Law Commons^™

This Is Your Brain On Research: Cognitive Theory And Assignment Construction, Jennifer R. Mart-Rice, Franklin Runge, Alyson Drake

Jennifer Mart-Rice

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 …

The State Of Legal Research Education: A Survey Of First-Year Legal Research Programs, Or “Why Johnny And Jane Cannot Research”, Caroline L. Osborne

Caroline L. Osborne

None available.

Legal Research And The World Of Thinkable Thoughts, Robert C. Berring

Robert Berring

It is difficult to properly describe technology’s impact on legal information. The impact created a generational gap between those who learned their research skills before the change and current students. The habits of the new generation of legal researchers point toward a change in the way that we can think about the law.

Sources Of American Law: An Introduction To Legal Research, Tina M. Brooks, Beau Steenken

Tina M. Brooks

At its most basic definition the practice of law comprises conducting research to find relevant rules of law and then applying those rules to the specific set of circumstances faced by a client. However, in American law, the legal rules to be applied derive from myriad sources, complicating the process and making legal research different from other sorts of research. This text introduces first-year law students to the new kind of research required to study and to practice law. It seeks to demystify the art of legal research by following a “Source and Process” approach. First, the text introduces students …

Teaching Cost-Effective Research Skills: Tips For Effective And Efficient Legal Research, Rebecca Mattson, Theresa K. Tarves

Theresa Tarves

Being a cost-effective researcher is not necessarily just about the legal research resources available where an attorney practices. Budgetary concerns are prevalent across all legal markets, from solos and public interest to large law firms. As the legal field struggles with clients who want greater efficiencies from their attorneys and alternative fee arrangements, many of which state that attorneys will not bill clients for legal research database fees, it is becoming more important than ever to teach law students and attorneys how to use alternative resources effectively and efficiently.

Why Can't I Just Use Lexis Or Westlaw? Promoting Lesser Known Legal Research Platforms To Law Students, Theresa K. Tarves

Theresa Tarves

It can be difficult to convince law students to try new resources outside of Westlaw and Lexis, especially when these two resources seemingly have it all from a law student’s perspective. How do we expose law students to lesser known legal research resources so that they can be well-informed researchers who do not become dependent on only a few resources to carry them through their entire legal careers?

Teaching Cost-Effective Research Skills: Tips For Effective And Efficient Legal Research, Rebecca Mattson, Theresa K. Tarves

Rebecca A. Mattson

Being a cost-effective researcher is not necessarily just about the legal research resources available where an attorney practices. Budgetary concerns are prevalent across all legal markets, from solos and public interest to large law firms. As the legal field struggles with clients who want greater efficiencies from their attorneys and alternative fee arrangements, many of which state that attorneys will not bill clients for legal research database fees, it is becoming more important than ever to teach law students and attorneys how to use alternative resources effectively and efficiently.

Before They Even Start: Hope And Incoming 1ls, Barbara Brunner

Barbara Brunner

Newly-accepted law school 1Ls often express interest in how they should spend the summer before starting their fall courses in order to be best prepared for success in their first semester. This desire to have a "leg up" on law school success leads those of us teaching first-year courses to think more deeply about what constitutes a "good preparation" for the unique experiences that new law students will face, and what skills are really necessary to increase their possibilities of success, especially in the first semester. Over the past few years, I have compiled a list of activities which I …

Filling The Google Gaps: Harnessing The Power Of Google Through Instruction, Rebecca Mattson

Rebecca A. Mattson

This article discusses teaching proper use of Google and Google Scholar in the legal research classroom.

Teaching Legal Research And Writing With Actual Legal Work: Extending Clinical Education Into The First Year, Michael A. Millemann, Steven D. Schwinn

Steven D. Schwinn

In this article, the co-authors argue that legal research and writing (LRW) teachers should use actual legal work to generate assignments. They recommend that clinical and LRW teachers work together to design, co-teach, and evaluate such courses. They describe two experimental courses they developed together and co-taught to support and clarify their arguments. They contend that actual legal work motivates students to learn the basic skills of research, analysis and writing, and thus helps to accomplish the primary goals of LRW courses. It also helps students to explore new dimensions of basic skills, including those related to the development and …

Issues And Trends In Collection Development For East Asia Legal Materials, Xiaomeng Zhang, Joostaek Lee, Keiko Okuhara, Evelyn Ma

Jootaek Lee

The authors delineate the general policy and guidelines for developing foreign and transnational law collections in U.S. law libraries, and they analyze factors that shape East Asian collections, such as law libraries’ preservation and digitization efforts and their related cost-efficiency, and the availability and quality of English translations. The authors then discuss the main sources for Korean, Japanese, and Chinese law.

Understanding The "Other" International Agreements, Ryan Harrington

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers

The President routinely enters into international agreements with foreign states that circumvent the requirements in the Treaty Clause, leaving many researchers with a cloudy

understanding of the international agreement-making process in the United States. In many instances, Congress has preauthorized the President to negotiate and conclude an international commitment. In others, the majority of both houses of Congress, rather than two-thirds of the Senate, approve of an international agreement. Even more troublingly, in the last half century, the United States has come to rely on yet another form of international agreements, called “political commitments,” that create nonlegally binding expectations and …

Flying The Flag, Aaron S. Kirschenfeld

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers

This paper analyzes the accuracy with which descriptions of subsequent negative treatment are applied by an online citator system that employs a hierarchical controlled vocabulary -- Shepard's Citations -- as opposed to one that does not -- KeyCite. After a contextual review of the citator's history, a framework for assessment is proposed and employed to test the hypothesis that a citator employing a hierarchical controlled vocabulary would produce more accurate descriptions. The study's results suggest that a system making use of a hierarchical controlled vocabulary does apply descriptions of subsequent negative treatment in a marginally more accurate way. A discussion …

Answering The Call: Flipping The Classroom To Prepare Practice-Ready Attorneys, Alex Berrio Matamoros

Alex Berrio Matamoros

In the rough and changing landscape of the legal job market, legal employers have called on law schools to prepare “practice ready” attorneys — newly minted members of the bar with better honed practical skills than the first year lawyers of the past. The increasing emphasis on legal skills sheds light on an interesting paradox within legal education; in legal skills courses, those that best lend themselves to active learning experiences, instructors frequently fill valuable classroom time with passive lectures to convey the related theory and best practices. Recently, several legal skills instructors have adopted a flipped classroom model to …

The United Nations Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods: Guide To Research And Literature, Claire M. Germain

Claire Germain

This article maps research strategies concerning the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and explores some research issues relating to the Convention and its interpretation. More specifically, it provides guidance on where to start, how to find the leading texts, commentaries and practitioners' guides, and where to find the texts of documents. Finally, this article describes some new Internet-based projects, examines where to find additional information, and examines how to keep "up-to-date" with this burgeoning area of international sales law.

Legal Writing - What's Next? Real-World, Persuasion Pedagogy From Day One—It’S Not What You Offer; It’S What You Require – Part Ii (In A Three-Part Series), Adam Lamparello, Charles Maclean

Adam Lamparello

This essay (part two of a three-part series) strives to begin a collaborative discussion with legal writing, clinical, and doctrinal faculty about what “change” in legal education should mean. In Part I, the authors rolled out a blueprint for transformative change in legal writing pedagogy, which includes: (1) more required skills courses that mirror the actual practice of law; (2) a three-year program that includes up to four writing credits in every semester; and (3) increased collaboration between legal writing professors and doctrinal faculty. In this essay, we get more specific, and propose a three-year legal writing curriculum that builds …

Legal Writing - What's Next? Real-World, Persuasion Pedagogy From Day One, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Law schools have an ethical duty to train effective legal writers who understand that the skills acquired in law school are intended to serve something greater than themselves — the bench, bar, and broader community. Training good writers — and good people — can happen by creating a writing curriculum that focuses on persuasive advocacy, public service, and honest legal representation from the first semester to the last. This change will be a challenge to legal writing professors everywhere, but with proper institutional support and collaboration, law schools can prepare their students for a profession “that depends on flawless writing, …

Legal Writing--What's Next? Real-World Persuasion Pedagogy From Day One, Adam Lamparello, Charles E. Maclean

Adam Lamparello

So, why didn’t they teach me this in law school?” The problem has nothing to do with ‘bad’ or uncaring teachers, but with a pedagogical approach that mistakenly divorces the acquisition of legal knowledge—and practical skills training—from their functional roles in the real world. In law school, students are typically required to write a memorandum or an appellate brief, but without knowing how each document fits into the broader context of actual law practice, the student’s ability to put that knowledge to practical use is limited. Every litigation document, whether it is, for example, a legal memorandum, complaint, motion to …

What About The Majority? Considering The Legal Research Practices Of Solo And Small Firm Attorneys, Joseph D. Lawson

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers

Solo and small firm practitioners account for the majority of attorneys practicing in the United States. However, they are regularly underrepresented in studies of attorneys’ research practices, which tend to focus on attorneys in larger practice settings. This article reports the results of a local survey in which more than 80 percent of respondents fell into this forgotten demographic. Comparison of the local study with a recent national survey demonstrates that greater consideration of smaller firms could lead to a different understanding of fee-based online resource usage among the demographic, which may have widespread implications for public and academic law …

Law Firm Legal Research Requirements And The Legal Academy Beyond Carnegie, Patrick Meyer

Patrick Meyer

What types of research resources must new hires know how to use, and in which format(s)? To answer this question, this article starts by identifying the historical research deficiencies of new attorneys. The author goes on to summarize four recent and regarded law firm practice skills studies, as well as results of the author's 2010 law firm survey. This article concludes by identifying a three part plan to improve the lacking research skills of new attorneys.

How Flipping The Classroom Made My Students Better Legal Researchers And Me A Better Teacher, Alex Berrio Matamoros

Alex Berrio Matamoros

No abstract provided.

Training The Superstar Associate: Teaching Workplace Professionalism In Legal Writing Courses, Elizabeth Shaver

Elizabeth Shaver

This article details efforts to increase the professional workplace skills of law students by teaching professionalism skills in a first-year legal writing course. The article describes a series of videos that demonstrate how a new lawyer’s professional attributes and attitude can create either a positive or a negative impression on a supervising attorney. Nine “what not to do” videos highlight certain types of unprofessional behavior, much of which has been personally observed among students in first-year legal writing courses. The “what not to do” videos are juxtaposed with one “what to do” video that is designed to illuminate exemplary professionalism …

Training The Superstar Associate: Teaching Workplace Professionalism In Legal Writing Courses, Sarah J. Morath, Elizabeth Shaver

Sarah J Morath

This article details efforts to increase the professional workplace skills of law students by teaching professionalism skills in a first-year legal writing course. The article describes a series of videos that demonstrate how a new lawyer’s professional attributes and attitude can create either a positive or a negative impression on a supervising attorney. Nine “what not to do” videos highlight certain types of unprofessional behavior, much of which has been personally observed among students in first-year legal writing courses. The “what not to do” videos are juxtaposed with one “what to do” video that is designed to illuminate exemplary professionalism …

Outcomes Assessment And Legal Research Pedagogy, Vicenç Feliú, Helen Frazer

Vicenç Feliú

This article explores application of a taxonomic approach in legal research pedagogy to outcomes assessment based on Prof. Paul Callister's adaptation of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives which integrates instructional design and learning activities compatible with formative assessment during the learning process and summative assessment at its conclusion. It reviews the development of outcomes assessment initiatives by legal educators and the development of outcomes assessment standards by the American Bar Association for the accreditation of law schools.

Bounds And Beyond: A Need To Reevaluate The Right Of Prison Access To The Courts, Steven D. Hinckley

Steven D. Hinckley

The author argues that the 1977 United States Supreme Court decision in Bounds v. Smith insufficiently protects the right of prisoners to represent themselves before the courts by failing to require state and federal correctional facilities to establish and maintain adequately stocked prison law libraries and to provide prisoners with the option to use those libraries as their means of gaining meaningful access to the courts.

2012 Law Firm Legal Research Requirement Of New Attorneys (Draft), Patrick Meyer

Patrick Meyer

This article 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. These new survey results confirm that law firms need schools to integrate the teaching of online and print-based research resources and to emphasize cost-effective research. The following federal and state specific print-based resources should be taught in an integrated manner: legislative codes, secondary source …

Thinking Like A Research Expert: Schemata For Teaching Complex Problem-Solving Skills, Paul D. Callister

Paul D. Callister

The difference between expert and novice problem-solvers is that experts have organized their thinking into schemata or mental constructs to both see and solve problems. This article demonstrates why schemata are important, arguing that schemata need to be made explicit in the classroom. It illustrates the use of schemata to understand and categorize complex research problems, map the terrain of legal research resources, match appropriate resources to types of problems, and work through the legal research process. The article concludes by calling upon librarians and research instructors to produce additional schemata and develop a common hierarchical taxonomy of skills, a …

Law Firm Legal Research Requirements Of New Attorneys, Patrick Meyer

Patrick Meyer

This article collects in one place the results of previously published and unpublished surveys as they pertain to law firm research requirements of new hires. The article also summarizes results from the author's recent law firm legal research survey, which determined what research functions, and in what formats, law firms require new hires to be proficient.

The article concludes that there is a need to integrate the teaching of online and print-based research resources for the following tasks: federal and state-specific legislative codes, secondary source materials, reporters, administrative codes and digests. There must also be a strong emphasis on the …

Keeping Students Interested While Teaching Citation, Anna P. Hemingway

Anna P. Hemingway

No abstract provided.