what first-year students should learn in a legal research class nancy p. johnson assoc. dean for...
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What First-Year Students Should Learn in a Legal Research Class
Nancy P. Johnson
Assoc. Dean for Library and Information Services
Georgia State Univ. College of Law Library
Law Student Research Competencies
AALL Law Student Research Principles
http://researchcompetency.wordpress.com/
Core Legal Research Competencies
http://www.aallnet.org/sis/ripssis/PDFs/core.pdf
Johnson article at
SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1341118
General Principles Evaluate the validity, credibility, and
currency of information sources - online Distinguish binding and persuasive
authority - address contrary authority “Work the problem” before starting
research Cost-effective – extremely difficult for
students
Evaluate the Validity, Credibility, and Currency of the Information Sources
Wikipedia
“This article needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications.”
GPO PDFs do not indicate revision dates, but their text-file versions do
“Work the Problem” Constitutional Issue ? Jurisdiction – Federal or State ? Issue Read secondary source to become familiar
with the area of law Locate, read, and analyze constitutional
provisions and cases Cite check the cases
“Information Overload”--Future Shock
In 2010, all federal courts had larger caseloads
Bankruptcy cases up 14%
U.S. Supreme Court cases up 5.4%
Case Law Research Understand
generic court system
Distinguish between official and unofficial sources
Validate results often
Finding Cases Understand West digest system – print
and online Move from code to cases Relationship with vendor representatives
Statutes Stress all of the useful features in a code Distinguish between a code and a
session law Introduce legislative history
Administrative Realize that using
administrative rules and regulations and the decisions of the administrative board is crucial to the practice of law.
Know the value of loose-leaf services
Secondary Excellent for background information, to
gain familiarity with terms of art and to put primary sources in context
Non-legal information – know when to use it.