Preparing Job-Ready Attorneys: Bridging the Gap Between Desired and Actual Research Skills

With the new academic year just around the corner, it may be worthwhile to review some of the results of West's 2008 Expectations for New Associates survey. The survey sought to answer two key questions: 1) What do law school librarians need to teach law students to help them be successful in practice; and 2) What do law firm attorneys wish they had known when they graduated from law school? The most common suggestions for law schools to better prepare students included the following:

• Using both print and online research sources
• Taking a more practical approach, use real-world examples instead of theory
• Offering an optional or required internship, apprenticeship, clinical experience
• Teaching the entire litigation process including drafting motions, discovery and depositions
• Enhancing writing skills, more writing practice

Research-related survey findings included the following:

Most Important Skills New Associates Need to Possess:

• Effective and efficient use of primary authority, including statutes and cases
• Clear, concise use of research findings in writing memoranda
• Identifying the legal issue in a research problem
• Effective and efficient use of online legal research materials

Largest Skill Gaps of New Associates:

• Effective and efficient use of printed legal research materials
• Effective and efficient use of online legal research materials
• Identifying the legal issue in a research problem
• Clear, concise use of research findings in writing memoranda
• Effective and efficient use of primary authority, including statutes and cases
• Preparation of briefs and motions using legal research effectively and complying with court requirements
• Tracking the legislative history of a statute

New Associate Research Proficiency: Most Important Sources

• Electronic citation verification and validation tools
• Federal statutes
• State annotated code
• Treatises
• Code of Federal Regulations

New Associate Research Proficiency: Largest Gaps

• State annotated code
• Digests
• Electronic citation verification and validation tools

Over 200 individuals, including law firm librarians, development directors, attorney supervisors and newer attorneys at organizations ranging from solo practitioners to large law firms were interviewed in the survey. Additional survey results can be found at Partnership and Solutions for Preparing Job-Ready Attorneys (July 2008), a Thomson West white paper that also features perspectives on legal research instruction issues by Karl Gruben (Law Library Director and Professor of Law, St. Thomas University Law Library), Schelle Simcox (Law Librarian, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker), Susan Nevelow Mart (Faculty Services Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of the Law), Monice Kaczorowski (Director of Library Services, Neal Gerber & Eisenberg) and Chris Mickus (Partner, Neal Gerber & Eisenberg).

See also: Research Skills for Lawyers and Law Students (2007), a Thomson West white paper documenting the gap between desired and actual research skills among new associates. [JH]