Librarians teach a number of legal research courses in the Law School. These courses are generally seven-week, one-credit, pass-fail classes that do not include a final exam.
Advanced Legal Research
This course highlights new Internet-based legal research tools. It also discusses methods for evaluating and selecting the best print and online resources for diverse research questions. Students learn how to design a research strategy that effectively integrates online tools with traditional print resources. In addition to locating federal and state statutes, legislative histories, court decisions, and administrative materials, students also learn how to find and use secondary sources. Foreign and international legal materials are also discussed. At the end of the course, students should feel comfortable finding answers to a wide variety of legal research questions.
Foreign and International Legal Research
This course introduces information resources in foreign and international law, and suggests effective methods of research. Areas covered include public international law; documentation of international organizations, including the UN and the European Union; the law of other countries, with an emphasis on jurisdictions that lawyers in North America are likely to encounter most frequently (e.g., North American and European countries); and, selected topics with an international component (e.g., commercial arbitration, intellectual property, international litigation).
Intellectual Property Legal Research
This course is offered to students who have completed one of the core courses in intellectual property (e.g., Introduction to Intellectual Property; Copyright and Unfair Competition) or received advance approval from the instructor. The course covers the basic sources of U.S. and international law in the fields of copyright, patents, and trademarks. The class emphasizes methods used to research these topics in both print and electronic formats. There will be sections on both transactional practice and legislative history. Research problems will be assigned throughout.
Tax Legal Research
This course focuses on federal income tax materials, but includes an overview of state and international materials as well. The emphasis of the course is on developing research strategies and methodologies for finding and using a variety of tax materials in a changing information environment. Topics include research methods in federal tax statutes (including their legislative histories), federal tax regulations(current and proposed), and IRS rulings, procedural rules and memoranda. Strategies for locating relevant cases in different courts that hear tax cases will also be covered. Students will also become familiar with some secondary sources. An introduction to locating state and foreign and international tax materials will also be provided.
Texas Legal Research
This course focuses on the resources and methodology used in performing legal research in Texas. Through a series of lectures and assignments students become familiar with various types of legal research including statutory law, case law,administrative regulations, and secondary practice materials. In this class students also use electronic sources such as the Internet, Westlaw, and Lexis.