English Legal History Research

Abstract

Questions about English law that require some historical research are not uncommon.This article will discuss the sources that can be found in a typical U.S.academic law library to answer these queries.     

Should We Care If the Case Digest Disappears?: A Retrospective Analysis and the Future of Legal Research Instruction

ABSTRACT

This article begins with a brief history of the West key number digest system. Next, it reviews some of the prominent literature discussing the shift from case digests to full-text searching (including the sole user study on this topic). Then, this article examines how the paradigm shift is reflected in law library collections and current trends in legal research instruction. Finally, the author presents four lessons gleaned from this discussion that may help shape future legal research instruction and proposes a user study to better inform future discussion.     

Research Guide to Mexican Law*

ABSTRACT

Carrying out effective and efficient research on Mexican law presents special challenges. Some of these are structural because they condition the entire research process. This guide covers all aspects of Mexican legal research, providing a contextualized overview of the subject. The guide is organized into three main sections: Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, and Online Resources. The reader of this guide will gain a solid foundation in how to do research on Mexican law.     

A Resource Guide to Tax Law Careers

Abstract

This Guide is designed to assist law students and attorneys in the pursuit of careers in tax law. It is also intended for librarians and career counselors to readily find tax law career information so that they can assist their clients effectively. It includes resources in both print (for example, books and articles) and electronic formats (for example, Web sites). Each item included has a brief annotation so that the user can quickly decide the relevancy and value of that item.     

The Way We Were and What We “B”

Abstract

This article describes the changes over the past 20 years in the job of reference librarian. Using typical reference questions and quotes from leading law librarians in the early '80s, the author compares current practice and explains the differences in the time, place, and manner of legal reference. Although answering questions may be done today more quickly and efficiently than 20 years ago, the increase in demand and expectations make the job more challenging than ever.     

Theirs Not to Reason Why,Theirs but to Make Law Review or Die

Abstract

The following annotated bibliography seeks to provide a quick research tool for people interested in understanding and, of course, improving legal scholarship in the United States. In Part I, we provide a brief introduction to the law review system. In Part II, we evaluate various articles that critique the law review system. In Part III, we examine law review articles that critique law review students themselves. In Part IV, we summarize some of the articles that recount the history of law reviews. In Part V, we compile several articles that look at citation trends for legal scholarship. In Part VI, we discuss miscellaneous articles about law reviews.     

Citation Abuse and Legal Writing: A Note on the Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux,etc., 1851 and 11 Stat. 749

The Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., 1851 was an important transaction between a number of American Indian tribes and the federal government. However, because of administrative mishandling by the latter, there has been sustained but unwarranted confusion over whether the treaty was a valid one. Uncertainty led to the use of a brief note in the Statutes at Large, at 11 Stat. 749, instead of the treaty's full text as the law of the land. The Statutes cue, however, has been misused frequently in the opinions of various jurisdictions, even to the point of deploying it to reference specific quotations from the full document—that is, to material certainly taken from an alternative source. This article investigates the most significant citation errors to 11 Stat. 749, and uses them to discuss improvements to applications of legal writing.     

Legal Publishing: Establishing Context through the Lens of Disruptive Innovation

ABSTRACT

As legal research tools come and go, an understanding of the continuing changes in legal publishing can provide a better understanding of those developments. One way in which law librarians can gain insight into the dynamic legal publishing world is by looking through the lens created by the innovative disruption model as proposed by Clayton Christensen almost 20 years ago. This article suggests that the Christensen model can provide valuable context to what is happening and may happen in legal publishing in the future.     

From a Trickle to a Flood: A Case Study of the Current Index to Legal Periodicals to Examine the Swell of American Law Journals Published in the Last Fifty Years

Using the lists of journals indexed in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals from the last fifty years, this article analyzes the increase in the number of general law reviews, specialized law journals, student-edited journals, and peer-edited and refereed law journals during the last half-century. Data from the Current Index to Legal Periodicals were combined with further data collected from HeinOnline, American Bar Association (ABA) statistics, and U.S. News & World Report statistics. Comparison of these data not only shows a massive increase in the number of law journal titles being published but also suggests a correlation between the number of law journals published by a law school and its student population, length of time that it has been accredited by the ABA, and its U.S. News & World Report ranking. This article also contains a list of all law journals currently indexed by the Current Index to Legal Periodicals including each journal's date of initial publication, in addition to a list of all print student-edited law journals published by ABA-accredited and provisionally accredited U.S. law schools.     

Three Strikes and You're Out

Abstract

This research pathfinder is a comprehensive guide of the recent trend in criminal law for enhanced sentences for repeat offenders-pop-ularly called “three strike laws.” Particular attention is given to California law because it is the most often cited example of this type of law.     

Strategic Planning for Distance Learning in Legal Education

SUMMARY

Distance learning technologies will be used increasingly by law schools both to enhance learning within their existing residential programs and to reach new audiences. For law librarians, the questions involved in serving distance learners are a subset of the questions about the future of the law library that arise from changes in the legal information environment. This article discusses current distance learning alternatives for law schools, and the impacts of distance learning and other technological innovations on the future role of the academic law library in legal education.     

Selling to the Legal Market

Abstract

Most law libraries used to remove the covers from law reviews before binding them. This is unfortunate, because the covers often printed advertisements suggesting the tastes and habits of old-time lawyers and law students. Covers from the first years of the Harvard Law Review (1887-1900) are examined here to show the sort of information law periodical covers could provide.     

A Comparative Citation Analysis of Seven Mid-South Law Reviews

Abstract

Several studies have compared the frequency of citation to law reviews, comparing citation rates for all or most law reviews being published at the time of the study. This article compares the citation rates of general law reviews published by seven public law schools in close geographic proximity. The results show that citation rates are influenced by several factors, including whether articles published by the journals have a state or national focus, the subject matter of the articles, and whether articles are published as part of symposia.     

Robots,Blockchain, ESI,Oh My!: Why Law Schools Are (or Should Be) Teaching Legal Technology

Abstract

The author explains the important of introducing legal technology into the law school curriculum. At a time when innovation in law is happening at a rapid-fire pace, the need for these courses is indisputable.     

“Unknown Symbols”: Online Legal Research in the Age of Emoji

Abstract

Over the last decade, emoji and emoticons have made the leap from text messaging and social media to legal filings, court opinions, and law review articles. However, emoji and emoticons’ growth in popularity has tested the capability of online legal research systems to properly display and retrieve them in search results, posing challenges for future researchers of primary and secondary sources. This article examines current display practices on several of the most popular online legal research services (including Westlaw Edge, Lexis Advance, Bloomberg Law, Fastcase, HeinOnline, and Gale OneFile LegalTrac) and suggests effective workarounds for researchers.     

Cases and Case Lawyers

ABSTRACT

In the 19th century, the term “case lawyer” was used as a label for lawyers who seemed to care more about locating precedents applicable to their current cases than understanding the principles behind the reported case law. Criticisms of case lawyers appeared in English journals in the late 1820s, then in the United States, usually from those who believed that every lawyer needed to know and understand the unchanging principles of the common law in order to resolve issues not found in the reported cases. After the Civil War, expressions of concern about case lawyers increased with the significant growth in the amount of published law after private companies entered the legal publishing market. By the turn of the 20th century, it was generally acknowledged the number of cases had made it impossible for attorneys to not focus on locating precedents. In the 20th century most references to case lawyers were historical, even as the amount of published law facing lawyers continued to grow.     

Access versus Ownership

SUMMARY

This paper discusses changes in the ownership models of intellectual property and how they are shifting the way libraries provide information. The author argues that the main change in intellectual property is the way that owners distribute information, not in the sense of new media, but in the sense of new legal constructs governing distribution. The article discusses the impact on libraries of a move toward viewing information as a service that must be licensed, not bought. The potential effects of protecting intellectual property with contract law instead of copyright and property law are detailed.     

I Am the Cheesehead

Abstract

A law librarian describes her humorous route to law librarianship and a reference position at the University of Wisconsin.     

Teaching Legal Research

ABSTRACT

Questions about the importance and viability of legal research and writing as a part of the law school curriculum are not novel. Confronting these questions head-on, however, is a responsibility that should be handled by law librarians. This article addresses the issue of teaching legal research in an academic law library setting. The reasons why the author has pursued an aggressive approach when dealing with legal research instruction are explored. The methods employed to carry out that legal research instruction mandate are examined. creased as legal research and writing are more and more frequently combined and taught by writing faculty.¹ At the same time, the research skills of law students are on a downward spiral. Howland and Lewis document this plunge in an informative survey.² Law librarian Donald Dunn substantiates this decline and attributes it, in part, to “the increased emphasis in law schools on legal writing,”³ in consequence of which, while “legal writing entered the expressway; legal research took the off-ramp.”⁴ Further, law librarians and legal research have even been pummeled by one of America's most popular authors.⁵ In this environment, it may seem unwise to continue to advance the argument that academic law librarians should teach legal research. Notwithstanding the obstacles that face such instruction, law librarians have an obligation to press forward in this important work.⁶ Legal writing instructors have not demonstrated that they have the expertise to provide this instruc-tion.⁷ Likewise, law faculty have demonstrated that they do not have the interest in tackling the task.⁸ Say two authorities on the subject: “Regular faculty members generally do not teach a research course, and when they do decide to teach one, the results are invariably disastrous. Most law faculty members cannot teach legal research because they do not understand it themselves. If compelled to teach the course, they rebel.”⁹ Perhaps it is time for law schools to cede the stewardship for legal research instruction to those information professionals who have been trained and are qualified to teach legal research instruction -law librarians.¹⁰ And it is time for any reticent law librarians to accept the obligation to take a more proactive approach toward teaching legal research.¹¹