The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction

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CALI LEGAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY AUTHORING PROJECT

 

Since June 1999, the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction has been involved in a multi-year, applied research effort to create computer-based learning materials in legal education, through the CALI Fellowship Project. To date, CALI has launched nine sets of fellows covering Criminal Law, Property Law, Torts Law, Business Associations/Corporations, Remedies, Copyright, Trademark, Family Law and Criminal Procedure (launching January 2008).

 

With the assistance of the Legal Research Community Authoring Project Advisory Panel, CALI is pleased to announce a new initiative designed to foster the creation of legal education materials in the area of Legal Research. The resulting materials will be peer-reviewed by CALI and the Advisory Panel, and published to law schools as part of the CALI Library of Materials. As of June 2008, CALI has over 70 lessons in legal research thanks to everyone's efforts. And more lessons are in progress!

 

The project's goals are to create a high-quality pool of electronic teaching materials for faculty to supplement their courses, locally customized for specific instructional goals, and explore computer-mediated/distance learning in legal education. These materials would be small and modular to encourage wide usage by law schools, law libraries and legal research instructors. The modularity aspect allows individual instructors or programs to incorporate the materials into a syllabus or curriculum in any order or fashion they desire. The materials will be self-contained building blocks for the construction of courses and classes to meet a variety of legal research training needs. In addition, the individual materials can serve as a reviews or refreshers or "just in time" educational aids for students not involved in a formal course of study of legal research.

 

Those interested in participating will receive extensive support and encouragement from CALI's staff and the CALI Legal Research Community Authoring Project Advisory Panel, and will be provided with software to create computer-based instructional materials that can be delivered via the Internet from the CALI web site, from law school faculty web course pages or run from student PCs.

 

The Legal Research Community Authoring Project Advisory Panel is composed of the members of the AALL ALL-SIS CALI Committee members; CALI is proud to have the following members serving on its Advisory Panel:

Kristina L. Niedringhaus, Chair of the Advisory Panel, (effec. 8/15/2008) Director, Law Library and Associate Professor of Law, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law;
Beth Adelman, Associate Director and Head of Collection Management, Law Library, University at Buffalo Law School;
Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Beth DiFelice, Ass't. Director, Ross-Blakley Law Library & Head Of Public Services, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Arizona State University;
Shaun Esposito, Head of Public Services & Adjunct Assistant Professor of Legal Research, The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law;
Ronald E. Wheeler, Associate Director for Public Services, Georgia State University College of Law Library

Lessons written as part of this initiative include CALI lessons with catalog numbers higher than LRW13L.

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CALI is seeking lessons in many areas of the law, including state specific research lessons and lessons covering international and foreign law research.

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So that future authors can better plan their submissions, the following is a list of Lessons in Progress, as of July 26, 2008 (and in no particular order).

1. When to Use Print vs. Electronic Research Sources
2. Directories/Finding People
3. North Carolina Primary State Research
4. Arkansas Primary Resources
5. California Style Manual (citations to CA state courts)
6. California Secondary Resources
7. Florida Primary
8. Colorado Primary
9. Ohio Primary
10. Florida Secondary
11. Utah Primary
12. South Carolina Primary
13. Louisiana Primary
14. International and Foreign Legal Research - Environmental Law
15. Private International Law Research
16. Human Rights - introduction
17. Human Rights - Truth Commissions and Tribunals (ICTY & ICTR)
18. European Union
19. NGO/IGO
20. Supranationals
21. Private International Law Research
    
    

Application Details:

• Submission dates:
• Rounds 1 to 35 are closed.
  • Round 36: July 7, 2008 - October 1, 2008
    • Submissions are due by midnight CT October 1, 2008
    • Round 36 Proposals will be accepted or declined by October 30, 2008
    • Declined Proposals remain the property of the applicant.
• Round 37: October 2 - January 9, 2009
  • Submissions are due by midnight CT January 9, 2009
  • Round 37 Proposals will be accepted or declined by February 10, 2009
  • Declined Proposals remain the property of the applicant.
    
• Round 38: January 10, 2009 - March 12, 2009
  • Submissions are due by midnight CT March 12, 2009
  • Round 38 Proposals will be accepted or declined by April 15, 2009
  • Declined Proposals remain the property of the applicant.
    
• Round 39: March 13, 2009 - June 30, 2009
  • Submissions are due by midnight CT June 30, 2009
  • Round 39 Proposals will be accepted or declined by July 15, 2009
  • Declined Proposals remain the property of the applicant.
    

(Additional rounds will be launched)

PLEASE NOTE: CALI reserves the right to cancel any rounds before their start date to accommodate CALI's lesson needs.

• Questions? Please contact:
  • Deb Quentel, CALI Director of Curriculum Development & General Counsel - Telephone: 312-906-5353

 

Application Requirements:
Please read these directions carefully before submitting a proposal.

1. Summary Proposal
   • One page
   • Affirmation of your employment at a CALI member law school
   • Topic - selected from the CALI Legal Research Topic Grid - Please check the list of lessons in progress before applying. And, check the Topic Grid to ensure that a lesson doesn't already exist.
   • Approach and Methodology, including use of lecturettes (using RealPresenterŽ or a similar product) or LessonetteŽ interactive teaching tutorials (using CALI Author)
   • Estimated time it will take a student to complete the exercise
   • Estimated delivery date for the exercise. Note: A final version of the lesson is due within 12 months of acceptance of your proposal. You must submit a first draft within 8-10 months of your proposal's acceptance to meet the 12 month deadline.
2. Lesson Outline
   • No more than two pages
   • General outline of points covered and in what order. A sample Lesson Outline is available in PDF format.
3. Resume
• Focusing on legal research experience
• Including your educational background
• Please include your work telephone number, postal mail address and email address
4. Submission of materials - Applications should be submitted by email, as a single word processing document (with the documents in the above order) in rich text format (.rtf), to Deb Quentel <dquentel@cali.org>.
• Email header must read "LR proposal - Round xx"
• Please include your last name as part of the file name for the document. For example, if your last name was Hanson, you would name your document HansonProposal.rtf

Application Process and CALI's Recommendations:

• CALI recommends applicants review the CALI Legal Research Topic Grid and the white paper, "The Origin of the CALI Topic Grids".
• Applications will be reviewed by, and final selections determined by, CALI and the Legal Research Community Authoring Project Advisory Panel.
• Authors will receive $1250 in compensation for their completed exercise and will be required to sign an authoring agreement with CALI. The agreement includes an assignment of copyright in the completed exercise to CALI.
• Individuals or teams may apply for most lesson topics.
• Support available from CALI:
  • Creation of graphics or diagrams
  • Digitization/editing of audio or video from tape
  • E-mail/telephone support
  • Training in CALI Author is offered throughout the year. Please send an email to Deb Quentel if you'd like to be notified when dates are set or when she will be visiting a law school near you.
  • CALI Author Guide for working with CALI Author software
  • Mini-reviews for works in progress/ideas, etc.

Authoring Resources

• There are numerous resources available to authors, including CALI's staff, advisory panel members, and existing lessons. Here are a few additional materials.
  • Kit Kreilick's presentation from AALL 2003
  • Authoring Tips - by CALI for use by fellowship teams and authors.

Revised August 26, 2008