Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Information Retrieval In The Age Of Generative Ai: A Mismatch That Matters, Alex Zhang

Faculty Scholarship

This short piece explores a widespread and yet underexamined or even overlooked misconception, that is, large language models (LLMs) function like traditional legal research databases. They do not. As a matter of fact, information retrieval from databases functions very differently from LLMs in terms of inputs, retrieval processes, and outputs. These differences have significant implications for transparency, traceability, and overall effectiveness in AI-driven legal research. Without intentional oversight and adaption, these changes could profoundly affect how we develop research skills and a cumulative knowledge base, both of which are essential skills for lifelong learning in the legal field.

This article …

Best Practices For Creating Hypotheticals For Legal Research And Writing, Olivia Smith Schlink, Aimee Self-Pittman, Theresa Tarves, Melissa Strickland

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District: A Comparative Analysis Underscoring The Problems In Hampering Special Districts, J. Patrick Moll

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In 2022, the Florida legislature passed a bill that removed the administration of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district governing the Walt Disney World Resort. The bill replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Governor Ron DeSantis hailed this legislation as a success in reigning in a corporation operating with unchecked and unprecedented levels of governmental authority. Since its inception, however, the replacement administration has contended with claims of ethical violations, inefficiency, and unconstitutional enactment. Before the repeal of the Walt Disney World special district, special districts themselves were not often present in the Nation’s everyday …

The Method Is The Message: Movement Law And The Social Change Commons, Raymond H. Brescia

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Legal scholars have long sought to understand the relationship between social movements and the law. A new group of such scholars has argued that to better understand this relationship, and to advance social change that is effective, sustainable, equitable, and just, they must engage in dialogue with such movements to generate ideas that will catalyze that change. For those interested in generating ideas that can spark meaningful and lasting social change, such developments in legal scholarship represent an exciting evolution in the relationship between legal scholarship, legal scholars, and social movements: a relationship that appears to be growing stronger, deeper, …

Lewd, Rude, Obscene, And… Violent? Analyzing Student Clothing Depicting Firearms Under The First Amendment’S Obscenity Test, Luke Gorman

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Today’s national news and social media have repeatedly exposed our school-age children to the effects of shootings occurring within their schools and communities. Each shooting brings with it commentary, sometimes from the students themselves. While in-school student speech is more limited than speech levied in the outside world, students do not shed their speech rights at the “schoolhouse gate.” As a result, courts have failed to outline a consistent approach for when a student will be punished for wearing a shirt depicting a firearm to school. This Comment addresses this delicate balance by proposing a consistent three-part test framed by …

Internet Search Engines’ Privacy Violations And The Lack Of Federal Regulation To Protect Consumers Rights, Elsa M. G. Rodriguez Ogando

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The United States’ current legal framework regarding internet search engines is disadvantageous to consumers. Federal privacy laws (although not encompassing search engines) grant businesses a strong legal basis in privacy claims and alibies for arbitrary behavior; these laws favor businesses over consumers. Moreover, state privacy laws empower nonspecific agencies to oversee privacy matters and enforce consumers’ rights. Thus, the U.S. privacy legal framework is in need of a new federal law that establishes consumers’ rights, as well as a federal agency dedicated solely to privacy matters. This Article proposes a federal law recommendation based on the standards of the California …

Under New Management?: Sovereign Wealth Funds And Their Ownership Of U.S. Sports Teams, Benjamin K. Moyer

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In October 2021, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (“SWF”) successfully purchased the English Premier League soccer team Newcastle United F.C. for $400 million. With this transaction, Saudi Arabia joined fellow Gulf countries, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, in owning a major European soccer team through one of its state’s SWF. States have long used their SWFs to invest in foreign markets, but recent trends have transformed these originally strictly financial vehicles into political tools. Since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, many states have used their SWFs not only to produce financial gains but also to generate soft power through political …

Dobbs V. Brown, Benjamin H. Barton

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization1is the most important and impactful Supreme Court decision since at least Roe v. Wade, and potentially since Brown v. Board of Education. Past survey data show that most Americans can only name two Supreme Court opinions: Roe and Brown. Dobbs will surely join that list. This Article compares the history, drafting, and opinions of Dobbs and Brown to show what a missed opportunity Dobbs represents. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the opinion, it should be clear that Dobbs was one of those unique times (like that of Brown) where the Court …

Integrating Academic Success, Krishnee Coley, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

Over the past few years, Richmond Law has taken several intentional steps to address one of ASP’s perennial challenges: the students who most need help may not be the ones who find their way to optional ASP sessions. By integrating academic success into orientation programs and collaborating with doctrinal professors, we’ve succeeded in reaching all our 1L students despite the lack of a mandatory 1L ASP course.

Core Skills & "Cool Tools" From The Third Generation Of Fcil Librarians, Meredith Capps, Clement Lin, Devan Orr, Alison A. Shea, Loren Turner, Latia Ward

Library Staff Publications

There have been three generations of foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians in the United States (US) in the postwar era. FCIL librarians of the first generation were foreign lawyers who emigrated to the US after World War II. Those of the second generation were American lawyer-librarians who built the infrastructure of FCIL librarianship into what it is today. The third generation of FCIL librarians includes the authors of this article. We perform many of the same research tasks as our predecessors, but we do so primarily online through an ever-evolving array of new and emerging technologies. This article …

Editing Legal Scholarship, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

A consistent byproduct of American legal scholarship is legal scholars' relentless complaints about the system. Most critics overreact to the existence of student editors and the occasional rough edit, demanding that we burn the whole thing down. I suggest a less dramatic response by identifying several editorial tendencies that are consistently more trouble than they're worth and suggesting that reforms begin there. I begin with the text of the Bluebook, which supports a turn away from explanatory parenthetical overuse and the automatic et al.-ing of multi-author sources. I then turn to editors' overreliance on their journal style guides, urging the …

For The Reasons Elucidated Above: Lessons From Judge Selya On Law, Writing, And Life, Stefanie D. Fischer, Colten H. Erickson

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law Library Blog (January 2025): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

To Free A Predator: The Flawed Rationale For Overturning Bill Cosby’S Conviction, Michael C. Kovac

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Online Inclusivity: Mission And Best Practice, Colin P. Marks, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Works

This essay examines the role of inclusivity as a foundational principle in online legal education, arguing that it is essential to fulfilling institutional missions, aligning with established pedagogical best practices, and enhancing the overall learning experience. Drawing on the development of a fully online J.D. program, the piece outlines how inclusivity can be embedded at both the institutional and classroom levels. It highlights strategies for fostering a sense of community among geographically dispersed students, including integrating online learners into broader academic and co-curricular activities, designing courses that balance synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and implementing consistent instructional standards. The essay further …

Generative Ai And Finding The Law, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

Legal information science requires, among other things, principles and theories. The article states six principles or considerations that any discussion of generative AI large language models and their role in finding the law must include. The article concludes that law librarianship will increasingly become legal information science and require new paradigms. In addition to the six principles, the article applies ecological holistic media theory to understand the relationship of the legal community’s cognitive authority, institutions, techné (technology, medium and method), geopolitical factors, and the past and future to understand the changes in this information milieu. The article also explains generative …

A New Guide To Kf Modified: Kf Classification Modified For Use In Canadian And Common Law Law Libraries, F. Tim Knight, Janet M. Moss

Librarian Publications & Presentations

The revised and updated edition of the Guide to KF Classification Modified for Use in Canadian Law Libraries written by Janet M. Moss of the Gerard V. La Forest Law Library at the University of New Brunswick in 2004 and published in 2006 as an Occasional Paper by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit. This revision clarifies the use of KF Modified, incorporates the enhancements and improvements that have been applied to the KF Modified classification scheme during the intervening years, and contributes to the consistent use of this classification scheme in law libraries using …

Evaluating The Evaluators: The Role Of Benchmarks In Legal Ai, Jonathan A. Franklin, Sean Harrington, Christine Hye Won Park

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Just Research And Citation, Amanda Levendowski

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Contemporary research and citation practices are often unjust. Data cartels like Westlaw and Lexis have parent companies that prioritize profits in ways that threaten immigrants. Even before the Dobbs decision, search engines could be deployed to weaponize data against pregnant people seeking reproductive care. Women and people of color have been legal scholars for more than a century but, as many scholars have observed, colleagues consistently under-cite, mis-cite or appropriate those scholars’ work with minimal recourse. Citation materials are often inaccessible to disabled people, poor people, or the public due to poor design, paywalls, or unpreserved content that falls prey …

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Systematic Devaluation Of Legal Scholarship In Criminology And Criminal Justice, Henry F. Fradella

Touro Law Review

Certain bibliometrics have become important indicators of scholarly impact despite their many weaknesses. This Article presents data demonstrating the shortcomings of using citation counts and journal impact factors for law-based scholarship. Moreover, the Article argues that reliance on these flawed metrics is just one example of how scholars in criminology and criminal justice (“CCJ”) systematically devalue legal scholarship.

The Article begins by offering quotations from social scientists that provide insights into the negative ways they view legal scholars and their work. It also quotes from interviews conducted with CCJ scholars who hold a law degree and either earned or are …

Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice Meets Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Compassionate Written Judgments In Child Protection Cases, Shelley Kierstead

All Papers

Society has become acutely aware that trauma arises from many life events and manifests in a range of physical and psychological symptoms. The legal community is increasingly recognizing that clients living with trauma effects would be much better served with trauma-informed services. While much of the emerging literature in the legal field focuses on lawyers’ work, there is growing recognition that judges can also play a role in responding effectively to trauma.

In child protection cases, trauma frequently exists at different yet related levels – for the child who is the subject of protection proceedings, and for one or more …

Getting The Reader To Say “Yes”: Applying Negotiation Principles From The Books Getting To Yes And Getting Past No To Achieve Effective And Persuasive Legal Writing, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

This Article explores the relationship between the strategies of principled negotiation and effective persuasive legal writing as articulated in the best-selling books, Getting to Yes and Getting Past No. Though there is substantial scholarship advocating adding a negotiation component to legal writing instruction, there is little scholarship addressing how to apply the concepts of principled negotiation to persuasive writing itself. In this Article, the Author explains the foundational concepts of principled negotiation and then shows how they relate and apply to drafting an effective piece of persuasive legal writing. Looking at written advocacy through a negotiation lens reinforces good …