Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

The Wise Researcher: One Library’S Experience Implementing A Federated Search Product, Yumin Jiang, Georgia Briscoe

Publications

No abstract provided.

Citators: Past, Present, And Future, Laura C. Dabney

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Citators are one of the oldest and most important tools in the legal researcher’s arsenal. They serve both as precautionary measures against bad law, and as a means of doing primary legal research. The evolution of citators plays an important role in the development of both the legal publishing industry and legal research itself. This article examines many aspects of the legal citator—its history, development, uses, and possible future.

Have You Seen The New Library Bar?: Designing A Legal Research Toolbar, Jennifer L. Wondracek

UF Law Faculty Publications

It seems like more and more people today are selecting their legal research results based on ease of access rather than the completeness of the results. After hearing one too many third-year law students say "I researched my entire paper on Google," I set off to create a tool that would satisfy both the desire for speed and the need for complete and authoritative research results. The tool is a legal research toolbar that integrates into a web browser and provides constant and quick access to library-sanctioned websites and databases. This paper walks readers through the design process of the …

The History Of The Pace Law Library, Margaret R. Moreland

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Pace University School of Law Library is a gateway to information. As an essential component of legal education, the Library collects and organizes information to support the curriculum and programs of the Pace University School of Law, makes effective use of all available resources to promote student and faculty scholarship, and teaches Pace University School of Law students, faculty, and staff how to retrieve, evaluate, and manage information in an efficient, professional, and ethical manner.

Cold Case - One Ordinary Law Librarian Assists In Solving A 53-Year-Old Mystery And Learns A Lesson About How Law Students Treat Legal Research, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

One ordinary law librarian assists in solving a 53-year-old mystery and learns a lesson about how law students treat legal research.

The Pajama Way Of Research, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

While acknowledging the attractions of being able to conduct legal research in the comfort of one's home-in your pajamas no less-Ms. Whisner notes what a student misses by relying solely on computer-assisted legal research systems. She encourages librarians to engage in outreach efforts that will not only alert patrons to services they might be missing but also persuade them the services would be helpful.

Teaching Legal Research And Writing With Actual Legal Work: Extending Clinical Education Into The First Year, Michael A. Millemann, Steven D. Schwinn

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, the co-authors argue that legal research and writing (LRW) teachers should use actual legal work to generate assignments. They recommend that clinical and LRW teachers work together to design, co-teach, and evaluate such courses. They describe two experimental courses they developed together and co-taught to support and clarify their arguments. They contend that actual legal work motivates students to learn the basic skills of research, analysis and writing, and thus helps to accomplish the primary goals of LRW courses. It also helps students to explore new dimensions of basic skills, including those related to the development and …

Too Broke To Hire An Attorney - How To Conduct Basic Legal Research In A Law Library, Mike Martinez Jr, Michael P. Forrest

Faculty Articles

This article targets as its audience pro se patrons - individuals who cannot afford counsel and need to conduct their own legal research. The poor and disenfranchised have historically had difficulty getting equal access to justice. The cause is often the fact that they cannot afford legal representation. This could lead to exclusion from the legal process. A solution might be self-representation, which presents its own difficulties, as the pro se litigant will likely need to access resources in a law library.

Fahrenheit 451on Cell Block D: A Bar Examination To Safeguard America’S Jailhouse Lawyers From The Post-Lewis Blaze Consuming Their Law Libraries, Evan R. Seamone

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Dictionary And The Man: Garner’S Black’S Law Dictionary, Jeanne Price, Roy M. Mersky

Scholarly Works

The 7th and 8th editions of Black's Law Dictionary were the first edited by Bryan Garner.  This review of the 8th edition of Black's Law Dictionary focuses on the approach taken by Garner in thoroughly revising the dictionary and places his work in the context of the recent history of legal dictionaries and lexicography.

Jewish Law For The Law Librarian, David Hollander

Articles

Mr Hollander provides an introductory guide to the Jewish legal system with the intent of providing law librarians with the basic knowledge necessary to begin to help a patron conduct research in Jewish law.

How Do You Know When Research Is Good?, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

Ms. Whisner explores the question of how to tell when research is good-or who is a good researcher

Jewish Law For The Law Librarian, David Hollander

Articles

Mr Hollander provides an introductory guide to the Jewish legal system with the intent of providing law librarians with the basic knowledge necessary to begin to help a patron conduct research in Jewish law.

Library Research Labs: A Hands-On Approach To Taking The First Step With Your Students To Reflect Good Practice In Legal Education, Samantha A. Moppett, Rick Buckingham

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

In 2002, Suffolk University Law School began offering library research labs to students in the first-year Legal Practice Skills (LPS) course to give them the opportunity to tackle their first legal research exercises as part of a small group with the ready assistance of a reference librarian and an LPS professor.

This article describes the structure of the research labs and explains how they reflect the "Seven Principles of Good Practice in Legal Education" that were developed to improve student learning, enhance law school teaching, and increase faculty and student personal satisfaction.

Cite Checking: A Brave New World, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Court Records For Research, Teaching, And Policymaking: The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Margo Schlanger, Denise Lieberman

Articles

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is, wisely, planning the future of its enormous collection of relatively recent court records. The pertinent regulation, a “records disposition schedule” first issued in 1995 by the Judicial Conference of the United States in consultation with NARA, commits the Archives to keeping, permanently, all case files dated 1969 or earlier; all case files dated 1970 or later in which a trial was held, and “any civil case file which NARA has determined in consultation with court officials to have historical value.” Other files may be destroyed 20 years after they enter the federal …

North Carolina Colonial Legal Materials, Scott Childs, Melanie J. Dunshee

Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

North Carolina Colonial Legal Materials, Scott Childs, Melanie J. Dunshee

Law Library Faculty Scholarship

Published as a chapter in Prestatehood legal materials: a fifty-state research guide, including New York City and the District of Columbia, edited by Michael G. Chiorazzi and Marguerite Most.

Academics And The Federal Circuit: Is There A Gulf And How Do We Bridge It?, John R. Thomas

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Many of the great research universities of the United States enjoy a close relationship with innovators. Names like Carnegie, Cornell, Hopkins, Stanford, and Vanderbilt bring to mind not so much these men, but the academic institutions that they founded. The mention of other research institutions, such as the Universities of Chicago and Virginia, allows us to recall entrepreneurial founders such as Rockefeller and Jefferson. It is appropriate then, to consider how university research - and in particular, the work product of the law schools - is faring before that court whose rulings most directly impact American innovation policy.

Help Is On The Way, Gail A. Partin, Mary Ann Neary, Jennifer Murray

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

A Guide To U.S. Intellectual Property Searching Online, Jennifer L. Selby

Law Librarian Scholarship

The disadvantage to searching intellectual property online, patents in particular, is that the available online databases do not encompass the array and extent of tools needed to conduct a comprehensive search.7 Essentially, you can search patents on the web, but you cannot do a true patent search. A complete patentability search must include not only U.S. patents, but foreign patents and all relevant non-patent literature also (all resources together are referred to as ‘‘prior art’’ for an invention).8 These additional resources can be researched at the Patent Office Library in Washington D.C., and, on a more limited basis, at a …

Book Review Of Mark E. Wojcik, Illinois Legal Research (2003), Jennifer Locke Davitt

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Designed as a "teaching tool rather than a bibliographic compilation of state legal research sources" (p.xviii), "Illinois Legal Research" provides practical instruction primarily to law students. It can also serve as a ready reference tool for practitioners and others interested in researching laws specific to Illinois.

Mark Wojcik, associate professor of law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, begins with a quick review of basic legal research methods and gives tips for developing effective and efficient research skills. He transitions into in-depth explanations of Illinois law, covering topics such as constitutions, judicial decisions, statutes and ordinances, administrative law, …

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

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 …

Integrating Legal Research Skills Into Commercial Law, Camille Broussard, Karen Gross

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

A Guide To International And Foreign Legal Research Online, Jennifer L. Selby

Law Librarian Scholarship

Today, legal researchers in foreign and international law can enhance their search capabilities with web-based resources. However, a few caveats about doing foreign and international legal research on the web include: 1) not all material is available through the web, and the web is not always the fastest way to obtain materials; and 2) the web can be a good source of current and recent information, however, often older legal materials are not found on the web.

Approaches To Statutory Interpretation And Legislative History In France, Claire M. Germain

UF Law Faculty Publications

In France, Justice Jackson's question about where to look for the meaning of a statute would be phrased in broader terms and would not be limited to the question of whether to look only at the words of a statute or also at the legislative intent. French law starts from the premise that statutes and codes are the foundations of the legal system in the same way that cases are the foundation of the common-law system. Because of the primacy of written law in France, statutory interpretation lies at the heart of French law. Statutory interpretation is very flexible, and …

Elder Law: A Guide To Key Resources, Susan J. Hemp, Cheryl R. Nyberg

Librarians' Articles

This research guide identifies and describes 163 books, periodicals, reference tools, databases, electronic discussion groups, organizations, and U.S. government agencies useful to the elder law practitioner and the legal researcher. Appendices include a state-by-state list of state aging agencies, bar association committees and sections, law school courses and clinics, and publications; acronyms; and subject headings and a index terms used in library catalogs, periodical indexes, and related sources.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration With Jake, Edith Brown Weiss

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Jake and I were professional colleagues and friends for more than twenty years, but it was in the last fifteen years that we worked closely together, bridging the supposed divide between political science and international law. Sometimes we worked together in the American Society of International Law, other times in the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), or in the Human Dimensions of Global Change program. Most often, we worked together as scholars in interdisciplinary research.

The Shape Of The Universe: The Impact Of Unpublished Opinions On The Process Of Legal Research, William R. Mills

Articles & Chapters

Unpublished appellate judicial opinions present formidable challenges for modern legal researchers, from both practical and ethical points of view. The practice of selective publication of court opinions, and attendant court rules that restrict citation of unpublished opinions, have long been the subject of debate within legal profession. The recent case of Anastasoff v. United States, 223 F.3d 898 (8th Cir. 2000), vacated as moot 235 F.3d 1054 (8th Cir. 2000), has rekindled this debate, giving it a new constitutional dimension, and placing it squarely within the context of judicial accountability and the appropriate separation of powers among our branches of …

Negotiating And Analyzing Electronic License Agreements, Duncan E. Alford

Faculty Publications

Mr Alford analyzes license agreements for electronic resources and suggests certain negotiation points to consider when entering into such an agreement. He begins by describing the results of a survey of law librarians about their preparation for and techniques used when negotiating electronic license agreements and the legal strategies used by publishers to support the licensing of electronic information. After reviewing selected principles of licensing issued by library associations and several standardized electronic license agreements, he identifies provisions in a typical agreement that should concern libraries and suggests certain arguments to use in negotiating terms more favorable to the library.