Specialized Legal Research Courses: The Next Generation of Advanced Legal Research

This article examines the current state of Advanced Legal Research (ALR) courses and the emergence of Specialized Legal Research (SLR) courses. It surveys the curriculum of all ABA-accredited law schools and provides updated statistics of ALR course offerings. It also identifies for the first time (1) the law schools currently offering SLR courses, (2) the most popular SLR course topics, and (3) the role of the law library in determining whether to implement a SLR course. The results of this survey will hopefully educate law schools about the trends and variety of legal research course offerings.     

Bankruptcy: A Legal Research Course

Several aspects of the subject matter and practice of bankruptcy law lend themselves to use as the underlying subject matter for a course in advanced legal research. Although the unique institutions and procedure in bankruptcy cases call for specialized instruction, the structure of the substantive field around an integrated, codified statute and the intersections of state and federal jurisdiction provide plentiful jumping-off points to reinforce important general concepts of strategic and thoughtful legal research practice. The first half of this article presents an introduction to the field as a basic substantive grounding necessary to any law librarian pondering a legal research course grounded in bankruptcy law. The article also familiarizes the prospective research instructor with the major sources of law in the field and assesses numerous secondary sources and research tools covering the field with an eye to which print and online sources will be of the best anticipated value to today's legal research students. Model syllabi are proposed for either a larger, three-credit course or for a one-credit minicourse in specialized research that might either stand alone or serve as a supplement to a substantive course or seminar in the field.     

May It Please the Court: Law Students and Legal Research Instruction in Prison Law Libraries

According to the administrative office of the U.S. Courts, a significant part of the present docket of federal district courts consists of prisoner litigation. This category of litigation, composed largely of habeas corpus petitions, civil rights suits, and suits related to prison conditions, is often pressed by prisoners whose only legal assistance is the resources and materials available in their prison law library. Although prisoner litigation is an essential means of ensuring that our prisons and criminal justice systems operate within the confines of the U.S. Constitution, these often poorly researched and poorly written lawsuits also present special challenges to the federal courts tasked with processing them. This article explores how establishing programs that involve law students in teaching legal research in prison law libraries could help to both ameliorate the burdens that prisoner litigation places on the federal court system and improve prison law libraries’ ability to provide prisoners with meaningful access to the courts. The article begins by discussing the history of prisoner litigation in federal courts and describes four models of legal research instruction and assistance that have been employed in prisons. Based on the lessons learned from these efforts, the article presents a proposal for a prison legal research clinic that could be established by interested law schools and their librarians, and discusses the benefits to law students, prisoners, and the courts that such a program has the potential to deliver.     

A Methodical Approach to Legal Research: The Legal Research Plan,an Essential Tool for Today's Law Student and New Attorney

This article lays out an approach to teaching legal research through an examination of historical and contemporary approaches to legal research and research instruction. It discusses creating a research plan and reviews the most commonly used legal research texts. It concludes with sample research assignments and assessment tools.     

Legal Research Boot Camp: One Approach to Meeting the Research Needs of Law Students

This article describes the legal research boot camp offered at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. It is an intensive, one-week course offered the first week of the summer break to prepare students for their summer clerkships. It is also a vehicle to teach law librarianship students how to teach legal research.     

立案微言

立案是指“行政主体决定对有关行政事务进行调查处理的活动”，是行政程序的首要环节。能否控制好立案，是档案行政管理部门依法行政，树立执政为民理念，保护公民合法权益的要求。特别是在档案行政法学刚刚起步，理论体系尚不够完善的情况下，立案审查过宽，不免会造成工作被动；审查过严，会将本应档案行政管理部门依法处理的案件排斥在大门之外，形成行政机关的不作为。因此，深入研究行政案件立案的理论，探索法定立案条件，把握立案初审程度，区分立案初审和案件审查的关系，严格立案操作程序，关系到档案行政管理部门积极推进档案案件的查处，切实保护公民、法人和其他组织合法权益。     

Research Analysis and Planning: The Undervalued Skill in Legal Research Instruction

This article describes a method of research analysis and planning for legal problems. It introduces the framework of research plan, log, and product and provides a detailed research plan and log that students can use as a template for learning research. The article suggests how to teach the method in legal research classes, shares some of the author's experiences in teaching the method, and addresses some possible criticisms of this approach.     

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.     

The Pedagogical Value of an Integrated Approach to Legal Research Instruction: Overcoming Student Resistance to the Use of Print Sources and Striking a Balance That Instills an Appreciation of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Both Print and Online Sources

The ABA Legal Technology Survey Reports from 2006 to 2012 reported that, on average, 51% of attorneys “regularly” used print materials. Given the propensity of law students to default to online research, this article describes the results of a three-year longitudinal study of an integrated approach to teaching first-year legal research. This approach required students conduct legal research tasks both online and in print sources, and to evaluate their experience. The objective of this approach was to transform the legal research experience from a “treasure hunt” into a much higher level of engagement based on Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning.     

Teaching Specialized Legal Research: Business Associations

Business associations are a complex substantive topic that can be included in an advanced legal research course that teaches students sophisticated research, writing, and citation skills. This article presents the basic substantive law regarding business associations necessary to deliver instruction about advanced legal research, writing, and citation. This article also offers a model syllabus with suggested sources and assignments for students. These research assignments require students to perform tasks such as citing primary and secondary sources, learning advanced research skills using loose-leaf materials, assimilating information from multiple sources into cogent narratives, locating information using various electronic resources, digests, and other secondary sources, and locating and using forms pertinent to business association agreements. This article also provides an instructor with twenty-five suggested sources to use in assigning materials to students. These sources consist of both print and electronic versions. They additionally consist of treatises, monographs, guides, model statutory materials, electronic databases, Web sites, form guides, casebooks, a digest, and a citation manual.     

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.     

How Law Schools Benefit When Librarians Publish,Teach, and Hold Faculty Status

Many nondirector academic law librarians publish and teach legal research classes. Some hold faculty status as well. Law librarians have expertise in the development and delivery of legal research instruction methodologies and are developing a body of literature documenting their efforts to create and share a pedagogy of legal research instruction. Principles of shared faculty governance entitle library faculty to contribute to the development and delivery of a curriculum of legal research instruction. Encouraging law librarian participation in the shared governance of law schools should lead to increasing opportunities for the successful reform of legal education curricula with respect to legal research instruction.     

近10年来我国信息法学研究综述

通过对近10年(2002-2012年)来我国信息法学研究成果的统计、分析、归纳和总结,从信息立法研究、信息法学相关研究以及信息法学相关热点问题研究等方面分别进行概括和总结。发现10年来我国信息法学研究取得快速发展,理论研究更加深入,研究层次和范围更为广泛,但相关研究也存在一些不足,主要表现为研究者结构单一、研究视角还不够广阔、高质量的研究成果不多等。     

古代“淮南”政区沿革及其演化规律

汉初,高祖先后封英布、刘长为淮南王,国除后为九江郡。曹魏时又有淮南王之封,西晋时为淮南郡。东晋南朝由于侨置郡县,淮南郡出现名实不符的现象。十六国北朝也有淮南郡的设置,且名实相符。隋唐及以后,淮南郡改为寿州。唐时淮南道为十道之一,唐末演变成淮南节度使。宋时,淮南或为一路或为淮南东西两路。此后元明清至民国,“淮南”二字不再作为正式政区名称。从“淮南”政区的演变中,我们可以发现二级制与三级制的循环、分封到郡县的逐渐确立、同级政区幅员总是由大到小、政区设置多受前朝影响等中国历代行政区划演变的一般规律。     

俄罗斯图书馆法律体系概览

[目的/意义]探索俄罗斯图书馆法律体系整体脉络，揭示俄罗斯图书馆法律的科学体系，补足国内俄罗斯图书馆法律体系研究的短板，为我国图书馆法律体系建设提供理论支持与实证参考。[方法/过程]梳理俄罗斯及我国图书馆法规代表性成果，评述俄罗斯图书馆法律体系的发展沿革、基本框架与主要内容，探索俄罗斯图书馆事业法、文献呈缴法、图书馆事业文化法支撑、图书馆事业信息法支撑等图书馆法律重点领域。[结果/结论]认为俄罗斯图书馆法律、文化事业、信息产业、特殊群体服务相关法规政令较为密集与集中。俄罗斯建立了以图书馆事业法、文献呈缴法为基础，图书馆专门法、图书馆相关法、图书馆事业相关命令决议、图书馆行业协会规范相互补充与制约的完整的图书馆法律保障体系。俄罗斯图书馆事业的现代化规范发展、图书文物的立法保护、特殊群体权益保障尤其值得深入学习。     

Research Guide to Women's Studies for Law Students

The study of law is no longer limited to statutes, cases and administrative regulations. Indeed, it is no longer limited to law. Many law school courses examine the interplay of law and psychology, economics, poverty and other fields. One of the areas of frequent study has been the impact of women on the law, and of law on women's lives. Understanding courses such as feminist jurisprudence requires information from other areas, broadly called women's studies. Many students have never researched a multidisciplinary topic. This guide is intended to alert students and librarians to major guides and bibliographies published in the mid-1980s, and to provide a selected update to those sources.     

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.     

Joining the Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant Programs and Current Criticisms of Legal Education

Law libraries should play a greater role in addressing the current crisis in legal education. Proponents for educational reform often view libraries as a vehicle for cost savings, while overlooking the ability of libraries to train students in the skills and competencies that are essential for the practice of law. Libraries’ research assistant programs can be particularly effective in imparting workplace values and lawyering skills beyond the traditional law school curriculum. This article encourages libraries to build on the strengths of their research assistant programs as a substantive way to equip law students with essential skills for today's legal marketplace.