I taught a classic advanced legal research course years ago. It was limited
to 20 students. We covered CALR, looseleaf services, specialized areas like
civil procedure, and started the course with a review of basic legal research.
I was extremely dissatisfied with the way the course went. My students never
read the assignments before class. Participation was a significant chunk of
their grade, so they talked, but said nothing substantive. There were 2 or
3 excellent students, but the rest of the class was mediocre at best. They
had to write a lengthy annotated bibliography of what was in our collection
on a topic of their own choice. Most of the papers were pretty poor. I felt
like most of them weren't serious about the course.most of the students in
Nowadays, I give a "research review" twice a year for upper class students.
The SBA sponsors it and it's always well-attended. This spring I am expanding
to include sessions on LEXIS, CASEBASE and WESTLAW. We also offer a law
clerks workshop in June. Legal research is such a broad topic, this way I
am available when they need the review or have specialized questions. They're
not competing for grades and I'm not limited to teaching 20 at a time (and
don't have to grade those papers!).
Lynn Foster (lcfoster@ualr.edu)
UALR
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