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Bridging the Changes to the way legal research is taught to a new generation of students by Marjorie Crawford Gap eforming the legal research Who Are the New Law Students? curriculum is an ongoing thread At Rutgers Law School-Newark this R in the discussion to bridge the academic year, the average age of first-year perceived gap between legal education and law students was 24 for the day class and the practice of law. Observations, surveys, 29 for the evening class. In 2007, the Law and articles show a continuing gap between School Admission Council (LSAC) reported legal education and the skills needed to that about 50 percent of the 2006 practice law. The old Chinese proverb on applicants were between ages 22 and 24, this page suggests the need to change the with another third between 25 and 29. way we teach legal research is not a new The vast majority of these students are phenomenon. Consequently, I will members of the “Millennial Generation.” investigate four questions in this article: Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors • Why is the teaching of legal research of Millennials Rising: The Next Great receiving increased attention? Generation, defined the Millennial • Who are the new law students? Generation as those born between 1982 and • What are the changes in the legal 2002. This generation is known also by work environment? other pseudonyms such as Millennials, • What are the changes in the way Generation Y, and digital natives. “What I hear, legal research is being taught? The Millennials are sophisticated, I forget; what technology-savvy, holistic, team-oriented, Why is the Teaching of Legal achieving, self-assured, confident, I see, I remember; Research Receiving Increased conventional, and diverse, as well as the but, what I do, Attention? most well educated generation in the history I understand.” At the 2008 Association of American Law of America. This generation prefers active Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting, a national learning, rather than passive learning. — Old Chinese proverb audience assembled to discuss ways to make During undergraduate studies, Millennials the law school curricula more practical. used online databases, such as LexisNexis A movement is underway to make drastic Academic and HeinOnline, to complete changes to the legal research program at research assignments. law schools because of critiques within and outside of the legal profession. What Are the Changes in the Law Policymakers are demanding greater Practice Work Environment? accountability from law schools to Today, lawyers are required to use skills in successfully educate future lawyers. In March the work environment that were not taught 2007, the Government Accountability in the legal education curriculum previously. Office released a report, Higher Education: The changes in the legal practice work Issues Related to Law School Accreditation. environment are being driven by rapid This GAO Report was prepared for the business and advanced technological U.S. House of Representative Congressional developments. Committee on Education and Labor. For example, attorneys need to learn Moreover, the call for reforms in the and master superior information gathering educational systems appears to be universal. and discerning skills, because of the The United Nations Educational, Scientific, proliferation of free and fee-based legal and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) content now available on the Internet. urged governments to expand and provide Looking ahead, legal research programs quality education for all in its report, have implemented new teaching Towards Knowledge Societies: UNESCO methodologies and tools. One new World Report. Consequently, public method integrates theory and practice by policymakers in industrialized nations have emphasizing the importance of combining signed agreements, enacted legislation, books, free Internet resources, and fee-based and promulgated regulations to reform the databases. Class exercises are situated within educational systems to ensure participation a matching context from the real world of in knowledge societies for all students in law practice. Other new teaching techniques the future. include thematic learning, collaborative

10 AALL Spectrum April 2008 © 2008 Marjorie Crawford • photo © iStockphoto.com/Malcolm Romain teaching AALLSpectrum_Apr2008:AALLSpectrum_Nov 3/17/08 11:19 AM Page 11 apbetween Legal Education and Practice learning, and a teaching to students’ different learning styles. Additionally, legal research teachers are using a wide variety of new tools to engage the Millennial Generation in learning legal research skills. Examples include simulated- based computer learning, Web courses and pages, presentation technologies, social networking tools, and the suite of Web 2.0 tools. These changes are being implemented in the way legal research is being taught to a new generation of future lawyers, in order to make the transition from legal education to law practice for our graduates a more seamless experience. What Are the Changes in Teaching Legal Research? To better understand the complexities of how legal research is being taught in law schools, I turned to the Association of Legal Writing Directors/Legal Writing Institute (ALWD/LWI) for illumination. Annually, AWLD/LWI conducts a survey of legal writing and research programs. For the 2006-2007 academic year, 181 American law schools participated in the ALWD/LWI survey. The key findings for legal research in the results of this study are as follows:

How Is Legal Research Taught in Law School? • 149 schools integrate legal research with legal writing. • 54 schools teach legal research separately from writing.

Who Is Responsible for Teaching Legal Research? • 79 schools use legal research and writing (LRW) faculty to teach legal research. • 45 schools use librarians to teach legal research. • 61 schools use a combination of librarians and LRW faculty to teach legal research. • 21 schools use teaching assistants and other students to teach legal research.

How Many Credits Are Awarded per Semester? • 16 schools award one credit. • 87 schools award two credits. • 68 schools award three credits.

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criv notes by Tracy L. Thompson

CRIV Programs spreadsheets, and vendor Tales from the Dark Side, or If issue resolution logs. Many I Knew Then What I Know Now! in Portland beginning law librarians spend Level: Intermediate years discovering the need for Have you ever wondered what librarian The snow falling outside my —and then developing and liaisons do and what exactly they can do for window doesn’t fool me. I know that designing—these tools. Why recreate you? Here is your opportunity to learn from the AALL Annual Meeting will be upon the wheel when the CRIV has already law librarians with experience working on us before we know it. The Committee on done the work? This program will enable both sides of “The Great Divide.” All of the Relations with Information Vendors (CRIV) librarians to become more effective and speakers are librarians who left the profession is sponsoring the following three programs. efficient in their dealings with information to work for information vendors and then CRIV Tools: Useful Resources for vendors. returned to library positions in law firms and Working with Information Vendors law schools. Speakers will share insights gained Acquiring Content in a Global during their work as vendor representatives Level: Introductory Marketplace: Exploring Vendor For many years, the CRIV has provided a Relations Across Borders and discuss the librarian-vendor relationship from their unique perspectives. Specific topics Web-based set of tools and resources to Level: Intermediate will include understanding the essential role assist librarians in working with legal With the expansion of globalization in the of the gatekeeper, recognizing the librarian’s publishers and their various departments. law and the increasing availability of foreign power in negotiations, and learning how This program will showcase the numerous e-content, more librarians are dealing with vendors can help librarians. tools the CRIV provides, demonstrate how non-U.S.-based vendors. This program will In addition to these programs, please to access them, and explain the benefits highlight the areas of concern for libraries plan to attend the Academic Law Libraries of using them. Specific CRIV tools that when acquiring content from foreign Special Interest Section Vendor Roundtable. will be featured include vendor contact vendors. Attendees will hear from three See you in Portland! ■ information grids, corporate affiliations vendors (one based in the United States Tracy L. Thompson (tracy.thompson@ of legal publishers, the divested titles list, and two based in other countries) and an yale.edu) is executive director of the New sample letters for unsolicited material, acquisitions librarian with experience in England Law Library Consortium, Inc., sample claim letters, sample budget foreign acquisitions. in Keene, New Hampshire. bridging the gap— continued from page 11

Other Key Finding: • Webinars and Webcasts for mini • Students are required to keep a • 109 schools report the annual survey lectures research log or diary results are used to improve their LRW • YouTube • Open-ended questions are being programs. • Specialized legal research courses in used in assignments Now that we have a snapshot of what tax, foreign law, and other subject • Attention is paid to free and the paradigm looks like for teaching legal areas inexpensive resources research at most law schools, I will discuss • Team teaching approach • Google for Lawyer, but with careful changes in the way legal research is being • Online social-network use emphasized taught to Millennials. Legal research communicating and teamwork tools • Student collaboration is permitted instructors are using a variety of new • Practicing attorneys are invited on some assignments approaches to teach to the sophisticated, to class as guest lecturers • Clickers and The West Education technologically-savvy Millennial • Panels of recent graduates from Network (TWEN) are being used Generation. New methodologies and tools various practice areas are invited for polling that are being used include the following: to lectures • Social-networking Web sites, such • Online legal research courses • Collaborative in-person and virtual as Facebook, Lawbby, Lawyer Link, • Online American Law Reports study groups and MySpace (ALR) courses • Peer-to-peer teaching of selected • Presentation technologies include • ALR traditional courses are being sources PowerPoint, Adobe Captivate, taught separately • Competition between groups, using Camtasia, and Fullshot (Camtasia • Online legislative history module print and electronic resources adds audio, running commentary, • Computer-based simulated • Games with rewards of giveaways video streams, tracks typing, and communities • Time sheets and budgets are used to mouse movement) • Second Life for virtual tutorials track billable hours for research • Scholarship repositories are used to • The Center for Computer-Assisted assignments post, promote, and share academic Legal Instruction (CALI) lessons • Class exercises are being taken from articles among legal research teachers. • Web 2.0 technology tools are being authentic sources, such as briefs, The changes I have identified in used to generate content—blogs, reference questions, pop culture, this article represent a wide variety of blawgs, podcasts, vlogs, vidcasts, hot legal topics, U.S. Law Week, approaches individual law schools use vodcasts, RSS news feeds, and wikis and contracts written by practicing to teach legal research to Millennials. attorneys

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However, these new approaches are not Education for public schools in the such as time-management logs, blogs, widespread in their use by legal research Commonwealth of Virginia adopted podcasts, polling devices, social-networking programs for a variety of reasons. Some student-centered standards for learning sites, and Web 2.0 tools. of our colleagues would like the learning foreign languages in February 2007. There Despite these efforts to improve the experience in legal research to mirror the are frequent references in these standards legal research programs at various law realities of the practicing lawyer, but there that require teachers to use authentic schools, we need to look at how other are challenges that prevent them from cultural materials. Additionally, teachers educators in the medical and engineering accomplishing this goal. These barriers must facilitate practical opportunities for professional schools are solving problems include the lack of good legal research texts students to apply their knowledge and skills that relate to teaching this generation. and workbooks, budgetary constraints that in the targeted ethnic language community Teaching legal research to our students has impact hiring decisions, and insufficient beyond the confines of the classroom. always been a complex undertaking. Today, technological resources to effectively teach During the 1980s, a recurring theme in the law practice arm of the profession is the course. the cognitive studies was that a learner’s evolving in an effort to provide services in a In my analysis of the changes to the memory recall ability was related to the knowledge society. Therefore, law librarians way legal research is being taught, I have teacher’s type of presentation. For example, will need to explore collaborative teaching observed that these changes do not when teachers presented information to models with solo lawyers, mid-size firms, demonstrate enough use of research by students using the verbal lecture, the recall and large firms, with a view toward making cognitive theorists. Prior to entering law rate three days later was only 10 to 20 the legal research learning environment an school, the Millennial Generation benefited percent of the information. These studies authentic one for our students. from this research and learned in are fueling the call for higher educational Furthermore, there is a need to environments that incorporated pedagogy reform by policymakers. investigate the design of other legal research from the cognitive school of scientists. In conclusion, legal research educators teaching models that will foster the creation Research from this school has enabled already have implemented some changes in of synergy within the law school and the educators in other disciplines to design the way legal research is taught. In this new legal profession. The globalization of educational models linked to cognitive evolving academic legal research teaching markets is influencing change in the work theories and learning strategies. Medical model, lectures are being combined with environment, and new graduates are expected school training was revolutionized in the visual, virtual, active, and authentic learning to have a deeper knowledge of more than 1970s as a consequence of the investigative instructional strategies. For example, a one discipline. To rise to the challenges case-based learning approach. Today, number of teachers are using the online confronting our profession, librarians will undergraduate biology educators adapt learning environment to offer lectures, need to think of ourselves as reformers. this approach in “bioinformatics” to teach legislative history modules, mini-courses, Assuming that new role, I will develop an future members of the medical profession and in a few instances full legal research assessment plan in the future to measure and in an authentic learning environment. courses to their students. Many legal analyze the effectiveness of the changes that Bioinformatics is a field in science as a research programs are using authentic I have discussed in this article. ■ consequence of the merging into a single class exercises, such as reference questions, Marjorie Crawford (mcrawford@kinoy. discipline the fields of biology, information contracts, and hot legal topics to engage and rutgers.edu) is head of technical and technology, and computer science. In the make the learning experience more relevant automated services at Rutgers University 21st century, the emphasis in the education to the practice of law for students. Some Law School Library in Newark, New Jersey. model has shifted from teaching to learning. teachers are inviting members of the From kindergarten to undergraduate profession as guest lecturers to their legal Gratefully, I acknowledge the support of the schools, many educators have moved to research classes. To generate content and Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section a more user-centered model for teaching support learning in legal research classes, Legal Research and Sourcebook Committee in students. For example, the Board of teachers are using a variety of new tools, enabling me to complete this article.

law-library-palooza— continued from page 9

A Profitable Partnership Overall, Law-Library-Palooza was an Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College While I believe that the knowledge I gained excellent way to re-connect with my non- of Law Library in Highland Heights. this summer has greatly enhanced what academic colleagues. The benefit to me I now teach to our students, only my and, although they may not realize it, to my Many thanks go to the wonderful colleagues in the “real world” will know students, has been enormous. The refresher librarians and their staffs who opened their for sure if our efforts bear fruit. on how things work in the “real world” libraries to me and my staff, including To thank my colleagues for generously has, I believe, given me a great reason to Barbara Davis at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister spending their time with us suburbanite revamp the legal research class to make it LLP; Sheila Duncan at Vorys, Sater, Seymour academics, I treated each of them to lunch more meaningful to my students, and in the and Pease LLP; Barbara Silbersack at (after each tour) and then, as an added end, I hope that it will make my colleagues’ Thompson Hine LLP; Carol Suhre at bonus, I designed and ordered special jobs in the firms easier as these students will Clermont County Law Library; Tracie Tiegs t-shirts. These t-shirts were done in such come into the practice better prepared to at Frost Brown Todd LLC; Mary Lynn a way as to mimic a concert t-shirt. The research the law. Rock on! ■ Wagner at Keating, Muething & Klekamp, reaction has been quite positive to these Michael Whiteman (whiteman@nku. PLL; David Whelan at the Cincinnati Law t-shirts, and they serve as a memento to the edu) is associate dean for law library services Library Association; and Cynthia Whitt- value of reaching out and talking with our and information technology at Northern Covalcine at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. colleagues in the non-academic world. AALL Spectrum April 2008 35