Advanced Legal Research
The course is designed to prepare law students for research in practice and clerkships. The course will review who produces legal authority and how this material is organized, published, indexed and kept current. Objectives for the course: 1) to show students how to evaluate legal research sources and use them effectively, with particular emphasis on cost-effective research 2) to expand skills in primary and secondary US legal sources 3) to introduce students to the array of non-legal information resources that could be useful to legal practice. Since learning legal research requires a hands-on approach, students are required to complete homework assignments and in-class exercises. Each student is also required to analyze a recent California Supreme Court opinion.