Advanced Legal Research

Catalog description

Amidst constant changes in the practice of law, the ability to find, verify, and evaluate legal information remains a cornerstone skill for new lawyers. This course aims to prepare law students for research in litigation practice and judicial clerkships with both standard methods and emerging legal technologies, such as generative AI. More broadly, the primary goal is to enable students to map out and execute a coherent plan of action when asked to research an unfamiliar topic. Students will acquire a solid framework for understanding how legal information is created and organized and a working knowledge of common legal research tools, including finding aids, advanced search tools, and AI. Students will accomplish the following learning objectives: (1) demonstrate and analyze research strategies and processes, (2) build habits for critically assessing and tracking their research processes; and (3) find, evaluate, and use a variety of legal research materials, including secondary sources, statutes, legislative history, regulations, and case law. Learning legal research requires a hands-on approach, so students will complete in-class exercises, homework assignments, and a final research project -- all of which contribute to grading. There will not be a final exam. This course has no prerequisites. Students who have previously taken Introduction to Legal Research or a different legal research course will explore new content here and are welcome to enroll. This course is open to Stanford graduate students with permission from the instructor.