Law Librarianship Commons^™

Law Librarianship And Legal Information Science In The Age Of Genai, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

This article examines the relationship between law librarianship and legal information science in the age of generative AI (GenAI), arguing that closer integration between the two is essential to navigating a rapidly evolving legal information landscape. It contends that law librarianship—long grounded in stable classification systems and cognitive authority—must adopt the analytical methods of legal information science to remain effective in the digital era. Together, these fields can reinforce the rule of law by improving the organization, retrieval, and stability of legal information. The article identifies emerging subfields of legal information science that support this integration and develops several concepts …

Ain’T Nothing Like The Real Thing: How Legal Research Programs Can Provide The Needed Safety Rails For Pro Se Litigants Using Ai In Litigation, Nicole Belbin

Faculty Scholarship

An estimated 92% of legal needs go unmet in America, leaving a growing number of pro se litigants to “manage their own cause.” Between 2000 and 2019, 27% of all civil cases filed in U.S. District Courts, totaling 1,501,079 cases, had at least one party without attorney representation. The legal profession is abuzz about the potential for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools to “smooth out any mismatch between available resources and urgent needs in our court system”; however, “hallucinations” have quickly proved a limitation to reaching this technology’s full potential. The complexity of legal research and analysis increases the chance …

State-Specific Secondary Sources, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

As legal research instructors, we regularly teach students that it’s a good idea to start their research with secondary sources. If the research issue falls under the law of a specific state, it’s especially helpful to consult a secondary source that discusses that law of that state. However, you might not find relevant state-specific secondary sources – they simply might not be available – and that poses a special set of challenges.

Write What You Know, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Writing a fact pattern is more challenging than it looks. This is something I learned when I created my first fact pattern for Advanced Legal Research. To accomplish this, I relied on the maxim, “Write what you know.”

Understanding Public Domain Case Citations, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

I first learned about public domain citations after law school, when I was working on a fifty-state survey. I was completely used to parentheticals that included the deciding court and the year of decision, so I couldn’t understand the examples I found from certain states. I thought that surely something was missing from these citations!

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.

Practice Makes Perfect – Or At Least Better!, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

This fall, I will teach my third semester of Advanced Legal Research at Cardozo School of Law. With the support of the library, I have learned a great deal about how to teach effectively over the past year. They gave me the opportunity to conduct a mock ALR class this summer, which helped me tremendously. In this post, I will describe my journey as a new adjunct professor.

Generative Ai Large Language Models And Researching The Law, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

The article discusses the transformative impact of generative AI large language models (LLMs) on legal research. Callister explores how these AI models, despite their current imperfections, are poised to shift the cognitive (or trusted) authority within the legal profession. He attributes this shift to the ease with which AI processes vast amounts of legal information and the anthropomorphic design of LLMs, which fosters trust among users. Callister introduces the concept of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), explaining how AI platforms integrate legal texts into their responses, enhancing their reliability over purely generative models. Through various examples, he demonstrates the strengths and limitations …

The 80/20 Rule For Legal Research, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

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.

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

Library Staff Online Writings

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?

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.

The “Food Blog” Scroll And Its Impact On Online Legal Research, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

After transitioning from a written to a “live” format for assignments in my Advanced Legal Research class, I noticed a vaguely familiar pattern of students unintentionally scrolling past relevant information on their screens.

Using “Live” Assignments For Formative Assessment, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

At the Teaching the Teachers Conference a few weeks ago, I gave a demonstration of a formative assessment style we’ve been using at my institution for the past year and a half: a live assignment, AKA the Research Practicum. The presentation was virtual; COVID struck, of course, and I couldn’t get on a plane and fly to Portland. Fortunately, the nature of this assessment lends itself beautifully to a pivot to virtual because it is already entirely virtual. The Research Practicum uses Zoom or some other video conferencing platform and asks students to research while sharing their screen as their …

Identifying Red Herrings In American Legal Research, Erin Gow

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article presents useful clues for British law librarians and legal researchers conducting research on American laws and legal systems. It focuses on general guidelines and key sticking points the author found when transitioning between legal research in the American and British jurisdictions.

Key skills introduced include the ability to:

• differentiate between federal and state legal jurisdictions in the U.S.,
• recognize key differences in American legal terminology and construct searches using American terms,
• analyze and select key American legal resources for different types of research questions,
• and identify American standards of legal citation.

Academic Law Librarians Are Paid 47% Less Than Their Faculty Counterparts, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

In December Joe Fore, the co-director of the Legal Writing program at the University of Virginia School of Law, posted to Twitter a thread comparing tenure track and legal writing salaries. In comparing four public schools, he discovered that the average starting salary for a tenure track professor was $173,000 while the average salary for all legal writing faculty was $111,000. A few academic law librarians saw the tweet and replied that someone should do the same for law librarians, too.

Appendix D: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Problem Solving & Interface Comments,” is an electronic Appendix D to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.43 (2022), https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix E: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Random Search Order,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.44 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix C: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Twelve Problems,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 13 n.37 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Dare To Dream: How Would You Teach 1ls Legal Research With No Restrictions?, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

When I started in my current role as an instructional librarian, I was given space to make the changes I thought necessary to improve an already-changing legal research program. I’ve made changes – some small, some more major – in both the 1L and upper-level research curriculum, but there is more to do. In particular, I’m not entirely satisfied with how we teach legal research to 1Ls.

A Review Of Grey Literature Cited By Food Loss Law And Policy Scholarship, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, state and federal programs, rules, and legislation attempt to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of food waste. Research on the efficacy of these interventions rely on a variety of grey literature resources. Grey literature is valuable to policy research but may be overlooked because it is not published commercially and is often deemed unauthoritative. This review focuses on the use of grey literature in food waste law and policy scholarship to identify the most used sources and to determine what, if any, archiving strategies authors use. Recommendations for librarians and researchers are discussed.

E-Legal Criminal Research, Thomas J. Striepe, Anne Burnett

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Georgia Legal Research, Amy Taylor

Books

This open source textbook authored by Amy Taylor was designed to provide University of Georgia School of Law students with a comprehensive guide to Georgia legal research. Using this text in combination with appropriate assignments, student objectives include the ability to select, evaluate, and use appropriate legal research tools with an emphasis on cost-effective research and proficiency in the following topics:

• Developing an efficient and cost effective research strategy
• Advanced searching skills in legal research databases
• Case law, including docket research, court rules, and verdicts & settlements
• Statutory law, including legislative materials and legislative history
• Administrative regulations, rules, and related …

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like A Correct Bluebook Citation & Formatting The 1l Brief, Jason Tubinis, Heather Simmons

Presentations

Law Librarians Heather Simmons and Jason Tubinis walked students through the necessary formatting for 1L brief success, as well as shared their top tips for Bluebook citations. Formatting topics included Table of Authorities, Table of Contents, page numbering, and styles. Students were encouraged to bring their laptops for hands on help with both Mac and PC versions of Microsoft Word.

An Introduction To Legal Research, Anne Burnett, Stephen Wolfson

Presentations

As part of UGA Summer Academy Legal Camp two law librarians teamed up to give an introduction to legal research to high school students from across the country, including tips and strategies for using Google effectively.

Non-English Materials For The English Speaker : European Languages, Erin Gow

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

So many legal materials are in languages other than English worldwide, that it is inevitable that most of us will need to find or access one of these documents at some point. Foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians often work with materials in languages in which they are not fluent, and can provide useful ideas and insight for the non-FCIL specialist faced with this type of research. This portion of a 2019 AALL webinar titled "Non-English Materials for the English Speaker" focuses on European languages, and provides practical guidance in finding English translations of European laws, tips and techniques …

Sustainable And Open Access To Valuable Legal Research Information: A New Framework, Alex Zhang, James Hart

Scholarly Articles

This article evaluates the current status of access to foreign and international legal research information, analyzes the challenges that information providers have experienced in providing valuable and sustainable access, and proposes a model that would help create and facilitate effective and sustainable access to valuable foreign, comparative, and international legal information.

Designing Effective Legal Research Rubrics: The Foundation For Successful Assessment, Carol A. Watson, Katie Hanschke, Zanada Joyner

Presentations

Increasingly librarians are teaching many, if not all, of the legal research courses at their law schools. Most librarians are not experts in education assessment design. Assessment with rubrics creates a learner centric environments in which instructors objectively evaluate student progress and assures that students receive consistent and meaningful feedback. Rubrics provide both students and instructors with a clear understanding of whether learning outcomes have been achieved. Guided by the instructors' experience and an in-depth review of the literature law librarians will be exposed to the best practices when creating rubrics including alignment with the course goals and instructor expectations.

Decision Making Models In 2/2 Time: Two Speakers, Two Models (Maybe), Sharon Bradley, Tim Tarvin

Presentations

Our students have to learn so many new skills to be successful in law school and law practice. Legal research, client interviewing, and case analysis just for starters. Our teaching methods have to engage our students while preparing them to “think like a lawyer.” We also have the responsibility to familiarize students in evaluating the “benefits and risks associated with relevant technology” and to develop efficient practices and processes. The speakers will look at decision making models that are practical and useable.

One speaker will discuss his experiences in a clinical setting using decision trees, teaching his students to visualize …

Real Resources For Researching Ip Law, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A presentation on strategies for researching intellectual property law in classroom L. Sponsored by the Alexander Campbell King Law Library and the Intellectual Property Law Society.