Law Commons^™

Identifying Red Herrings In American Legal Research, Erin Gow

Faculty Scholarship

This article presents useful clues for British law librarians and legal researchers conducting research on American laws and legal systems. It focuses on general guidelines and key sticking points the author found when transitioning between legal research in the American and British jurisdictions.

Key skills introduced include the ability to:

• differentiate between federal and state legal jurisdictions in the U.S.,
• recognize key differences in American legal terminology and construct searches using American terms,
• analyze and select key American legal resources for different types of research questions,
• and identify American standards of legal citation.

Appendix E: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Random Search Order,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.44 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix D: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Problem Solving & Interface Comments,” is an electronic Appendix D to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.43 (2022), https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix C: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Twelve Problems,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 13 n.37 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

A Review Of Grey Literature Cited By Food Loss Law And Policy Scholarship, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, state and federal programs, rules, and legislation attempt to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of food waste. Research on the efficacy of these interventions rely on a variety of grey literature resources. Grey literature is valuable to policy research but may be overlooked because it is not published commercially and is often deemed unauthoritative. This review focuses on the use of grey literature in food waste law and policy scholarship to identify the most used sources and to determine what, if any, archiving strategies authors use. Recommendations for librarians and researchers are discussed.

Georgia Legal Research, Amy Taylor

Books

This open source textbook authored by Amy Taylor was designed to provide University of Georgia School of Law students with a comprehensive guide to Georgia legal research. Using this text in combination with appropriate assignments, student objectives include the ability to select, evaluate, and use appropriate legal research tools with an emphasis on cost-effective research and proficiency in the following topics:

• Developing an efficient and cost effective research strategy
• Advanced searching skills in legal research databases
• Case law, including docket research, court rules, and verdicts & settlements
• Statutory law, including legislative materials and legislative history
• Administrative regulations, rules, and related …

Research Across The Curriculum: Using Cognitive Science To Answer The Call For Better Legal Research Instruction, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The American Bar Association (ABA), law students, and employers are demanding that law schools do better when teaching legal research. Academic critics are demanding that law professors begin to apply the lessons from the science of learning to improve student outcomes. The practice of law is changing.

Yet, the data shows that law schools are not changing their legal research curriculum to respond to the need of their students or to address the ABA’s mandate. This stagnation comes at the same time as an explosion in legal information and a decrease in technical research skills among incoming students. This article …

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like A Correct Bluebook Citation & Formatting The 1l Brief, Jason Tubinis, Heather Simmons

Presentations

Law Librarians Heather Simmons and Jason Tubinis walked students through the necessary formatting for 1L brief success, as well as shared their top tips for Bluebook citations. Formatting topics included Table of Authorities, Table of Contents, page numbering, and styles. Students were encouraged to bring their laptops for hands on help with both Mac and PC versions of Microsoft Word.

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 …

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.

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 …

Developing A Culturally Competent Legal Research Curriculum, Shamika Dalton, Clanitra Nejdl

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Developing A Culturally Competent Legal Research Curriculum, Shamika Dalton, Clanitra Stewart Nejdl

Shamika Dalton

No abstract provided.

Sustainable And Open Access To Valuable Legal Research Information: A New Framework, Alex Zhang, James Hart

Scholarly Articles

This article evaluates the current status of access to foreign and international legal research information, analyzes the challenges that information providers have experienced in providing valuable and sustainable access, and proposes a model that would help create and facilitate effective and sustainable access to valuable foreign, comparative, and international legal information.

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.

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 …

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 …

Surveying The Landscape As Technology Revolutionizes Media Coverage Of Appellate Courts, Howard J. Bashman

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Real Resources For Researching Ip Law, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A presentation on strategies for researching intellectual property law in classroom L. Sponsored by the Alexander Campbell King Law Library and the Intellectual Property Law Society.

Federal Research, Yolanda Patrice Jones Phd, Mls

Faculty Books and Book Contributions

Finding legal information in the United States can be difficult and/or confusing for the layperson. Electronic databases such as LexisNexis or Westlaw may only be accessible for those who can afford it. Even with access to these databases, those without legal training may find them to be overwhelming. This chapter aims to shed some light on the process of doing federal legal research as well as recommend Internet sites where the layperson can get access to free legal resources.

Bibliography, Editorial Board

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

This bibliography is a comprehensive list of all of Professor Calvin Massey’s scholarship. Unless otherwise indicated, each title was written exclusively by Professor Massey. We have not, however, included every edition of each title; rather, where multiple editions were published, we reference only the first edition. We have also omitted supplements written by Professor Massey to his own casebooks.

Persona Non Grata: The Marginalization Of Legal Scholarship In Criminology And Criminal Justice Journals, Brenda I. Rowe, Wesley S. Mccann, Craig Hemmens

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recently, concern has been voiced within the academy regarding the marginalization of legal scholarship within the criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) discipline. Although conventional wisdom and anecdotal evidence indicate that it is difficult to get legal scholarship published in CCJ journals, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the representation of legal scholarship in CCJ journals. The present study assesses the representation of legal scholarship in 20 CCJ journals from 2005 through 2015, examining both trends over time and variation across journals. Findings indicate legal scholarship comprises a very small portion of articles published, there has been a steep …

Bringing Law To The Community: Facilitating Access To Justice In Metropolitan Detroit, Beth Applebaum, Jan Bissett, Michelle Lalonde, Michael Samson, Virginia Thomas

Library Scholarly Publications

Wayne County is Michigan’s most populous county with 1.775 million residents and its county seat in Detroit. Unlike many other counties throughout the state, Wayne county does not provide a government-supported law library to serve its residents. The Arthur Neef Law Library which serves the Wayne State University Law School has a long-standing tradition of opening its doors to provide legal research services and resources to members of the community.

A fundamental mission of the Law Library, as well as the entire University, is “…meaningful engagement in its urban community”. Legal professionals, students and faculty from other educational institutions, and …

Crossing Borders: Adventures In International Legal Research, Anne Burnett

Presentations

An overview of the resources and processes for researching international law topics in classroom H.

Real Resources For Researching Ip Law, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A presentation on strategies for researching intellectual property law in classroom I.

Book Review. Locating U.S. Government Information Handbook, 3rd Ed. By E. Herman And T. Belniak, Jennifer Morgan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Technology And Legal Research: What Is Taught And What Is Used In The Practice Of Law, Rebecca Sewanee Trammell

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Law schools are criticized for graduating students who lack the skills necessary to practice law. Legal research is a foundational ability necessary to support lawyering competency. The American Bar Association (ABA) establishes standards for legal education that include a requirement that each law student receive substantial instruction in legal skills, including legal research. Despite the recognized importance of legal research in legal education, there is no consensus of what to teach as part of a legal research course or even how to teach such a course.

Legal educators struggle to address these issues. The practicing bar and judiciary have expressed …

Indiana's Government Information Day Focuses On Change, Access & Continuity, Jennifer Morgan, Sally Holterhoff

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Lexis Two-Step: After Two Major Updates In 2014, Lexis Advance Empowers Users With Improved Functionality, Beau Steenken

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this article, the author discusses improvements to the Lexis Advance research platform.

Public Access To Primary Legal Information In China: Challenges And Opportunities, Xiaomeng Zhang

Law Librarian Scholarship

Despite a lack of a national legislation that mandates open government information in the People's Republic of China, each major government branch has taken proactive efforts to make primary legal information issued within their power available to the public. A close examination of Chinese official legal information portals on the national level reveal issues such as a lack of uniformity and a lack of access to authenticated primary legal information. This article proposes a solution that would not only offer more consistent guidelines for the government but would empower the public to assert their right to primary legal information more …