Advanced Legal Research
in a Practice-Oriented
Curriculum
Matthew C. Cordon
Reference Librarian & Associate Professor of Law
Baylor Law School
Background
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Baylor was one of the last law schools
to introduce Advanced Legal Research
into its curriculum in 2000.
Approved in September 2000.
Course content influenced by existing
publications about advanced legal
research.
First class was taught in Spring 2001.
Unique Challenges
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Quarter System: 12-week terms instead of
15-week terms.
Separate Entering Classes: Students enter
in the fall, spring, and summer quarters.
High percentage of required courses in the
students’ second and third years.
The big challenge: How do we make ALR
a meaningful part of the upper-level
curriculum?
What is a Practice-Oriented
Curriculum?
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Focus: Teaching doctrine and skills as they
pertain to what a lawyer needs to know and be
able to do.
Little distinction between “skills” classes and
“doctrinal” classes; traditional doctrinal classes
often incorporate aspects of traditional skills
courses.
Likewise, little or no distinction between faculty
teaching doctrinal classes and faculty teaching
skills courses.
Specific Components of the
Curriculum Relevant to ALR
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Traditional first-year classes.
Legislation, Administrative Power and
Procedure (LAPP): Required first-year
course.
Second-Year Course Requirements:
Federal income tax; business
organizations; trusts and estates;
constitutional law; and consumer law.
Practice Court, Evidence,
Professional Responsibility
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Practice Court: the bedrock of the program since
1922.
Practice Court is an intense, two-quarter (six
months) program; students also concurrently
take a five-hour course in evidence and a twohour course in professional responsibility.
Practice Court trains students in every stage of a
trial, including preparation of pleadings, arguing
motions, conducting discovery, selecting juries,
examining witnesses, and persuading juries.
Legal Analysis, Research &
Communication (LARC)
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First-year legal research and writing
program.
Sequential instruction:
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LARC I: Introduction to legal analysis and
writing.
LARC II: Introduction to legal research and
citation.
LARC III: Brief writing and appellate
advocacy.
LARC II
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Separate course focusing on basic legal
research, with an emphasis on Texas-specific
resources.
Emphasis on the nature of various types of legal
authority.
Citation instruction.
Students complete research assignments, a final
exam, and a project requiring students to draft a
memorandum in support of a motion.
Competence in Legal Research
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Potential Sources:
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Various articles.
MacCrate Report: Narrow the gap
between what law schools teach and
what attorneys actually practice.
AALL Research Instruction Caucus: Core
Legal Research Competencies.
Core Competencies
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116-page Document, Released by AALL
Research Instruction Caucus in 1997.
Five main skills identified: Caselaw;
Statutes; Administrative Materials;
Procedural and Ethical Rules; and NonOfficial Expositions of Legal Rules.
Probably represents the best description
of advanced legal research skills.
Development of ALR:
The Easy Part
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Review of existing materials (articles,
syllabi, etc.).
“Best of” approach.
Focus on the types of authorities (caselaw,
statutes, etc.).
Focus on specialized topics in legal
research.
Development of ALR:
The Not-So-Easy Part
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Two-hour elective, competing with other
electives in a very limited “marketplace.”
Depth of the course in one quarter must equal
depth of a similar course in one semester.
Students have different levels of experience
(especially pre-P.C. and post-P.C. students).
Class must be rigorous, “truly advanced,” and
entirely practical.
Goal: Course must be a meaningful part of the
law school’s upper-level curriculum.
General Components of ALR
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As explained to students:
1. The course builds familiarity with a broad
range of legal resources.
2. Course requirements include a certain
amount of repetition.
3. Legal research problems in the course are
appropriately rigorous and challenging.
4. Students are encouraged to work diligently
in completing research problems while
remaining patient in doing so.
Components of ALR:
Instruction in Types of Resources
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Introductory Assignment: Drafting a memo
based on previous LARC II project.
Secondary sources: 2 classes, 2 assignments.
Legislative research: 3 classes, 3
assignments.
Caselaw, procedural rules, etc.: 2 classes, 2
assignments.
Administrative research: 2 classes, 1
assignment.
Components of ALR:
Instruction in Specialized Legal Research
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Tax Research
Securities Research
Intellectual Property Research
Business and Commercial Law Research
Probate & Estate Planning
Family Law
Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence,
Trial Advocacy, etc.
Other Components
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Research logs: Every assignment.
Billing statements: Every assignment.
Course Project:
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Part 1: Students draft a motion, complete
with appropriate factual documentation,
based on a problem of their own creation.
Part 2: Students prepare a response to
another student’s motion.
Development of Research Skills
within the Curriculum
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Civil Procedure
LARC II
LARC III
LAPP
Second-Year Courses (Tax, Business
Organizations, Trusts and Estates)
ALR
P.C.
Evidence
Professional Responsibility
How ALR Benefits from the Program
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Communication with other faculty.
Emphasis on sequential instruction (e.g.,
sequence from LARC I to LARC II to LARC
III; sequence from Civil Procedure to
Practice Court).
Rigor and difficulty is an expectation (but
this expectation certainly has its limits).
Misc. Information
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Course is offered each fall and spring
quarter.
Average class size is 37 students per
quarter (high of 62; low of 19)
Overall average enrollment is about 425.
Instructor evaluations and other anecdotal
evidence: Beneficial class; too much work
for a two-hour class; more difficult than
students expected.
Suggestions
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Know the curriculum and mission of the
curriculum as a whole.
Effectively integrate first-year legal research with
legal analysis and writing.
Effectively integrate first-year and upper-level
research courses.
Integrate content from procedural and
administrative law courses.
Contextual instruction through specialized
research.
Vanity
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Beyond Mere Competency: Advanced
Legal Research in a Practice-Oriented
Curriculum, 55 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (2003).