One of the most useful pieces of information I learned in law school is that the law school librarians are grossly underutilized. Law librarians are attorneys (though they may not practice) and librarians, meaning they have a Juris Doctorate and a Masters of Library Science. They are perhaps the most informed people out there in terms of what information is available and, more importantly, how to find it. Don’t be afraid to call them and ask questions!
Washington has three law schools at the University of WA, Seattle University, and Gonzaga University. These libraries are open to the public during the day so if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood you are welcome to drop by, take a look around, and ask questions. If you are not close to a law library, the librarian at your local public library can help direct you toward useful information. Olea’s links page has useful legal research sites, I also recommend WA LawHelp.
Unfortunately, I made this discovery at the end of my third year; had I known in my first year what I discovered then I’m sure the amount of time I spent chasing ghosts in those two and a half years would have been substantially less. Ultimately the extra time I spent in the library made me a better researcher. However, for those of you out there who just want to find some useful information try calling a law librarian for guidance.
11:04 am on April 7th, 2009
Just to highlight the point in this post. Yesterday I went to the Supreme Court’s Law Library (which is one of the largest law libraries on the west coast) and did some free legal research using Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, and Lois-Law. As you may or may not know, all three are expensive legal databases but at this public library they are FREE!
I had been there about a week and a half earlier on the same databases. When I logged on yesterday and checked the “research history” there were only four searches after my search from the last time I was in and all were on the same topic. This means that only one person used that computer in the week and a half that I had been there last. Use your libraries, they are an under-utilized resource!
5:50 pm on April 22nd, 2009
Yeah law librarians!!!