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

Nancy P. JohnsonAssoc. Dean for Library and Information ServicesGeorgia State Univ. College of Law Library

Law Student Research CompetenciesAALL Law Student Research Principleshttp://researchcompetency.wordpress.com/

Core Legal Research Competencieshttp://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

Distinguish binding and persuasive authority – address contrary authority

“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

Cost of research

“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

Link between print Digest and online

Statutes Stress all of the useful features in a code Distinguish between a code and a

session law Introduce legislative history

Easy way to locate cases, regulations, and treatises

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.

Know the value of your librarian