Finals are over. The Write-on is done. Now it’s time for summer jobs and externships to begin. Summertime is often where students realize how important legal research is to the practice of law. In that vein, I’ve recently written a short piece for the ABA’s Student Lawyer magazine called The Importance of Legal Research. I [...]
The Law Library provides a lot of information, both print and electronic. At times the amount of information can be overwhelming and it may be difficult to know where to start. One of the best places to start is with our subject guides. Librarians here at BYU have pulled together some of the best information [...]
Executive privilege has been in the news lately as President Obama has asserted it for the first time in his presidency. The Wall Street Journal recently published a list of executive privilege assertions over the past 50 years. As a law librarian I was particularly interested in this because the list was based on research found [...]
One of the common questions you’ll face when receiving a new legal research assignment is “Where should I start?” There’s a number of places that work as a good starting place, but one of the best is a legal treatise. Researchers today are often tempted to start searching in a case law database to find [...]
One area of law that we generally don’t have much time to cover in our first year legal research classes is local legislation. Municipal ordinances govern much of what we do on an everyday basis–from parking to pets to zoning–and is important to keep in mind when you’re doing legal research. Some of these municipal [...]
Many students are getting into the thick of writing research papers about this time of year. If you’re looking for a way to organize your research, you may want to consider Zotero. Zotero is a free tool that allows you to collect and organize the sources you’ll need to cite in your paper. You can [...]
One of the things I love most about my job as a law librarian is trying to find ways to get students interested in legal research. I’m not going to lie–it’s not always easy! But, legal research is important to an aspiring lawyer’s career and I want students to be prepared. One of the things [...]
Finding a good topic to write about can often be a frustrating part of the writing process. To help, the Litigation Section of the Utah Bar has developed a topic bank where members of the bar supply possible paper topics that can be claimed by students. The topic bank’s FAQs explain the reason for the [...]
Law librarians at BYU will teach 3 upper-level classes during Winter 2012 that you may want to consider adding to your schedule. Each are one credit classes. Here are the details: Advanced Legal Research, LAW 796R §7, Prof. Gary Hill, W 2:30pm This course will cover research topics and advanced techniques in the following areas: [...]
Everyone who’s flown is familiar with the announcement to shut down portable electronic devices for take-0ff and landing. I was recently directed to an article in the New York Times (thanks to Above the Law) wondering why we have such a rule. The article links to the regulation in question as shown in the e-CFR. [...]