What will you be doing this summer?

1. What will you be doing this summer? Most summer positions involve extensive research. Assignments, techniques, and the employer’s office culture can be very different from a law school research experience.

2. SUCCESSFUL SUMMER STRATEGIES:Research in the “Real World”

3. SUCCESSFUL SUMMER STRATEGIES • Getting Started on a Research Project • Making the Most of Research Time • Reporting Research Results

4. More detailed advice on various types of research is available in the TMLL “Successful Summer Strategies” Research Guide

5. Orient yourself to the workplace • If you know before starting work, or find out upon arrival, that you will be doing a lot of research in a particular area of law, get some background knowledge or an overview of the subject by quickly reviewing a Nutshell, hornbook, or treatise. Ask a librarian to suggest an appropriate source.

6. Orient yourself to the workplace • Ask for information as to your employer’s policies in regard to copying and borrowing materials, and billing research services to clients. Find out whether your office has access to Lexis and/or Westlaw, or to other research resources, and clarify what, if any, restrictions are placed upon use of these resources. • If you are lucky enough to have access to a law librarian, make that person's acquaintance immediately! Ask for a library orientation if one isn't automatically made available.

7. Getting Started….You CAN ask questions • Try to clarify your assignment as completely as possible during the initial assignment interview. • Try to get a strong sense of how to fill the assignor’s expectations. • Make sure you are clear about the format in which you are expected to report the results. • Use the “JUST Ask” formula…

8. “JUST ASK” FORMULA* • J = Jurisdiction • U = Useful Tips • S = Scope of Research • T = Time frame • A = Acronyms, terms of art • S = Sources • K = Key cost considerations *Adapted with permission from publications by Karen Summerhill, Georgetown University Law Library and Ellen Callinan, Crowell & Moring

9. How to get up to speed on an unfamiliar topic • Get background knowledge or an overview of the subject by quickly reviewing a Nutshell, hornbook, or treatise. Ask a librarian to suggest an appropriate source. • Find a topical research guide on the Internet – or even an overview from Wikipedia.

10. Making the Most of Research Time • Think first, start later • Make nice with librarians, paralegals, and secretaries • Keep costs in mind • Take stock of your progress and report as you go along ; manage your time • Develop efficient systems for recording your notes • Know when to stop

11. Think first, start later • Perform a preliminary knowledge assessment • Plan your research strategy, including electronic searches • If you can’t write a memo to yourself that answers the threshold questions, you are not ready to begin research

12. Use human resources • Law librarians at your firm or organization, or librarians at your law school; • Associates or paralegals at your workplace. Support staff may also be a gold mine of useful information; • Customer service at Lexis or Westlaw, or your law school's or employer's Lexis or Westlaw representatives

13. Keep costs in mind • Exhaust local resources before spending money to get your information. Find out what’s available in hard copy, or on the organization's intranet  • Find out what other databases (besides Lexis and Westlaw) your employer provides • Check the Internet, especially for statutes, court rules, administrative decisions, appellate court decisions, and congressional documents

14. Keep costs in mind • Find out how your organization is billed for Lexis and Westlaw. Pricing for Lexis and Westlaw varies depending on the size and nature of the organization, the volume of research performed, and the pricing plan. • For a given research assignment, determine whether you can use paid databases • Utilize “free days” and other training benefits

15. Take stock of your progress and report as you go along • Ask for clarification if you need it • The time to ask for an extension is not the day the assignment is due • E-mail may be an effective means to report progress or problems • The last thing you want is to “drop out of sight for two weeks and show up with a dog-eared pile of cases no one cares about.” • James Windels, litigation partner, Davis, Polk & Wardwell

16. Manage your time….. If you have a conflict resulting from multiple supervisors and multiple projects, tell them, and “make them decide what you should work on.” - Cynthia Arato, senior litigation associate at Parcher, Hayes & Snyder

17. Develop efficient systems for recording your notes • Design a system for taking notes during the assigning interview. • Some firms have forms to record your research progress; if not, design your own. • Keep track of the sources you have consulted; chances are high you will be interrupted before you finish. • Record full citations in Bluebook form.

18. Know when to stop! • It is always possible to find one more source or one more angle to explore. • What is the cost to the client? When is the deadline? • End when you find diminishing returns or the same answer in various sources.

19. Questions to ask yourself before presenting results to a supervisor • Have I responded to the question presented to me? • Have I used good professional judgment and logic in reaching an answer? • Have I been thorough in my research? • Have I plotted out the structure of my presentation?

20. Have a great summer! • Don’t forget that the librarians at TMLL are available all summer to help with your research questions. Find contact information on the TMLL Web page at http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/aboutlibrary/contact.html