another?: A Response To Dean Perritt And Comments On The Internet, Law Schools, And Legal Education, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How New Information Technologies Will Change The Way Law Professors Do And Distribute Scholarship, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Using a typology of legal scholars, Professor Martin explores the impact of new information technology on their work. His analysis suggests that increased use of electronic media in legal scholarship is likely to have a profound effect on the institutional structures of law schools, and he raises doubts about the continuing need for traditional academic law libraries in the future.

The Future Of Law Librarians In Changing Institutions, Or The Hazards And Opportunities Of New Information Technology, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

It is uncontroverted that a major technological shift in the delivery of legal information is well underway. What will be the effects of these changes on law librarians and, more importantly, what opportunities will the changes create? Professor Martin suggests several opportunities stemming from the distinctive competencies of law librarians.

Library Costs As A Percentage Of Law School Budgets, Jane L. Hammond

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

For many years, the benchmark for the portion of the law school budget that goes to the law library has been twenty percent. An analysis of law school budgets for 1976-77, 1981-82, and 1986-87, however, shows that this benchmark should be lowered or modified by size of the law school.

Demystifying Legal Scholarship, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Faculty-Edited Law Reviews: Yes -- A Statement By Roger C. Cramton, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Developments, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The world of legal education--over 180 law schools, 6,000 law teachers, and 125,000 law students--is a large and varied one. The purpose of this department is to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas concerning noteworthy experiments, innovations, and developments in program, curriculum, teaching, scholarship, administration, and the like. Contributions from readers are invited. Those of a longer nature may be published as authored pieces; others will be summarized by the Editor in this space.

Developments, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The world of legal education---over 180 law schools, 6,000 law teachers, and 125,000 law students--is a large and varied one. The purpose of this department is to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas concerning noteworthy experiments, innovations, and developments in program, curriculum, teaching, scholarship, administration, and the like. Contributions from readers are invited. Those of a longer nature may be published as authored pieces; others will be summarized by the Editor in this space.