Teaching the Law School Curriculum - Institute for Law Teaching ...

262 Legal Research and Writing
The Specialized Legal Research course has evolved considerably since the introduction of the Foundations
course. Initially, it was a two-credit course that minimized overlap with Foundations by addressing only those
areas of research not covered in the other course, including legislative research; foreign and international research;
research in topical areas such as tax, environmental, and labor law; and non-legal areas such as business and medical
research. After the first year we added a third hour to the course for a lab session. There is some coverage of
primary law material in the Specialized course, essentially to provide context for more advanced subjects. For example,
statutory research is covered in the context of legislative and legislative history research. The lab sessions
are often conducted in the computer classroom and are geared toward hands-on sessions with specialized resources
like Congressional Universe, CCH Tax Online, and business resources such as Hoovers Online and Edgar.
The evaluation of the Specialized Legal Research course remains chiefly based on the pathfinder and a series of
short-memo research assignments.
The legal research curriculum as a whole continues to evolve. Starting in the fall of 2002 we introduced a onecredit
Internet Legal Research course using the same three hours per week for five weeks format as the Foundations
course. The Internet course will be offered in alternate years with a one-credit International Legal Research
course to be offered in the fall of 2003. As a result, the Specialized course will return to two credits and will take
on more of a seminar feel.
Syllabus Bank
Material
George H. Pike, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
LWIonline.org now has the beginning of an online syllabus bank. Thanks to the many contributions of legal
research and writing teachers and law librarians we have over 40 advanced course syllabi that can easily be accessed
and downloaded (in Word). Karla Luce, web designer at Seattle University, put the syllabi online at
www.lwionline.org/publications/advanced.asp.
To reach the syllabus bank go to lwionline.org, then to LWI Publications on the left navigation bar; click Syllabus
Bank and then go to Advanced Courses (http://www.lwionline.org/publications/advanced.asp). You’ll find
over 40 advanced syllabi arranged by course type, then identified by teacher and school. We have many advanced
legal writing syllabi, advanced advocacy syllabi, even 10 advanced research syllabi, and a few other types, too.
In the course of collecting the advanced course syllabi, I found another great resource. Lee Peoples at Oklahoma
City University told me about the project at the University of Tulsa collecting advanced research syllabi.
To check out that resource go to http://www.law.utulsa.edu:8080/library/alr_syllabi. Those syllabi may be a bit
older, but they are still very useful.
“The True Story of the Three Little Pigs”
Jo Anne Durako, Rutgers-Camden School of Law
To teach students how to write a persuasive statement of facts, I often start by reading them The True Story of
the 3 Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszka, which tells the familiar story from the wolf’s point of view. This story is great
for discussing perspective and emphasis/de-emphasis.
Nancy Soonpaa, Texas Tech University School of Law