Technology in Law School and Beyond-Part 1

During the summer of 2009, I participated in the Pre-Law Undergraduate Studies (PLUS) Program sponsored by Villanova Law School and the Law School Admissions Council. Nineteen other undergraduate students and I spent four weeks participating in classes led by Villanova Law School professors, preparing for a mock trial, and listening to guest speakers and lecturers. Two of the most important classes in the course were Legal Research, taught by one of the law school's librarians, and Legal Writing. Both of these courses were heavily focused on having us become familiarized with the various methods of legal research and incorporating them into legal documents such as case briefs and legal memos.

The other PLUS students and I quickly learned how to use two major online legal databases: LexisNexis and WestLaw. These online databases were especially helpful with looking up more recent cases. However, when I was assigned a legal memo that required a case from 1954 as a reference, I was lost. I had to go through my legal research textbook and learn how to look up print cases in the West American Digest System in the law library. After I completed my assignment, I learned from my legal research professor that law students were becoming dependent on digital databases for legal research. In fact, my professor informed our class that many law firms now rely solely on subscriptions to LexisNexis and WestLaw for research; for older cases, they use print resources from law libraries.

With each new law school class bringing emerging technology into the classroom (such as blogs, class websites, Blackboard applications, digital law databases, etc.), the legal field is quickly learning to incorporate these innovations into their practices. Therefore, law schools and practicing attorneys are adapting legal research and writing practices to incorporate emerging technology into the field.