Legal Education Commons^™

On The Effective Communication Of The Results Of Empirical Studies, Part Ii, Christina L. Boyd, Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin

Scholarship@WashULaw

While law professors are increasingly making use of data in their scholarship and while the data work housed in their studies is (generally) of a high quality, they have been less effective at communicating the products of their labor. A strong devotion to tabular, rather than graphical, displays, and claims about "statistical significance" rather than substantive importance, are just two areas requiring improvement. Here, as in Part I, we attempt to adapt a burgeoning literature in the social and statistical sciences to the unique interests of legal scholars. Our proposals are many in number, but none is particularly difficult to …

Rebuilding The Profession: Recommendations For Librarians Interested In Becoming Academic Law Library Directors, Barbara A. Bintliff, Laura N. Gasaway, Penny A. Hazelton, Frank G. Houdek, Janis L. Johnston, Martha Dragich Pearson, Charles Ten Brink, Michelle Wu

Articles

Based on papers presented at a 2005 workshop for individuals interested in becoming academic law library directors, this article begins by exploring the duties of academic director jobs—administrative skills and faculty responsibilities—before examining how to build credentials in preparation for such jobs. It concludes by focusing on the skills and knowledge needed to interview for director jobs.

Student Services In The 21st Century: Evolution And Innovation In Discovering Student Needs, Teaching Information Literacy, And Designing Library 2.0-Based Services, Frances M. Brillantine, Kumar Jayasuriya

Scholarly Articles

The authors discuss the changing library needs of law students as computers, technology, and legal publishing evolve. In order to track the evolving needs of students, the authors discuss ways that librarians can survey students and explain how focus groups and usability tests can provide further insights regarding students’ research skills and information needs. The article examines the literature regarding information literacy and suggests minimum standards for legal information literacy upon graduation, and the authors suggest new services that law librarians could create for law students. Next the authors examine the recent literature about Library 2.0 services, and offer suggestions …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Explaining The Value Of Transactional Lawyering, Steven L. Schwarcz

ExpressO

This article attempts, empirically, to explain the value that lawyers add when acting as counsel to parties in business transactions. Contrary to existing scholarship, which is based mostly on theory, this article shows that transactional lawyers add value primarily by reducing regulatory costs, thereby challenging the reigning models of transactional lawyers as “transaction cost engineers” and “reputational intermediaries.” This new model not only helps inform contract theory but also reveals a profoundly different vision than existing models for the future of legal education and the profession.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Economic Analysis Of Law And Economics, Oren Gazal-Ayal

ExpressO

The academic world is wonderful. Like few other professionals, we can choose what we want to do and what questions we think are important, which in our line of work means choosing what topics we want to research. But what influences our choices? This paper examines what drives scholars to select Law and Economics (L&E) as a topic for research. It does so by implementing the methodology of many L&E papers – by assuming that regulation and incentives matter.

Legal scholars face very different academic incentives in different parts of the world. In some countries, the academic standards for appointment, …

Visit To Puerto Rico, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Trademark Searching Tools And Strategies: Questions For The New Millennium, Jon R. Cavicchi

Law Faculty Scholarship

The intent of this discussion is to raise questions about trademark searching which will be discussed in future issues of IDEA. I will lead you through the questions raised by my journey through primarily legal literature in treatises and periodicals on the Lexis and Westlaw platforms.

Keeping Up To Date With Ip News Services And Blogs: Drowning In A Sea Of Sameness?, Jon R. Cavicchi

Law Faculty Scholarship

It seems like so many IP related Websites you visit invite you to join their free email list to keep you up to date. Sources span a wide spectrum including governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, consulting services, law firms, commercial publishers and more. These sources span the spectrum from free, to low fee to premium pricing. With all of this information overload and choices, how do you differentiate and choose news sources?

The goals of this article are twofold. Goal one is to present a survey of types and categories of IP news tools available to IP researchers. Since …

Intellectual Property Research: From The Dustiest Law Book To The Most Far Off Database, Jon R. Cavicchi

Law Faculty Scholarship

This issue of IDEA introduces a regular series of articles on intellectual property research tools and strategies based on my experience for over a decade as Intellectual Property Librarian and Research Professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Pierce Law is consistently ranked among the top law schools training IP professionals. I have taught IP legal research, patent, trademark and copyright searching to hundreds of students and IP professionals in Pierce Law Graduate Programs. I have tackled hundreds of reference and research questions as well as working on countless projects requiring IP information. So I have been faced with challenges and …

The Law Is Not The Case: Incorporating Empirical Methods Into The Culture Of Case Analysis, Kay L. Levine

Faculty Articles

While I consider case analysis in the context of cultural defense jurisprudence, this Essay should be regarded as a case study of a more endemic problem in legal scholarship. In tackling such an area, my goal is not to overthrow centuries of legal analysis, but rather to explore how we, as legal scholars, might use social science techniques to more systematically investigate, document, analyze, and predict the state of a particular comer of the legal universe.

The argument proceeds in two parts. Part II considers empirical approaches to the question raised by Lee: how might we ascertain the relationship between …

Our Oldest Alumna: Viola Bird, Peggy Roebuck Jarrett

Librarians' Articles

No abstract provided.

Redefining Open Access For The Legal Information Market, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

The open access movement in legal scholarship, inasmuch as it is driven within the law library community over concerns about the rising cost of legal information, fails to address - and in fact diverts resources from - the real problem facing law libraries today: the soaring costs of nonscholarly, commercially published, practitioner-oriented legal publications. The current system of legal scholarly publishing - in student-edited journals and without meaningful peer review - does not face the pressures to increase prices common in the science and health disciplines. One solution to this problem is for law schools to redirect some of their …

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Legal Employment Market: Determinants Of Elite Firm Placement, And How Law Schools Stack Up, Anthony M. Ciolli

ExpressO

Data collected on 15,293 law firm associates from 1295 employers who graduated from law school between 2001 and 2003 were used to develop a “total quality score” for every ABA-accredited law school, both nationally and for nine geographic regions. Quantitative methods were then used to identify factors that help explain the variation in a law school’s national career placement success at elite law firms. The findings revealed that while a law school’s academic reputation is the single biggest predictor of placement, several other factors were also highly significant. Differences in grading system, class rank disclosure policies, and the number of …

Secondary Sources: Top Ten, Susan Drisko Zago

Law Faculty Scholarship

Secondary sources are a legal researcher's best friend. They are a great place to begin researching a new topic as they provide a framework for understanding the subject. Not only will a good secondary source provide researchers with a way of approaching the topic, but it will also introduce beginning researchers to the language of the subject. Secondary sources also contain expert analysis, references to primary law such as cases, statutes, and regulations, and will also include such other resources as governmental reports, statistics, and other secondary sources. While secondary sources are an incredibly valuable research tool, they can offer …

Out Of The Jungle, James G. Milles

Other Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Expand Your Online Research Abilities, Laura K. Justiss

Law Library Staff & Faculty Works

As a summer clerk or full-time associate at a law firm (or as a solo practitioner), you are likely to encounter research projects for which neither Lexis nor Westlaw is a good option. Perhaps the material isn't available on these databases at all. Or, your firm may have a limited subscription that excludes the information you need. You also may find that some content on Lexis or Westlaw costs more than your firm or client is willing to pay. In these circumstances, it's important to know that the two most prominent databases used by lawyers are not the only ones …

Why Print And Electronic Resources Are Essential To The Academic Law Library, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Libraries have supported multiple formats for decades, from paper and microforms to audiovisual tapes and CDs. However, the newest medium, digital transmission, has presented a wider scope of challenges and caused library patrons to question the established and recognized multiformat library. Within the many questions posed, two distinct ones echo repeatedly. The first doubts the need to sustain print in an increasingly digital world, and the second warns of the dangers of relying on a still-developing technology. This article examines both of these positions and concludes that abandoning either format would translate into a failure of service to patrons, both …

A Tribute To Viola A. Bird On The Occasion Of Her 100th Birthday, Patrick E. Kehoe

Librarians' Articles

Consists of a biographical sketch and reminiscences of Mrs. Bird by former students and co-workers.

The Transformation Of An Academic Discipline: Law Professors In The Past And Future (Or Toy Story Too), Stephen M. Feldman

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching Talking: Oral Communication Skills In A Law Course, Jane Korn

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violance In The First-Year Torts Curriculum, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching Race Without A Critical Mass: Reflections On Affirmative Action And The Diversity Rationale, Kathryn R.L Rand, Steven Andrew Light

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Developing A Course On The Rights Of Low-Wage Workers, Shirley Lung

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Performance In Law School: What Matters In The End?, Richard A. Ippolito

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

What We Teach When We Teach About Race: The Problem Of Law And Pseudo-Economics, Steven A. Ramirez

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

On Collegiality, Michael L. Seigel

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Race, Rankings, And The Part-Time Free Pass, Paul F. Kirgis

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.