Law Commons^™

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 …

Environmental Legal Research, Ripple Weistling

Ripple L. Weistling

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law Research Guide, Ripple Weistling

Ripple L. Weistling

No abstract provided.

"Information Is Cheap, But Meaning Is Expensive": Building Analytical Skill Into Legal Research Instruction, Yasmin Sokkar Harker

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers

Law students and new attorneys must have well-developed analytical skills in order to find information that is pertinent to their legal problems and to become competent legal researchers in today’s information-rich environment. Law librarians and legal research instructors can help develop students’ analytical skills by asking them to participate in activities that encourage metacognition about processes that are critical to information seeking.

A View From The Flip Side: Using The “Inverted Classroom” To Enhance The Legal Information Literacy Of The International Ll.M. Student, Catherine A. Lemmer

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers

International students enrolled in LL.M. programs in U.S. law schools come with a wide variety of legal experience. As part of their introduction to U.S. law, students take a legal research course to prepare them to competently undertake the research necessary to complete a master’s thesis and to perform legal research in clinics, internships, externships, and U.S. law firms and legal departments. This article argues that the “flipped” classroom pedagogical model is a better method for developing legal information literacy in international LL.M. students than the traditional classroom model. In support of this, it presents the author’s experiences in implementing …

Teaching Westlawnext: Next Steps For Teachers Of Legal Research, Ronald Wheeler

Ronald E Wheeler

As a follow up to his earlier piece titled "Does WestlawNext Really Change Everything: The Implications of WestlawNext on Legal Research," Professor Wheeler here explores strategies for teaching students to effectively research using the WestlawNext legal research platform. He focuses on challenging law librarians and other teachers of legal research to embrace change, to innovate and to devise research exercises that highlight both the advantages and the alleged pitfalls of WestlawNext. In particular, Professor Wheeler discusses source selection, filters, addressing the volume of results, esoteric content, and Boolean searching.

Wyoming Legal Research, Debora Person, Tawnya Plumb

Debora A. Person

Wyoming Legal Research, Debora A. Person, Tawnya K. Plumb

Tawnya K. Plumb

Wyoming Legal Research, Debora A. Person, Tawnya K. Plumb

Tawnya K. Plumb

Wyoming Legal Research, Debora A. Person, Tawnya K. Plumb

Tawnya K. Plumb

Using An Alumni Survey To Assess Whether Skills Teaching Aligns With Alumni Practice, Sheila F. Miller Ms.

Sheila F. Miller Ms.

This article addresses the implications of the results of a survey of alumni in which they identify the research and writing skills they use in practice. Comparisons are drawn to other similar survey results. The author draws conclusions regarding techniques to be used in teaching research and writing skills based on the survey results. This article should be helpful to those who are interested in pursuing data on their own alumni, a practice encouraged by the article. Moreover, the article should be helpful for those teaching research and writing because there are implications from the findings that may inform how …

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.

Google Scholar . . . It's Free But Is It Effective?, Olivia Weeks

Olivia L. Weeks

No abstract provided.

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.

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 …

Libraries And Legal Research, Olivia Weeks

Olivia L. Weeks

No abstract provided.

Does Westlawnext Really Change Everything: The Implications Of Westlawnext On Legal Research, Ronald Wheeler

Ronald E Wheeler

WestlawNext, Thomson Reuters newest electronic research service, has been around for over a year now. Ron Wheeler shares his thoughts on how this service may impact various aspects of legal research, and he suggests further study and research are necessary to fully evaluate and comprehend the system.

Introduction To Special Issue: Determining Legislative Intent In State Courts, Selected Methods And Sources, Linda Kawaguchi

Linda Kawaguchi

Judges and legislators alike have expressed a desire for more certainty on how and when legislative history should be used, both in the interpretation of statutes and to ascertain intent. This is an evolving area of the law, and states appear to be taking the lead in experimenting with methods to provide clarity to what has traditionally been a murky issue. These changes will have an impact on researchers in the future. The articles included in this issue were selected to demonstrate a range of approaches in the areas of legislative process, the history of courts and legislatures addressing the …

The Brief Makes The Difference: Effective Use Of Research In Trial And Appellate Briefs, Olivia Weeks

Olivia L. Weeks

No abstract provided.

The Law Librarian's Role In The Scholarly Enterprise: Historical Development Of The Librarian/Research Partnership In American Law Schools, Michael Slinger, Rebecca Slinger

Michael J. Slinger

No abstract provided.

Time To Blossom: An Inquiry Into Bloom’S Taxonomy As A Means To Ordered Legal Research Skills, Paul D. Callister

Paul D. Callister

Within law librarianship and legal education, there has been far too little scholarly engagement on the underlying pedagogy at the heart of legal research instruction. To correct this deficiency, law librarianship needs to open a dialogue and should consider adapting Bloom’s Taxonomy as a common schema for a collaborative effort. This paper was initially presented at the "Conference on Legal Information: Scholarship and Teaching," held at the University of Colorado Law School on June 21-22, 2009, as part of its Boulder Summer Conference Series. It follows the author's own recently published challenge to law librarianship and legal research instructors to …

Librarians Take Cautious Stance On Google Scholar, Olivia Weeks

Olivia L. Weeks

Interview with NC Lawyer's Weekly

On-Line Legal Research Workshops, Frederick B. Jonassen

Frederick B. Jonassen

Like riding a bicycle, playing tennis, or driving a car, legal research is a skill, and like any other skill it is learned by doing and not by listening to a lecture, though lectures are indispensable for introducing the skill. The mental processes applied in electronic legal research may differ from those applied to book legal research, but because both electronic and book research are skills, a guided workshop in electronic legal research may be based on similar principles to that underlying a workshop in book legal research with appropriate modifications.

The aspects of the electronic legal workshop proposed here …

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 …

Libraries And Legal Research, Olivia Weeks

Olivia L. Weeks

No abstract provided.

Unlocking The Secrets Of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students, Anne Enquist

Anne M Enquist

Abstract Unlocking the Secrets of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students Anne M. Enquist Seattle University School of Law Why are some law students successful in their legal writing classes and others are not? To identify the secrets to success, I did a case study of six second-year law students as they wrote a motion brief and an appellate brief for their 2L legal writing course. Based on their 1L legal writing course, two of these students were predicted to be highly successful, two were predicted to be moderately successfully, and two were predicted to be only marginally successful. Through daily …