Legal Research Workshops
Upcoming Legal Research Workshops
Spring 2014 Workshops
Workshop: Topic Selection for Seminar Papers
Date: February 5, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12 noon - 12:45
Location: Law Library, Room 106
You've selected a class that sounded interesting. A few days into it and you realize your grade is based on a scholarly paper due at the end of the semester. How do you transform the lectures you are receiving and all the information into a paper? Join the Law Library Faculty as they help you with tips on gathering information, selecting a topic, and mastering this daunting task. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Workshop: HeinOnline, Your Answer to Life
Date: February 12, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12 noon - 12:45
Location: Law Library, Room 106
Would you like to find out how and why people with Japanese ancestry were prohibited from the Pacific coast in 1942? What was the first regulation published in the Federal Register? Would you like a drawing of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, which was published in the earliest law review published in America? Where would you go if the answers were not on LexisNexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law? Answers to all the above can be found in a wonderful database called HeinOnline. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Workshop: Google for Lawyers
Date: February 19, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12 noon - 12:45
Location: Law Library, Room 106
Fact finding on the Internet is an important lawyering skill. Attorneys have used information they found in a Google search to benefit their cases, and judges are admitting information on the Internet into evidence. Everyone uses Google, but how many of us really know how to use Google effectively—not only for research during law school, but also in your future law practice? If you think you know everything about searching on Google, come to this workshop to find out if that’s the case. We will cover essential Google search tips, features, and much more. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Workshop: Electronic Discovery
Date: February 26th, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12 noon - 12:45
Location: Law Library, Room 106
How does electronic discovery work? What is predictive coding? Come find out! If anyone ever asks you about this over wine and cheese, or *gasp* in a job interview, you will know enough to say something smart. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Workshop: Cost-Effective Legal Research
Date: March 5, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12 noon - 12:45
Location: Law Library, Room 106
Westlaw and LexisNexis come with tuition… while you are a student. This workshop covers free and low cost alternatives, and the balance between saving time and saving money. Come learn about strategies for using and dealing with Lexis and Westlaw and explore print and low cost electronic alternatives. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Previous Legal Research Workshops
Workshop: Free Legal Resources
Date: Wednesday November 6, 2013at 12:00 pm.
Location: Law Library, Room 217
As you may know, once you graduate you will have to start paying for access to Lexis and Westlaw, and subscriptions to all of the resources you currently enjoy may be prohibitively expensive. Accordingly, the Law Library is offering this workshop to introduce you to some of the best free resources on the internet along with a number of other tips to save you money once you start practicing. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch—see, you are saving money already!
Workshop: HeinOnline, Your Answer to Life
Date: Wednesday October 16, 2013 at 12pm
Location: Law Library, Room 217
Would you like to find out how and why people with Japanese ancestry were prohibited from the Pacific coast in 1942? What was the first regulation published in the Federal Register? Would you like a drawing of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, which was published in the earliest law review published in America? Where would you go if the answers were not on LexisNexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law? Answers to all the above can be found in a wonderful database called HeinOnline. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Workshop: Researching Immigration Law
Date: Wednesday October 9, 2013 at 12pm
Location: Law Library, Room 217
Immigration laws can be daunting and difficult to navigate. This session will cover a brief overview of the laws and government agencies, which regulate immigration in the United States. The Law Library Faculty will demystify key resources for researching immigration law. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Powerpoint for Researching Immigration Law (pptx)
Workshop: Topic Selection for Seminar Papers
Date: Wednesday October 2, 2013 at 12pm
Location: Law Library, Room 217
You've selected a class that sounded interesting. A few days into it and you realize your grade is based on a scholarly paper due at the end of the semester. How do you transform the lectures you are receiving and all the information into a paper? Join the Law Library Faculty as they help you with tips on gathering information, selecting a topic, and mastering this daunting task. Workshop attendees will be provided with free lunch.
Collecting and Preserving Online Evidence
Date: Monday, April 1, 2013, 12 pm – 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Wilhelmina Randtke, Electronic Services Librarian (wrandtke@stmarytx.edu)
Communication, business, and day-to-day life increasingly takes place entirely online. Social networking, corporate press releases, and photographs often exist only in electronic form. But, here today does not guarantee here tomorrow, unless proactive steps are taken to preserve the evidence. This workshop covers basic technology aspects of preserving web pages and online material for later use in court including: downloading and saving an entire website, taking screenshots and copies of single pages, commercial services for web archiving, understanding what can and can’t be preserved, and authenticating the evidence collected.
Cost-Effective Legal Research
Date: Thursday, March 21, 2013, 12 pm – 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Brian Detweiler, Faculty Services Librarian (bdetweiler@stmarytx.edu)
Westlaw and LexisNexis come with tuition… while you are a student. This workshop covers free and low cost alternatives, and the balance between saving time and saving money. Come learn about strategies for using and dealing with Lexis and Westlaw and explore print and low cost electronic alternatives.
Joint workshop with the Office of Career Services: Solo Practice Academy: Cost Effective Legal Research for Solo Practitioners
Date: Monday, Feb. 25, 4pm – 5pm
Location: Law Library, Room 217
Presenter: Mike Martinez, Student Services Librarian (mmartinez17@stmarytx.edu)
This is the second session in Career Services’ Solo Practice Academy series. It will go through Cost Effective Legal Research techniques for solo practitioners who do not have full and unlimited access to Westlaw and Lexis in their practices. RSVP in the Events section of Symplicity under Workshops.
Online Legal Research Outside of Lexis and Westlaw
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 12 pm – 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Wilhelmina Randtke, Electronic Services Librarian (wrandtke@stmarytx.edu)
Powerpoint for Online Legal Research Outside of Lexis and Westlaw (pptx)
Screenrecording of Online Legal Research Outside of Lexis and Westlaw
- Intro (2min 35s)
- Search Engines: Advanced Search (9min 37s)
- Search Engines: Not everything is indexed (4min 26s)
- Court Dockets (6min 34s)
- Specialized Research Databases: Access (4min 33s)
- Specialized Research Databases: Finding the right database (4min 44s)
- Specialized Research Databases: E-Journal locator (2min 1s)
- Specialized Research Databases: Online catalog (3min 11s)
- Specialized Research Databases: Worldcat.org (7min 57s)
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Resources to Help Research Papers
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 12 pm – 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Mike Martinez Jr., Head of Student Services (mmartinez17@stmarytx.edu)
