This page looks plain and unstyled because you're using a non-standard compliant browser. To see it in its best form, please upgrade to a browser that supports web standards. It's free and painless.

CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

Law Library Research Certificate Seminars

Laura E. Ray, Educational Programming Librarian, laura.ray@law.csuohio.edu | September 06, 2007 - 11:08

The Law Library is pleased to announce the debut of its Research Certificate Seminars for Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students. Attendees of each Seminar will earn 25 points toward a Law Library Research Certificate. Certificates will be awarded to students with 100 Seminar points.

Certificate Seminars will discuss research materials and resources critical to successful legal practice and scholarly writing, as well as focus on research skills law firms and courts are seeking when hiring associates and clerks. Presented by our team of research librarians, the Seminars will offer a unique forum for students to learn more about specific research topics.

Certificate Seminars will be held 5pm-6pm on Thursdays, in the Law Library Conference Room (Room LL212, on the 2nd floor of the Law Library), and light refreshments will be provided. Seminar attendance will be limited to 18 students, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible.

Fall Semester 2007 Seminar Dates and Topics are:

  • October 11th - Ohio Law Research (register by Oct 9th)
  • October 18th - Search Strategies, Avoiding Plagiarism, and Scholarly Writing (register by Oct 16th)
  • November 1st - Administrative Law Research (register by Oct 30th)
  • November 8th - Foreign and International Law Research (register by Nov 6th)

Additional Certificate Seminars will be offered during Spring Semester 2008, and the Seminars will be one of our continuous educational services to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

To register for a Law Library Research Certificate Seminar, please contact Laura Ray, Educational Programming Librarian, at 216-687-6880 or laura.ray@law.csuohio.edu.


Law Library News and Events:: Comment (0) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0) AddThis Social Bookmark Button

How Information Literate Are We?

Jan Novak, Associate Director jan.novak@law.csuohio.edu | September 06, 2007 - 10:28

In his recent article “Who Are Those Guys?:” The Results of a Survey Studying the Information Literacy of Incoming Law Students , Syracuse University College of Law Professor Ian Gallacher reports the results of a 2006 survey of incoming law students as to their perception of their reading, writing and research skills.

With particular respect to research skills, Gallicher characterizes the majority of student responses as overconfident and cautions that such certainty might lead to “ a closing of minds during the research portion of a first year writing and research course. Students feel themselves to be capable, even skilled, researchers, and therefore are likely disinclined to believe that legal research will pose any substantial difficulties for them.” (p. 30)

The research habits reported in the survey included a majority reliance on the internet for all research needs, and a strong reliance on Google as the student’s favorite search engine, resulting in a “passive rather than active” approach to acquiring information (p. 31). It is the active component that leads to the assimilating and associating necessary for legal analysis.

Without characterizing a set of research skills as “literate” or not, we recognize that the legal research process is something different than most students have encountered before, and that the refinement of one’s approach to identifying issues and sources is an on-going process. Your Law Library staff is positioned to help you hone those skills throughout your law school career and as you enter legal practice.


Legal Research & Writing:: Comment (0) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0) AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Publication Writing Opportunity for 2Ls and 3Ls

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | September 06, 2007 - 10:20

2Ls and 3Ls can volunteer to work on the new edition of Tort Law by Christopher M. Ernst, the only published practice book on Ohio tort law. The students will research an area of Ohio tort law, and with direction from the author, help turn the research product into a rough draft of the book.

For more information, and instructions on how to apply, go to:

http://www.law.csuohio.edu/public/announcements/studentopportunity.doc

Ernst's Tort Law book can be viewed at the law library, KFO195 .E78 2005 or on Westlaw.com (OHPRAC-TORT). For a product description, see Westlaw's product information page.

Thanks to Jane Geneva of the Office of Career Planning for the information.


Career Information:: Comment (0) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0) AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Casemaker Electronic Research Databases Available

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | September 06, 2007 - 09:45

Casemaker is an affordable legal database used by many small firms. It is also used by larger firms as a starting point before going on more expensive services, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw. Casemaker is free to members of the Ohio State Bar Association. Students can join the Ohio State Bar Association for free and receive access to Casemaker at no cost. See OSBA - Law Student Membership.

Casemaker is now available at the two public access terminals located near the information services desk. There are two ways to access Casemaker: (1) Type in the url http://ohiobar.org/ and click on "Casemaker", or (2) Look for links on the Electronic Legal Research Resources Page (the homepage on the public access terminals) under Ohio or Federal statutes or caselaw.

gavelCasemaker contains searchable case law databases for all fifty states and federal court. The federal appellate, district court and bankruptcy cases include only recent case law. For the 26 Casemaker Consortium states, including Ohio, Casemaker contains unannotated statutes, administrative codes, court rules, Attorney General opinions, jury instructions and ethics opinions. For more details see Casemaker Product Information. Some databases contain unique content, such as the Ohio Verdict Reporter and the Ohio State Bar Association Jury Instructions.


Library Resources and Databases:: Comment (0) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0) AddThis Social Bookmark Button

 
Accessible and Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS
Powered by pLog - Design by BalearWeb