Law Commons^™

The 80/20 Rule For Legal Research, Olivia R. Smith Schlink

Library Staff Online Publications

A few semesters ago I was discussing the value of secondary sources with a student when they paused to think, then described secondary sources as “kind of like the 80/20 Rule, but different.” I’d never heard of the 80/20 Rule, but I jotted it down onto a Post-It note to look into later. Fast-forward to today and I now introduce my students to what I’ve dubbed “the 80/20 Rule for Legal Research” in all classes about secondary sources.

Some Thoughts On Reply Briefs, Brian Wolfman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay provides suggestions for writing reply briefs. It begins with a quick review of the well-understood ways in which an appellate advocate should acquire and review the information needed to write a comprehensive and powerful reply brief.

The essay then turns to the more difficult challenges of crafting the brief, making three key points:

First, don't just go tit-for-tat in responding to one point after another advanced by the appellee. That can be boring and ponderous and often requires you to argue the case on your opponent's terms. Rather, re-frame the case on your client's terms, taking the case …

Maurer School Of Law Hosting Icleo Summer Institute Through July, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

No abstract provided.

Family Research 101: Where To Start Looking, Frederick Dingledy

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

On Bringing Alternative Methods To Legal Research Instruction, Tanya M. Johnson

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Legal research is typically taught in a predictable, traditional way, but this doctrinal approach does not provide the skills and techniques needed for research in support of social justice efforts. This essay discusses a legal research course that I teach called Research for Social Justice, which incorporates critical and alternative methodologies that are not usually taught in legal research classes. After describing the content of the course, I focus on explaining what alternative legal research would entail, including a discussion of some alternative methods and strategies that I teach in my course with the goal of introducing students to a …

Notes For A New Legal Research Pedagogy, Nicholas Mignanelli

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Do societal power structures shape the organization of legal information? Do they embed biases in legal research tools? If so, how can the insights of critical legal theory assist us in contending with this phenome-non? An entire body of scholarly literature using the lenses of critical legal studies, feminist legal theory, and Critical Race Theory to examine legal information and the legal research process has grown up around answering these questions. However, the theories, methods, and strategies proffered by the scholars writing in this area are rarely taught in the legal research classroom.

I begin this Essay with a discussion …

Integration & Transformation: Incorporating Critical Information And Literacy And Critical Legal Research Into Advanced Legal Research Instruction, Courtney Selby

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Today’s law students exist in an information ecosystem where access to information is plentiful. Between the open web and the proliferation of databases offering countless research resources, retrieving potentially relevant search results is relatively easy. The struggle for our students is filtering through seemingly endless search results to find the best resources for the legal problem at hand. For many of us, the summer of 2020 was a watershed moment, not because of the pandemic, but because of the brutal murder of George Floyd. Make no mistake, there was a genuine need for CIL and CLR in our legal research …

Oh No, Another Chatgpt Post: Incorporating Ai-Powered Chatbots Into Legal Research Exercises And Assignments, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

Since it was launched at the end of November 2022, the discourse around ChatGPT and AI search tools has been unrelenting. What impact will AI-powered chatbots have on education? Will students submit ChatGPT-written essays and homework assignments? Will AI make lawyers obsolete? Look, this chatbot just passed the bar exam! Wait a minute—is this thing. . . sentient?

A Body Without A Soul: Why Print Still Matters In Legal Research, Mari Cheney, Heather Simmons

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

This article argues that print still has a place in legal research pedagogy and that some materials should still be collected in print in addition to online should the budget allow for it due to five primary reasons: (1) stability of legal information; (2) context; (3) information literacy; (4) algorithm bias; and (5) the discovery of information. Since many law library budgets are shrinking, there are creative ways for online legal publishers to make online material more print-like should libraries be unable to purchase both print and online material.

Lisp – An Historical Reminiscence, Heather Simmons

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Reflections on the history of the Legal Information Services to the Public group of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Ok, Zoomer: Teaching Legal Research To Gen Z, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Articles

Generation Z has entered law school. With each new generation comes new education preferences. While research on Gen Z in the legal academy has grown over the past few years, to date none deal explicitly with teaching legal research to Gen Z. This article connects Gen Z’s childhood and resulting peer personality to 10 tangible pedagogical changes for teaching legal research to Gen Z.

Exemplary Legal Writing 2020: Four Recommendations, Jed S. Rakoff, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

For some years, John Coffee of the Columbia Law School, one of the country’s leading experts on corporate and securities law, has been critical of the government’s failure to effectively prosecute corporate crime. In this book, Coffee both propounds a general theory of why such criminality is rarely prosecuted in a meaningful way, and also offers some creative solutions to such underenforcement.

Trial Selection And Estimating Damages Equations, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

Many studies have employed regression analysis with data drawn from court opinions. For example, an analyst might use regression analysis to determine the factors that explain the size of damages awards or the factors that determine the probability that the plaintiff will prevail at trial or on appeal. However, the full potential of multiple regression analysis in legal research has not been realized, largely because of the sample selection problem. We propose a method for controlling for sample selection bias using data from court opinions.