ABSTRACT

Legal research is a fundamental skill for all law students and attorneys. Regardless of practice area or work venue, knowledge of the sources and processes of legal research underpins the legal professional’s work. Academic law librarians, as research experts, are uniquely qualified to teach legal research. Whether participating in the mandatory, first-year law school curriculum or offering advanced or specialized legal research instruction, law librarians have the up-to-date knowledge, the broad view of the field, and the expertise to provide the best legal research instruction possible.

This collection offers both theoretical and practical guidance on legal research education from the perspectives of the law librarian. Containing well-reasoned, analytical articles on the topic, the volume explains and supports the law librarian’s role in legal research instruction. The contributors to this book, all experts in teaching legal research, challenge academic law librarians to seize their instructional role in the legal academy.

This book was based on a special issue of Legal Reference Services Quarterly.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

Legal Research: MacCrate's “Fundamental Lawyering Skill” Missing in Action

part 1|22 pages

Setting the Stage

chapter 1|22 pages

Commentaries on Hicks' ‘Teaching Legal Bibliography':

With an Addendum by Robert Berring

part 2|45 pages

Legal Research Theory

chapter 2|21 pages

Thinking Like a Research Expert:

Schemata for Teaching Complex Problem-Solving Skills

chapter 3|10 pages

Teaching Advanced Legal Research:

Philosophy and Context

part 3|118 pages

Best Practices in Teaching Legal Research

chapter 5|23 pages

Best Practices:

What First-Year Law Students Should Learn in a Legal Research Class

chapter 7|17 pages

The Skills They Need:

International and Foreign Legal Research

chapter 8|27 pages

State-Specific Legal Research Instruction:

Curricular Stepchild or Core Competency?

chapter 9|19 pages

Tubs, Buckets, and a Variety of Lumber:

Developing a Strategic Approach to Legal Research

part 4|70 pages

Assessment and Technique

chapter 10|17 pages

Legal Research Assessment

chapter 11|20 pages

“Like Sands Through the Hourglass…”

How to Develop a Good Legal Research Problem

part 5|49 pages

Certification and Bar exam Teaching

chapter 13|10 pages

Who Gets to Be the Expert?:

Legal Research Skills Certification in Legal Education

chapter 15|10 pages

Great Expectations:

New Associates' Research Skills from Law School to Law Firm

chapter 16|19 pages

The Development of the Skills Curriculum in Law Schools:

Lessons for Directors of Academic Law Libraries