Course Section | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

The purpose of the course is to enable the students, now and later in their professional lives, to map out a coherent plan of action when asked to research a topic previously unfamiliar to them. Students should acquire a solid knowledge of research tools and a frame of reference that enables them to function independently and competently in the world of legal information.

Subjects to be covered include the following (with Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law, and other online resources to be fully integrated into each subject): statutory and legislative materials, case law, regulations and regulatory decisions, court rules and other litigation-related publications, professional ethics materials, restatements of the law and other secondary sources, standard transactional documents, forms, non-legal materials frequently used in conjunction with legal research, and developments in the legal publishing industry. Each session will include both lecture and discussion by the seminar leaders and hands-on research work by seminar participants in exercises designed to develop the students' informed use of the essential materials of our discipline.