Legal Education Commons^™

The Bluebook: An Insider’S Perspective, M. Burke Craighead

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Edited by Columbia Law Review Association, Harvard Law Review Association, University of Pennsylvania Law Review and The Yale Law Journal.

Teaching Telemachus: Learning To Live And Lead In A Flawed World, Sherman J. Clark

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Odyssey By Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson.

Senior Day 2026, University Of Michigan Law School

Commencement and Honors Materials

Program for the May 11, 2026 University of Michigan Law School Senior Day.

Winter 2026 - Going Beyond U.S. Law: Intro To Foreign, Comparative, And International Law Research, University Of Michigan Law School

Legal Tech Series

Whether you're working with commercial transactions, marriage and custody issues, immigration statuses, or myriad other topics, your research may involve the law of another nation or be governed by an international treaty. This workshop will teach you best practices and resources to help you tackle foreign, comparative, and international legal issues, whenever they arise.

Host: Kate Britt, JD, MLIS | Reference Librarian

Report On The 2025-26 Survey Of Applied Legal Education, David A. Santacroce, Robert R. Kuehn, June T. Tai, Sarah Boonin

Other Publications

This report summarizes the results of the Center for the Study of Applied Legal Education’s (CSALE) 2025-26 Survey of Applied Legal Education. The 2025-26 CSALE Survey is CSALE’s seventh triennial survey of law clinic and field placement (i.e., externship) courses and educators. The results provide insight into the state of experiential legal education in areas like program design, capacity, administration, funding, and pedagogy, and the role of clinic and field placement educators in the legal academy. Law schools, legal educators, scholars, and oversight agencies rely on CSALE’s data. The 2025-26 CSALE Survey is composed of two parts. A Survey of …

Ai-Powered Lawyering: Ai Reasoning Models, Retrieval Augmented Generation, And The Future Of Legal Practice, Daniel Schwarcz, Sam Manning, J. J. Prescott, Patrick Barry, David R. Cleveland, Beverly Rich

Articles

Generative AI is set to transform the legal profession, though its most promising uses and ultimate effects are still unclear. While AI models like GPT-4 improve efficiency, they can also “hallucinate” and may undermine legal judgment, particularly in complex tasks typically handled by skilled lawyers. This article examines two emerging AI innovations that may mitigate these concerns: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), which grounds AI-powered analysis in legal sources, and AI reasoning models, which structure complex reasoning before generating output. We conduct the first randomized controlled trial assessing these technologies, assigning upper-level law students to complete legal tasks using a RAG-powered …

Ai Tips And Traps, Patrick Barry

Books

Based on a series of popular courses and workshops that Professor Patrick Barry has created for students, professionals, and anyone else interested in taking a skills-based approach to artificial intelligence, this book gives you a chance to engage with important AI concepts, experiment with exploratory AI exercises, and then ultimately develop your own customized list of AI traps to try as well as AI traps to avoid.

Fall 2025 - Ai Gaslighting And Hallucinations, University Of Michigan Law School

Legal Tech Series

You've heard the horror stories about AI making stuff up. Learn about why this happens, why it's particularly important for lawyers to be aware of, and tips to avoid getting fooled.

Resources Covered: Westlaw CoCounsel, Lexis+ Protege, UM-GPT, Gemini, ChatGPT, maybe others... or maybe this is a hallucination

Host: Keith Lacy, JD, MLIS | Reference Librarian

Fall 2025 - Demo Days: Spellbook, University Of Michigan Law School

Legal Tech Series

DEMO DAYS: Spellbook - Thursday, September 25 @ 12pm

Over 3,600 law firms and in-house teams are saving hours on contract review and drafting with Spellbook AI. Discover how practicing lawyers are using this powerful tool to draft faster, work smarter, and transform their legal workflow.
Be a step ahead of your fellow associates and join us for a live demo, free trial of Spellbook AI, and Domino's pizza!

Resources covered: Spellbook

Host: Justin Toronyi | Enterprise Account Executive

Senior Day 2025, University Of Michigan Law School

Commencement and Honors Materials

Program for the May 12, 2025 University of Michigan Law School Senior Day.

Winter 2025 - Summer Associate Prep, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

Are you ready for your Summer Internship? Attend this session to learn what practice area specific resources the firms are using, download guides and other resources to help prepare you for practical law firm work, and ask a former law firm librarian anything!

Resources covered: practice area specific legal technology, Summer Associate Resource Kits/Toolkits, law firm specific questions you have.

Winter 2025 - Free & Low-Cost Legal Research Resources, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

This workshop will discuss how to develop legal research strategies using a mix of subscription resources and free/low-cost alternatives. Fastcase is available for free through state bar associations for licensed attorneys, so knowing how to use it will make you a well-rounded legal researcher. This workshop will cover how researchers in many different contexts can access accurate and reliable legal information. What is available on each platform? Can you conduct research effectively using only free resources? This and more will be covered.

Resources covered: Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg, Fastcase, Google Scholar, and more!

Winter 2025 - Cool Tools For Productivity, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

This session will highlight technology designed to make your life easier as a law student and as a new attorney. Tools covered will include Boolean search operators, specialized legal writing keyboards, project management / note taking tools, artificial intelligence for drafting professional writing like emails, and more! If you are interested in maximizing your productivity and efficiency to make your life easier (and who isn't?) then this is the session for you!

Resources covered: LegalPad Keyboards. Search terms/connectors for Lexis, Westlaw, & Google. Google docs note taking. Anki for flashcards.

Note: In the Libguide as "Cool Tools to Boost Efficiency", …

Winter 2025 - Judicial Analytics, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

Applying to a clerkship? Client asking the likelihood a judge will grant their motion? Writing a brief and need to find citations a judge prefers? Curious what other attorneys think of that judge? In this session, you will gain hands-on experience using analytics databases to understand why each is critical to ensuring your success in the courtroom.

Resources covered: Lex Machina, Context, Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, Westlaw Litigation Analytics

Winter 2025 - Finding Briefs & Other Court Filings, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

The judicial opinion is the last chapter of a long story. The key to a case’s history is its docket. This program will guide you through the steps to finding complaints, briefs, motions, and other filings by searching and finding court dockets. Get the whole story Underground!

Resources covered: CourtLink, Bloomberg Dockets, PACER, CourtListener/RECAP

100th Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition: Final Round, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Nearly a century has passed since Henry Munroe Campbell’s law partners met with the dean of the University of Michigan Law School to establish a memorial for their friend and colleague. As a result, the Law School’s nascent “case club competition” was named in Mr. Campbell’s honor, a fitting way to combine his love for Michigan Law, oral advocacy, and the training of young lawyers.

I do not know what Mr. Campbell’s law partners envisioned when they met with the dean. They couldn’t have envisioned this beautiful room we are in today for the Final Round—Hutchins Hall didn’t even exist …

Celebrating The Fiske Fellowship Program: 2001-2025, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

This program contains statements of impact from the 2001-2025 recipients of Fiske Fellowships.

Some information was shared in 2022 and may not reflect current roles and/or responsibilities of Fiske Fellows.

Tribute To Sally Katzen, Rachel Rothschild

Articles

I have been excitedly waiting for the opportunity to speak to you all about Sally tonight. I don't think you could find anyone more deserving of this award than she is. You have heard this evening about her extraordinary professional accomplishments and the indelible mark she has made on administrative law over the course of her career. But in addition to her achievements in government service and private practice, Sally will leave a lasting and significant legacy through the students that she taught at NYU. I hope I can do justice to the enormous role she has played in my …

Developing A Professional Identity: Lessons For Women, Bipoc, And First-Generation Law Students From The Canaries In The Coalmines, Christine M. Venter

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article explores the concept of professional identity formation in the law, particularly as it pertains to women and lawyers of color. The topic of professional identity formation is an understudied area in legal education, despite the ABA’s new Standard 303(b)(3), which requires law schools to provide substantial opportunities for the development of professional identity. In the legal field, professional identity is often conflated with professionalism, which leads to confusion about how law schools should best prepare their students for their professional lives, and fails to fully equip students to join the profession.

Studies from other professions have shown that …

Fall 2024 - Westlaw And Lexis Advanced Search Strategies, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

Do Westlaw and Lexis searches leave you swimming in statutes and cases? Do you wish you could find good law without sifting through mountains of irrelevant law? This program will help you use the tools at your fingertips to search more efficiently and effectively. Upgrade your legal research skills Underground!

Fall 2024 - Gen Ai For Legal Research, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

Generative AI is a transformative technology that will impact your legal career. Learn about the benefits and pitfalls of tools you can use for legal research now.

Fall 2024 - Finding Briefs And Other Court Filings, University Of Michigan Law Library

Legal Tech Series

The judicial opinion is the last chapter of a long story. The key to a case’s history is its docket. This program will guide you through the steps to finding complaints, briefs, motions, and other filings by searching and finding court dockets. Get the whole story Underground!

Feedback Loops: Upward Appreciation., Patrick Barry

Articles

When was the last time you tried to make your boss feel welcome? Last week? Last month? Never?

How about the last time you tried to make one of your mentors feel welcome? Your mom? Your dad? A particularly helpful pastor, rabbi, imam, or other religious leader?

The Complicit Canon Of Criminal Law: A Critical Survey Of Syllabi, Casebooks, And Supplemental Materials, Robin Peterson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note analyzes the learning objectives, casebook readings, and supplemental sources that thirteen criminal law professors assigned over fifteen years and argues that the current approach to teaching criminal law is complicit in perpetuating the injustices of the American criminal legal system because it fails to adequately interrogate the carceral state and does not prepare students to become ethical practitioners or policymakers of criminal law. This paper calls for a fundamental rethinking of the purpose of teaching criminal law and recommends a reform orientation, which could be implemented through a variety of course structures.

Feedback Loops: Going Negative, Patrick Barry

Articles

Aelet Fishbach is a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who has studied how people seek out and process negative feedback. One of the ways she has done this is through a classroom exercise in which she divides the students into two groups: feedback givers and feedback receivers. The givers are told to pair up with a receiver and communicate the following feedback in a one-on-one setting: The person's performance s unsatisfactory; improvement is needed; and there are concrete ways they can get on the right track.

Digital Lawyering: Advocacy In The Age Of Ai, Patrick Barry

Law & Economics Working Papers

All lawyers are now digital lawyers. From Zoom hearings, to e-discovery, to AI-enhanced research and writing, the practice of law increasingly requires the skillful navigation of a wide range of technological tools. It’s no longer enough to be book smart and street smart. More and more, you also have to be byte-smart.

To help future lawyers navigate this transition, I recently created a course at both the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Chicago Law School called “Digital Lawyering: Advocacy in the Age of AI.” The course takes a skill-building approach to artificial intelligence. Which tools are …

Senior Day 2024, University Of Michigan Law School

Commencement and Honors Materials

Program for the May 6, 2024 University of Michigan Law School Senior Day.

99th Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition: Final Round, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Henry Munroe Campbell was a distinguished lawyer who served as legal counsel to the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents for several years.

He was born in 1854, the son of famed Michigan Supreme Court Justice James V. Campbell. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1876 and later from the University of Michigan Law School. In 1878, he established a law partnership in Detroit with Henry Russell. Over the years, the firm prospered and continues today as the Detroit-based firm Dickinson Wright PLLC.

Campbell became an attorney of considerable eminence in Michigan and was widely regarded as a …

Preparing Future Lawyers To Draft Contracts And Communicate With Clients In The Era Of Generative Ai, Kristen Wolff

Articles

Thank you all for coming today. This is, I think, a really important topic. Important enough that the conference has decided to have two talks on the same topic, and Mark will be presenting on this in the next session, too. I plan on attending because I don’t think you can get enough perspectives on it right now. And hearing this information, I had to attend several talks myself before I really digested it and understood what this was all about. So, I hope that I can give you a little bit of that today. My name is Kristen Wolff. …

Feedback Loops: More Valuable Than Money, Patrick Barry

Articles

In an essay called "Secrets of Positive Feedback,” Douglas Conant, the former CEO of Campbell Soup Company, shares a key element of the leadership style that helped him resurrect Campbell’s from financial ruin in 2001 and turn it into both a highly profitable business by the time he stepped down in 2011 and an award-winning, much more inclusive workplace: During his ten years at the helm, he wrote more than 30,000 thank-you notes to his employees and customers.