Competency: Teaching

Target Audience: Librarians who oversee externs and summer associates lacking adequate research skills; instructors of legal research

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will be able to design a remedial legal research program for short-term employees (externs, summer associates) utilizing various traditional and online tools.

2) Participants will be able to identify obstacles with current legal research programs that do not center on real-world research methods and practical problems.

Librarians who interact with externs and summer associates are sometimes dismayed by the lack of legal research skills shown by current law students. Often, librarians must reteach basic skills to these short-term employees. This moderated panel discussion will focus on ways in which we can assist law students and recent graduates to develop better legal research skills. One panelist in this program will describe how legal research is currently being taught in law schools, highlighting what works and what doesn’t. Another panelist will describe how summer associates are reintroduced to basic research concepts at a law firm. The last panelist will describe how externs in a court are given opportunities to relearn skills at their own pace using online technology. Speakers will touch upon generational issues, use of online materials vs. traditional materials, Web 2.0 tools, and student learning styles.