Category «Legal Research Training»

Law Librarians: The Missing Link As Solo & Small Firm Lawyers Adapt to Artificial Intelligence – Part 1

In her three part article on AI in Legal Research and Law Practice, Carolyn Elefant, attorney, tech guru, and legal blogger, shares actionable information, knowledge and topical resources that were the foundation of her presentation at the AALL 2019 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Elefant’s mission has always been to ensure that solo and small firms have current information, not just on new technology developments, but also on how these new tools can be applied in practice. AI is a fast-moving target that presents significant challenges to professionals in many roles – lawyers, law librarians, KM, CI/BI, competitive intelligence, marketing, and research analysts to name but a few. Elefant’s primer illuminates the critical role law librarians play in the effective implementation of AI within their organizations. See also Part II and Part III.

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Subjects: AI, American Association of Law Libraries, Competitive Intelligence, Continuing Legal Education, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Legal Technology

Is it a “Good” Case? Can You Rely on BCite, KeyCite, and Shepard’s to Tell You?

Kristina L. Niedringhaus calls our attention to a recent article by Paul Heller whose research identified 357 citing relationships that one or more of the three major citators labeled as negative. “Out of these, all three citators agree that there was negative treatment only 53 times. This means that in 85% of these citing relationships, the three citators do not agree on whether there was negative treatment.”

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Subjects: Citators, KM, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Product Reviews, United States Law

Tax Fraud By The Numbers: The Trump Timeline

Former CPA, writer and teacher Ken Boyd provides readers with an explanation of tax fraud that is clearly presented, instructive and relevant to the ongoing Mueller investigation. Boyd uses the extensive New York Times investigative report of November 2018 that documented a history of tax fraud allegedly committed by Donald Trump, his father and siblings, as the foundation for his lesson on various types of tax fraud. The allegations documented by the Times are under review by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

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Subjects: Business Research, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Public Records, Securities Law, Tax

Can Legal Research Be Taught? Part 3: Pushing Ourselves Further

In the conclusion of his three part series, Paul Gatz joins the themes of the first two articles, the teaching of metacognition, legal bibliography, and legal analysis and argument to his conclusion that “to be the experts in legal research we must also be leaders in developing knowledge in our field, furthering the understanding of the legal domain and of our own place within it.” The accuracy of Gatz’s conclusions can enrich our work as we teach students on range of expert subject matter that aligns with and overlaps legal research.

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Subjects: Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Research Training

Can Legal Research Be Taught? Part 1: The Relevance Paradox

In the first of a three part series, Paul Gatz articulates the importance of acknowledging the “learner’s paradox” that “legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving the law-related information necessary to support legal decision-making.” Expert legal researchers conduct their work within the territory of the known and the unknown, the facts, the suppositions, and the possibilities that skilled and strategic students seek to learn and thereafter apply within their course of studies, and subsequently bring forward to support their respective practice of law. [Link to Part 2 of this series]

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Subjects: Communication Skills, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Research Training

Can Legal Research Be Taught? Part 2: Varieties of Relevance

In Part 2 of his series [see Part 1 here], Paul Gatz takes a deeper dive into the challenges of effectively teaching the “why” of a document’s relevance to assist students to understand the reasons a given document occupies the role it does within the subject literature. Gatz focuses on the concept of how knowledge in a particular discipline is created, disseminated, and organized (subject knowledge relevance). Gatz states that knowledge content of a discipline is helpful in determining the relevance of a particular document, but an effective relevance determination relies upon a theory of what counts as knowledge, or, in legal practice, what counts as legally valid.

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Subjects: Communication Skills, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Research Training

The Fight to Bring Legal Research to the Front

Law librarian and professor Brandon Adler identifies core issues to support educating third year law students in a wide range of reliable free and low cost legal resources. Many law librarians acknowledge that there is a lack of awareness and use of alternative legal resources, with the law student community as well across a large swath of attorneys in firms both large and small.

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Subjects: Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research Training
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