Best practices: What first-year law students should learn in a legal research class

Legal Reference Services Quarterly

Volumn 28, Issue 1-2, 2009, Pages 77-99

  Johnson, Nancy P ^a  

^a GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Best practices; Legal education; Legal research; Teaching

Indexed keywords

EID: 71049126471     PISSN: 0270319X     EISSN: 1540949X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02703190902961494     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Donald J. Dunn, Why Legal Research Skills Declined, or When Two Rights Make a Wrong, 85 L. Lib. J. 49, 61 (1993) (explains legal research as a concept, rather than a course).
2. Ian Gallacher, Forty-Two: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Teaching Legal Research to the Google Generation, 39 Akron L. Rev. 151 (2006) (the author states that books are less important to our students and electronic research is a successful strategy for the Google generation).
3. This is not the place to discuss again the poor research habits of new law school graduates. Suffice it to say, there are several excellent articles detailing the problems associated with poor legal research skills. Joan Howland & Nancy Lewis, The Effectiveness of Law School Legal Research Training Programs, 40 J. Leg. Educ. 381 (1990).
4. Robin K. Mills, Legal Research Instruction in Law Schools, The State of the Art or, Why Law School Students Do Not Know How to Find the Law, 70 L. Lib. J. 343 (1977).
5. Thomas A. Woxland, Why Can't Johnny Research? or It all Started with Christopher Columbus Langdell, 81 L. Lib. J. 451 (1989).
6. Thomson West, Research Skills for Lawyers and Law Students, White Paper (2007), available at http://west.thomson.com/pdf/librarian/Legal_Research_white_paper.pdf
7. See Special Committee on Fostering Legal Research as a Subject Specialty, AALL, Final Report (Oct. 2006), available at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/reports/FosterLegalResearchCmteReport-Oct.pdf.
8. Thomson West, Partnership and Solutions for Preparing Job-Ready Attorneys, White Paper (July 2008), available at http://west.thomson.com/support/librarian/event/AALLwhitepaper.pdf.
9. Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, published by West three times a year.
10. Legal Reference Services Quarterly, published by Routledge,
11. Taylor & Francis; Law Library Journal, published quarterly by AALL.
12. An example of a seminal article on the pedagogy of teaching legal research: Robert C. Berring & Kathleen Vanden Heuvel, Legal Research: Should Students Learn It or Wing It? 81 L. Lib. J. 431 (1989).
13. Students at Georgia State University use Nancy P. Johnson & Susan T. Phillips, Legal Research Exercises, Following the Bluebook (10th ed. Thomson/West 2008).
14. To name a few of the excellent recent research textbooks: Amy E. Sloan, Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies (4th ed. Aspen Publishers 2009).
15. Christina L. Kunz, The Process of Legal Research (7th ed. Aspen Publishers 2008).
16. Roy M. Mersky, Berkan, Mersky and Legal Research Illustrated (9th ed. Thomson/West 2008).
17. Morris L. Cohen, Legal Research in a Nutshell (9th ed. Thomson/West 2007).
18. Ruth Ann McKinney, Legal Research (5th ed. Thomson/West 2008)
19. and books in the Carolina Academic Press Legal Research Series, including Georgia Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press 2007).
20. Deborah Hackerson, Legal Research: A Guide to Online Tutorials for First-Year Law Students, 25 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 153 (2006).
21. Elizabeth G. Adelman, CALI Lessons in Legal Research Courses: Alternatives to Reading about Research, 15 Persps. Teaching Leg. Research & Writing 25 (Fall 2006).
22. CALI Lessons are available at http://www.cali.org (there are currently over 75 CALI legal research lessons).
23. There are several articles detailing different teaching methodologies and styles: Dennis S. Sears, The Teaching of First-Year Research Revisited: A Review and Synthesis of Methodologies, 19 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 5 (2001).
24. Charles J. Ten Brink, A Jurisprudential Approach to Teaching Legal Research, 39 New Eng. L. Rev. 307 (2005).
25. James B. Levy, Better Research Instruction Through 'Point of Need' Library Exercises, 7 Leg. Writing 87 (2000).
26. Carrie W. Teitcher, Rebooting the Approach to Teaching Research: Embracing the Computer Age, 99 L. Lib. J. 555, 564 (2007) (the author describes one law school's adoption of a fully integrated legal research curriculum).
27. Michelle M. Wu, Why Print and Electronic Resources Are Essential to the Academic Law Library, 97 L. Lib. J. 233 (2005) (discusses the pros and cons of the two formats).
28. Beth Simone Noveck, Wikipedia and the Future of Legal Education, 57 J. Leg. Educ. 3 (2007).
29. Barbara Bintliff, Context and Legal Research, 99 L. Lib. J. 249 (2007) (explains the shift from digests and print resources to electronic information and how basic communication theory is used to understand how the changes affect the shared context).
30. The Bluebook: Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. Harvard Law Review Association 2005).
31. Mary Whisner, The Dreaded 'Bluebook,' 100 L. Lib. J. 393 (2008) (discusses students' anxiety level in using The Bluebook).
32. Christina L. Kunz, The Process of Legal Research 158-159 (7th ed. Aspen Publishers 2008) (explains that the distinction between mandatory and persuasive precedent is critical).
33. The AALL study is available at http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/authen_rprt/AuthenFinalReport.pdf.
34. ABA Standard 1.65 (a)(xiv).
35. William R. Mills, The Shape of the Universe: The Impact of Unpublished Opinions on the Process of Legal Research, 46 N.Y. L. Sch. L. Rev. 429 (2002).
36. Fed. R. App. P. 32.1.
37. Thomson West also issues a number of other reporters in specialized subject fields of federal law, including Military Justice Reporter, Bankruptcy Reporter, Federal Claims Reporter, and Veterans Appeals Reporter.
38. Orin S. Kerr, How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students, 11 Green Bag 51 (2007).
39. Robert C. Berring, Legal Research and Legal Concepts: Where Form Molds Substance, 75 Cal. L. Rev. 15, 22 (1987).
40. Lee F. Peoples, The Death of the Digest and the Pitfalls of Electronic Research: What is the Modern Legal Researcher To Do? 97 L. Lib. J. 661 (2005).
41. Lisa Smith-Butler, Cost-Effective Legal Research Redux: How to Avoid Becoming the Accidental Tourist, Lost in Cyberspace, 6 Fla. Coastal L. Rev. 101 (2008).
42. For some historical codes and an eclectic range of other materials, Shepard's includes coverage only in their print Shepard's Citations. However, for most research needs, the online citators are invaluable and the only source students will need.
43. Fortunately, legislative history is an easier task with the help of one of the several good online sources: Hein Online Legislative Histories, LexisNexis Congressional, LexisNexis Serial Set Digital Collection, Thomas, and G.P.O. Access.
44. William M. Sullivan, Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law (Jossey-Bass 2007).
45. Available looseleaf services in a subject arrangement and by publisher are listed in Legal Looseleafs in Print, published by Infosources Publishing. The information is also available online on LawTRIO Database, available at http://www.infosourcespub.com/cdlinks/search.cfm.
46. Scott Matheson & Stephanie Davidson, The Evolution of Providing Access to Information: Is the Online Catalog Nearing Extinction? Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 57 (2007).
47. Cameron Stracher, Reading, Writing, and Citing: In Praise of Law Reviews, 52 N.Y. L. Sch. L. Rev. 349 (2008) (exhaustive discussion of various aspects of law reviews).