A large majority of lawyers perceive critical gaps between what they are taught in law schools and the skills they need in the workplace, and appropriate technologies are not being used to help close this gap.
— Gene Koo, New Skills, New Learning: legal education and the promise of technology
I can attest to this. When one’s Legal Writing & Research class forbids one to use online resources during the first semester, and only grudgingly grants access during the second semester, how can I not? The only training or instruction with online resources we’ve received has been a brief Lexis training seminar from our company representative.
unbound
krisnelson
In all fairness to legal writing instructors, it is true that not all resources are electronic, and knowing how to navigate paper is still important. It’s also true that research goes well beyond the walled estates of Lexis and Westlaw and that lawyers also need to know how to research facts, which are increasingly available on the Web (privacy be damned!). Other “legal” research I point to in my study also includes gathering exemplar documents from colleagues or competitors — a skill you maybe learn in law school by scrounging for outlines?
Very true. Obviously I should develop this thought a bit further, and delve into my recent experiences in more depth.
I did not, for example, mean to suggest that only Lexis/Westlaw are appropriate – for the research project I’m working on right now, at least half of my research is via Google and other freely-accessible resources.
To be honest, mostly several of us simply share our outlines amongst ourselves. (Perhaps my law school is simply more collaborative than others, though.)
Legal writing at this particular school, however, generally prohibits sharing or looking at “exemplar” documents – we are specifically banned from certain resources findable on the Web, and instead encouraged to use print materials first and only then Lexis/Westlaw.
As I said, I’ll try to look into my specific situation and analyze it in more depth sometime soon, just to provide another practical perspective.