Required Text: There is no required text for this class.

Transcription

1 Advanced Legal Research Tuesday 6:30-9:15 pm Room 312 Spring 2008 Michael Whiteman (Office Telephone: Emily Janoski-Haehlen (Office Telephone: Required Text: There is no required text for this class. Please do the assigned readings prior to each class. This will aid in your understanding of the materials we will cover each session. Each week we may assign additional readings which will either be on reserve or on the course TWEN site. Grading: Legislative History Assignment 30% Administrative Law Assignment 30% Participation, including completion of exercises as assigned 30% Presentation 10% CLASS ATTENDANCE Satisfactory attendance for this course is attendance in at least 11 of all regularly scheduled classes. Of course attendance at all class sessions will be the best way to assure maximum learning from this course. Absences due to illness or other personal issues are included within this policy. Thus there is no difference between an excused or unexcused absence. A student who has more than 3 absences will not have satisfactory attendance and shall receive a penalty of 1 full letter grade per every 1-2 absences above that allowed. For example: 4-5 absences = a penalty of 1 full letter grade, 6-7 absences = a penalty of 2 full letter grades, 8-9 absences = a penalty of 3 full letter grades, etc. Notices: Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments, auxiliary aids or services) for this course must register with the Office of Disability Services. Contact the Office

2 of Disability Services immediately in University Center suite 320 or call X-6373 for more information. Verification of your disability is required in the Office of Disability Services for you to receive reasonable academic accommodations. Visit the disability services website at Course Schedule: 1/15 Intro to Course, Process of Legal Research, C.A.L.R., Internet, etc. 1) Tina Kelley, Whales in the Minnesota River? The New York Times (March 4, 1999) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2) Hope Viner Samborn, Going Beyond Google: Law Librarians Stress Legal Research by the Books, ABAJournal E Report (August 22 nd, 2003). [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 3) Dionne Carney Rainey, How New Associates Can Become Effective Researchers, Texas Lawyer (Oct. 24 th, 2005). [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 4) Bobbi Cross, Top 10 Things Law Librarians Wish New Associates Would Know, 233 The Legal Intelligencer 7 (Apr. 7, 2006). [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 5) Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet: Checklist [This reading is available under the Web Link.] 1/22 Computer Assisted Legal Research (C.A.L.R.) 1) Barbara Bintliff, From Creativity to Computerese: Thinking Like a Lawyer in the Computer Age, 88 Law Library Journal 338 (1996). [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2) Jason Krause, Towering Titans: LexisNexis and West Are Still Battling for Dominance, 90 A.B.A. J. 51 (May 2004) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 3) Kendall F. Svengalis, Legal Information Buyer s Guide & Reference Manual (Rhode Island Lawpress 2006). [This reading is available under the Reading Link.] 4) Sarah Kellogg, Web Wars: Online Legal Research at the Crossroads, Washington Lawyer (Feb. 2005) [This reading is available under the Readings Link and under the Web Link.]

3 5) Patrick W. Spangler, The New World Versus the Old World of Legal Research: Are Print Resources Completely a Thing of the Past? (The Chicago Bar Association 2006) [This reading is available under the Reading Link.] 6) WESTLAW Tutorials: Please complete the Advanced Case Law Research Certification on Westlaw (found at: g=89.32) and complete the quiz associated with it. Please print out the certificate and hand it in by the end of class. 7) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following two tutorials: Terms & Connectors Searching and Advanced Research Skills. Please make sure to us your results. 1/29 Case Law 1) Access to Online Dockets and Court Records Benefits All Legal Professionals. [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2/05 Case Law (Continued) 1) Mersky & Dunn, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8 th ed (Foundation Press 2002) Chapter 12-Court Rules, Pages (Reading available on reserve.) 2) Thomas Keefe, Navigating the Law: Case-finding Tools Beyond Lexis and Westlaw [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2/11 Trial & Legal Practice Materials 1) Susan D. Zago, Secondary Sources: Top Ten, 24 (3) Legal Information Alert 1 (March 2005) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2) Mersky & Dunn, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8 th ed (Foundation Press 2002) Chapter 19, Pages (Reading available on reserve.) 3) WESTLAW Tutorials: Please sign on to lawschool.westlaw.com, click on Westlaw Training Under Basic Westlaw Tutorials click on Practice Westlaw Research and complete the following two tutorials: Practical Litigation Materials: Part I

4 Practical Litigation Materials: Part II 4) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following two tutorials: Total Litigator and Total Litigator II. Please make sure to us your results. 2/19 Statutory Law 1) Mersky & Dunn, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8 th ed (Foundation Press 2002) Chapters 8-9, Pages (Reading available on reserve.) 2) Barbara Bintliff, How Can I Tell the Effective Date of a Federal Statute?, 8 Perspectives 93 (2000) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 3) History of the United States Statutes at Large and the United States Code [This reading is available under the Web Link.] 4) WESTLAW Tutorials: Please complete the Advanced Statutory Research Certification on Westlaw (found at: g=89.33) and complete the quiz associated with it. Please print out the certificate and hand it in at the start of class. 5) Please sign on to lawschool.westlaw.com, click on Westlaw Training Under Basic Westlaw Tutorials click on Practice Westlaw Research and complete the following tutorial: KeyCite for Non-Case Materials 6) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following tutorial: Statutory Research. Please make sure to us your results before the start of class. 2/26 Legislative Histories 1) Alex Kozinski, Should Reading Legislative History be an Impeachable Offense?, 31 Suffolk U.L. Rev. 807 (1998). [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2) Mersky & Dunn, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8 th ed (Foundation Press 2002) Chapter 10, Pages (Reading available on reserve.)

5 3) Please sign on to lawschool.westlaw.com, click on Westlaw Training Under Basic Westlaw Tutorials click on Practice Westlaw Research and complete the following tutorial: Legislative Process & History 4) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following tutorial: Legislative History Research. Please make sure to us your results. 3/04 Cost Effective Legal Research 1) Cost Recovery for Online Legal Research by Kingsley Martin [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 2) Cynthia Whitt-Covalcine, Conducting Cost-Effective Research, CBA Report 14 (Dec. 2006) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 3) Guide to Time Efficient & Cost Effective Research on LexisNexis [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 4) Cost Effective Research on Westlaw Power Point Slide Show (This is a large file, 50+slides, so please review it first before you decide if you want to print out the whole thing!) [This reading is available under the Readings Link.] 5) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following tutorial: Cost-Effective Research. Please make sure to us your results. 3/11 Spring Break 3/18 Administrative Law LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ASSIGNMENT DUE Cost Effective Assignment Due WESTLAW Tutorials: Please sign on to lawschool.westlaw.com, click on Westlaw Training Under Basic Westlaw Tutorials click on Practice Westlaw Research and complete the following tutorial: Administrative Law Research LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and

6 Complete the following tutorial: Administrative Law. Please make sure to us your results. 1) A Research Guide to the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations [This reading is available under the Web Link.] 3/25 Looseleaf Services ADMINISTRATIVE LAW ASSIGNMENT DUE 4/01 Background & Company Research 1) LEXIS Tutorials: Go to and click on Learn LexisNexis and Complete the following tutorial: Factiva/News and Business. Please make sure to us your results prior to class. 4/08 Presentations 4/15 Presentations 4/22 The Great Legal Research Scavenger Hunt