Course Information & Objectives

This course is designed to further develop students' legal research skills through examination and application of the tools and resources typically used by practitioners . By the end of the course you should be able to:

• Understand how technology and professional ethics requirements impact legal research;
• Understand the interplay of legal resources;
• Implement an effective research strategy;
• Execute advanced search techniques for more effective, relevant search results;
• Identify the best secondary sources to use for your research;
• Search for relevant statutory and case law using multiple methods;
• Understand the basic legislative process, what legislative history is, and how to research the legislative history of statutes;
• Conduct administrative law research using regulations, administrative opinions, etc.; and
• Proficiently use practitioner-focused intelligence and research tools.

Course Materials

For this course, you will be assigned a combination of readings, tutorials, and other content available to you for free via Gallagher Law Library and UW Libraries subscriptions and databases. All course materials will be posted to the Canvas site for this course.

Required Text

• Kent Olson et al., Principles of Legal Research (3^rd ed. 2020)
• Gallagher Law Library provides free online access to this book using the embedded hyperlink.
• If preferred, you may buy a print copy from the publisher using this link or elsewhere using ISBN 9781640208056.
• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 21st ed. (2020)
• If you do not already have a print copy or a subscription to the Bluebook Online, click here to purchase.
• In case of issues accessing the official Bluebook, the following recommended guides likely will suffice.

• The Bluebook’s Quick Style Guide
• Gallagher Law Library’s Bluebook 101 Guide
• Cornell Law Legal Information Institute’s Introduction to Basic Legal Citation
• Georgetown Law Library’s Bluebook Guide
• Harvard Law Library’s Bluebook Legal Citation System Guide

Westlaw, Lexis, & Bloomberg Law

We will use these legal research platforms during this course, so students must have active accounts. Email the law library (lawref@uw.edu) for instructions if you need information about activating accounts for these services.

Course Structure & Grading

Course Format

Law School + iSchool

This course is co-owned by the law school and iSchool and includes law students and iSchool students (who already hold law degrees). You read that correctly. Since 1978, students in the MLIS Law program have taken this course with law students. Perhaps you are wondering what the MLIS Law program is. In a nutshell, it is the oldest and preeminent law librarianship program in the US. One of my many roles at UW includes being the director of the MLIS Law program, which began in 1940. Several students in this small, but mighty, program have practiced (or are currently practicing) law. The MLIS Law students have a keen interest in the intersection of law, research, technology, and ethics. The variety of interest and experience among all of the students in this course makes it fun and interesting!

A Grand Experiment 

As a student in this course, you will be part of a grand experiment. This summer, the law library upgraded the technology in classroom L201. The MLIS Law's inaugural "blended cohort" starts this year, which simply means some of the future law librarians in this course are residential students, while others are online students. The online MLIS Law students will participate with the residential students in L201 via a specialized technology and equipment. Essentially, you will be helping inform decisions we make about learning technology and classroom updates in the law school.

Does this mean everyone can attend remotely sometimes or all of the time? No, it does not. The ABA [Accreditation] Standards have well defined rules all law school must follow, including rules about attendance and online learning (distance learning). Additionally, the university has rules about online learning we must follow. All students are expected to attend class via the mode for which they are approved. Law students = in person, MLIS Law residential students = in person, and MLIS Law online students = online.

Attendance

Law Students

Law School Policy Summary:

• In compliance with ABA [Accreditation] Standards, I will register attendance of law students. The law school's 80% attendance policy allows for 4 absences from this class.
• In compliance with ABA [Accreditation] Standards, law students are not permitted to attend in-person classes via Zoom.

General Requirement (available here) 

ABA Standard 308 mandates that the law school require regular class attendance. UW Law administration and faculty expect in-person class attendance. 

1. At any time after the fifth week of a course (halfway through a summer session course), a student who has been determined by the instructor to have attended fewer than 80 percent of the class sessions in any course may be required to drop the course from his or her registration upon the instructor’s so indicating to the Office of Academic Services.
2. ...
3. The instructor referred to in paragraph 1 should take attendance with such regularity as is needed to ensure reasonable accuracy in determining a student’s attendance record. 

Ongoing Virtual Attendance in In-Person Courses

Under ABA Standard 306(c), students may not receive attendance credit for participation in an in-person course via a distance learning platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams unless they are granted permission to do so as a necessary qualification for a disability or an exception for extraordinary extenuating circumstances. Students who require ongoing remote attendance disability accommodations or wish to request an exception must contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. Individual instructors are not authorized to approve ongoing remote attendance accommodations or make exceptions to UW Law’s in-person attendance requirements. Students who are unable to attend a particular class session (because of temporary illness, for example) and are not eligible for an accommodation or exception, should consult with their professors about how to catch up on information from a missed class. 

iSchool Students

Regular engagement with course materials is expected and will serve you well fin completing graded assessments. Residential MLIS Law students are expected to attend class regularly. Online MLIS Law students are encouraged to attend class to the greatest extent their schedules permit. All course materials, including in-class activities and lecturettes, will be available online for all students to review. 

Class Recordings (Zoom in Canvas)

Class sessions will be recorded and available in the Canvas course site for students to review. Look in the Zoom section of the navigation menu under the "cloud recordings" tab. The recordings will only be accessible to students enrolled in the course to review materials. 

Grading

This course is an designated an experiential course per ABA [Accreditation] Standards. Grades are not subject to the mandatory curve, and not all grading will be anonymous. I use the Canvas anonymous grading function when appropriate.

All assignments are submitted through Canvas and are evaluated based on timeliness, completeness, and criteria included on each assignment/rubric. Please read the syllabus carefully for the due dates, because late assignments will incur a grade reduction. 

Graded Assignments

3 Legal Research Q&As @ 10 points each = 30 points
1 Group Research Memo & Narrative (Legal Research Process) = 35 points
Group Project Member Evaluations = 10 points
1 Research Project (Researching Legislative History & Administrative Law) = 15 points
10 Reflections @ 1 point each = 10 points
Total possible points = 100

There is no final exam. 

Grading Notes

JD students will receive letter grades; MLIS and LLM students will receive decile grades. This is a cross-listed, experiential course that is subject to neither the law school's mandatory curve nor an anonymous grading requirement. 

Academic Conduct

This is a friendly reminder that UW's Student Conduct Code applies to all students. Additionally UW Law's Honor Code applies to law students.

Unless otherwise specified in the assignment instructions, each submitted assignment must be your own work, drafted/completed individually by you.

Artificial Intelligence Policy:

Bottom Line:

• You will necessarily use AI during legal research, because Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law have long integrated AI into their platforms.
• However, you are not permitted to use AI to write content for assignments in this course.
• Based on how your assignments are structured and graded, doing so will lead to disastrous results. 

Per UW's Student Conduct Code, "[C]heating includes the unauthorized use of assistance, including technology, in completing assignments or exams. While some instructors may encourage you to utilize technology to enhance your learning experience, other instructors may prefer that you do your own work without seeking outside help. It is your responsibility to read the syllabus for each course you take so that you understand the particular expectations of each of your instructors. If you are unsure of expectations, you are encouraged to ask for clarification before you use specific resources in completing assignments.

Recording, sharing, or distributing class content, documents, or recordings with anyone not enrolled in this course this quarter is prohibited."

Per Sec. 2-101(1)(c) of UW Law's Honor Code, "Cheating includes ... [u]sing online sources, such as solution manuals or artificial intelligence interfaces without the permission of the instructor to complete assignments, exams, tests, or quizzes..."