| A multiple-case study of summer associates' legal research competency at four large urban law firms finds that legal research skills of some of the brightest law school students are mediocre. This finding comes from a legal research quiz summer associates took at the beginning and end of their internship in 1991 and from interviews with partners, summer associates, and law librarians. Although most law schools require minimal training in legal research methods, the present training is neither rigorous nor comprehensive enough to meet the profession's needs. Law schools' actions regarding legal research training are perceived as counteracting any message administrators may articulate that legal research is important. How legal research is graded, who teaches it, the credit it carries, and the fact that the methods and tools of legal research are not integrated into the curriculum are examples of the low value placed on legal research. Law school students perceive their ability to do legal research at a higher level than do attorneys or librarians. Legal research is an integral part of lawyering and critical to the summer associate's job. A formal legal research instruction program at the firm appears to strengthen skills. Partners may be unaware of the seriousness of the problem since firm librarians bear the brunt of assisting summer associates in their research assignments and act in an unacknowledged role as mentors. While variables such as law review, previous work experience, and an advanced legal research course may improve skills, they do not appear to be absolute predictors of students' legal research competence. Faculty, practicing attorneys, and law librarians need to demonstrate as well as advocate its importance. Effective training is a joint venture involving schools, firms, librarians, providers of continuing education, and vendors of computer-assisted-legal research, who need to devote more energy, creativity, and time to train students to value, develop, practice, and refine their legal research skills. Professional associations also have an important role to play in promulgating standards for legal research competency and undertaking additional studies. |
