Journal article
BEYOND "BINGO!": EDUCATING LEGAL RESEARCHERS AS PROBLEM SOLVERS
William Mitchell Law Review, Vol.26, pp.179-1355
01 Jan 2000
Abstract
I. Introduction Remember that first research assignment? Going to the designated volume and finding exactly the answer the professor was looking for, whether it was the federal penalty for shooting a golden eagle 1 or the key number for claims relating to the mishandling of dead bodies? 2 Thinking to yourself, "Bingo!" "Voila!" or "Eureka!" and having your spirits raised? Research seemed easy; finding the law was a wonderfully structured adventure. Some time later, an encounter of another kind undoubtedly occurred. A client had a problem without a matching doctrine or key number. The issues slopped across the neat divisions of the first-year courses. Perhaps no court or legislature addressed the critical legal point specifically. The thesis of this article is that this inevitable point should come during legal research training, not afterward. By the end of legal research training, confronting the unknown research subject should not leave a new attorney lost and shivering in an icy wilderness, but equipped to blaze trails toward an answer. Mastering the ability to tackle complex legal research problems means more than merely moving beyond the kind of assignments that produce the "Bingo!" response with its accompanying expectation of clear and easy results. The professor helps students develop needed skills by implementing a problem-based context for assignments, providing enough legal research experience, sequencing assignments to offer increasing challenges while supporting success, and encouraging reflection on and planning of legal research. Debate has arisen over who should teach legal research and the ...
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Details
- Title
- BEYOND "BINGO!": EDUCATING LEGAL RESEARCHERS AS PROBLEM SOLVERS
- Creators
- Terry Jean Seligmann
- Publication Details
- William Mitchell Law Review, Vol.26, pp.179-1355
- Publisher
- William Mitchell Law Review William Mitchell Law Review
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- [Retired Faculty]
- Identifiers
- 991021861872404721