Kate McLeod, associate dean for library and information services and associate professor of law, and Patricia Perkins, assistant professor of legal writing, have launched a series of videos designed to help students learn how to draft proper citations to legal authorities.
McLeod and Perkins began to develop the videos early this year, and previewed the first few videos at the biennial North & South Carolina Legal Research & Writing Colloquium, held last May at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, NC. In the ensuing three months they completed nineteen videos, each approximately three to five minutes in length, that show students how to construct a particular part of a citation to a judicial opinion.
Feedback from legal educators across the country was positive when Professor Catherine Wasson, Director of Elon Law’s Legal Method & Communication program, announced the debut of the videos to members of the Legal Writing Institute on the organization’s email listserv:
“Thanks so much! We’ll be discussing citation in class on Monday so I’ll refer my students to this webpage as a resource.”
Meredith Stange, Instructor, Academic Support Coordinator, Northern Illinois University Law School
“What a wonderful idea and a good job!”
Robert Sachs, Visiting Clinical Associate Professor (ret.), Rutgers School of Law
“These are excellent!
Tom Patrick, Associate Teaching Professor, West Virginia University College of Law
The Legal Writing Institute, with more than 2100 members, is the second-largest organization of law professors in the United States. Institute members teach legal research, analysis, and writing at every American law school, ensuring a wide audience of appreciative teachers and students for this innovative, ongoing, project.
The videos have also been the subject of a post on the law professors blogs network.
In the coming months McLeod and Perkins will produce several more videos to help students at Elon Law – and at every other law school – learn how to construct proper citations to cases, statutes, and other legal research resources.