A while back, Frank Houdek posed the question:
On Mon, 23 Aug 1993 HOUDEK@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU wrote:
> FROM: Frank G. Houdek
> Subject: Motivating Research Students
>
> Once again I am seeking thoughts on a question pertaining to the teaching of
> legal research in order to put together the "Our Question--Your Answers"
> column in the Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research & Writing Journal. The
> question to be discussed in the next issue is:
>
> Motivation often is the key to success in learning. What can be done to
> convince students that skills-oriented courses such as legal research and
> legal writing are just as important to them as substantive law courses?
>
> As always your comments are most welcome.
As we've said before, it's always good to use a few war stories --
either our own or those of 2Ls and 3Ls who have had summer jobs and
discovered how important research skills are.
Now we have some quantification to support our war stories. Our
law school recently surveyed graduates. Twenty-seven percent of the
alumni responded, including a wide range of classes, mostly graduates from
the 1970s and 1980s. One of the questions was: "How important have each
of the following been in your career since law school?" followed by a list
of 10 skills. 5= very important; 1=not at all important. Legal research
skills came in third, with an average of 4.15, topped only by legal
writing skills (4.40) and critical thinking and analysis (4.70). Legal
research edged out knowledge of substantive law (4.14), professional
ethics (4.10) and advocacy skills (4.02) and easily bested knowledge of
procedural law (3.77), interviewing & counseling skills (3.85), awareness
of social responsibility (3.62), and leadership skills (3.78). 76.2% of
graduates surveyed gave legal research skills either a 4 (30.0%) or a 5
(46.2%). Source: Alumni Survey 101: Graduate Employment History and
Experience, Profile (University of Washington School of Law), Summer 1993,
at 18, 21.
(I started to respond to Frank directly, but then I thought that
some others on the list would like to know about this survey.)
=====Mary Whisner, Head of Reference======================
=====Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington======
=====whisner@u.washington.edu=============================
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