Article on LLRX tangentally related to research

Interesting article discussing the problems with writing that come out of the case law method of instruction. I'd argue the same problems are created with research because of this method. The Art of Written Persuasion: The Problem with the Case Method and the Case for the Problem Method by Troy Simpson, Published on September 1, 2008

Re-entry Article

I know re-entry isn't quite up our alley, but I thought it was interesting to consider the different types of training programs that are out there.
Jaye

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/08/american-univer.html

American University Launches Lawyer Re-entry Program
This fall, the 1-Ls won’t be the only ones at American University’s Washington College of Law trying something new. While they’re just getting started down their legal career paths, others will come to campus to break back into the world of law.
The school is launching a re-entry program designed to help lawyers return to a legal career after taking leave to, say, raise a family. The courses will run for six days in late October and early November.

Articles from 8/28 Meeting

LLRX.com article on summer associate programs, with links to existing "bridge the gap" programs: http://www.llrx.com/colums/reference58.htm

Arthur Miller video: An fyi that the Arthur Miller 14-minute legal research video that West showed at the Town Hall at AALL is now available at the following link:
http://tnalcorpcomm.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/arthur-miller-interview-featured-at-aall/

Legal Research tutorials (special access required to view, but list is available):
http://cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=lessons.subjectlist&cat=LR)

Here's the article I mentioned today, and the SSRN link to the download page:
Legal Education in the Age of Cognitive Science and Advanced Classroom Technology
Deborah Jones Merritt Ohio State University College of LawAugust 2007Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 94 Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies Working Paper No. 63
Abstract: Cognitive scientists have made major advances in mapping the process of learning, but legal educators know little about this work. Similarly, law professors have engaged only modestly with new learning technologies like PowerPoint, classroom response systems, podcasts, and web-based instruction. This article addresses these gaps by examining recent research in cognitive science, demonstrating how those insights apply to a sample technology (PowerPoint), and exploring the broader implications of both cognitive science and new classroom technologies for legal education. The article focuses on three fields of cognitive science inquiry: the importance of right brain learning, the limits of working memory, and the role of immediacy in education. Those three areas are fundamental to understanding both the effective use of new classroom technologies and the constraints of more traditional teaching methods.

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1007800
Susan

LLRX Piece on Summer Associate Training Resources

Margi Heinen and Jan Bissett have an article on LLRX.com about good resources for summer associate reference and training.

WestBlog.net has posted a link to the Arthur Miller Video

WestBlog.net has a link up to the video interview featuring West Key Author Arthur Miller. This video was shown at AALL as part of the West town hall on legal research skills. They blogged about that event in a previous post. Definitely worth a look!

They broke the 14 minute interview with Miller in half, into two video clips:
Arthur Miller (Part 1): Legal research and writing training at law schools
Arthur Miller (Part 2): The “starting point” for legal research and use of technology for it.

A Little Grafting of Second Life into a Legal Research Class

From LLRX:
http://www.llrx.com/features/secondlife.htm
Rob Hudson discusses how Second Life can be used to enhance legal research instruction/ Experiments in full class lectures and other uses of Second Life in higher education offer a mixture of hype and excitement.

JL

Real World Examples of Career Limiting Behavior by Summers

Here is a link to the post on Above the Law that I mentioned in our meeting today, which includes a list of "real world" examples of less-than-desirable summer associate behavior. The list was compiled by NYU Law's Career Services office. Some legal research blunders from the list: "Summer associate turns in a research project that did not answer the question assigned"; "Summer associate plagiarizes paragraph in memorandum from hornbook"; and "Summer associate fails to Shepardize."