Brian M. Flaherty

In this class students will be exposed to how legal research functions in practice. The research projects will be designed to highlight major legal research tools in both online and print formats. The projects will feature tasks such locating court documents, doing a legislative history, finding agency regulations and guidance, doing state specific research with practice series, researching an unfamiliar area of the law using secondary sources, as well as learning to use Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law in a cost effective manner. Most classes will have an assignment and some will be longer projects such as a client letter, a research memo for a supervisor and all will include a research log. There will be an exam where the students must do several short research assignments with a research log. The objective of the class is for students to become comfortable completing simple and complex research in a work setting. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the class. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.

Immigration law research is complex, requiring knowledge of unique sources and materials. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit noted the “labyrinthine character of modern immigration law -- a maze of hyper-technical statutes and regulations.” Drax v. Reno, 338 F.3d 98, 99 (2d Cir. 2003). In addition, it is an area with the potential for sweeping legislative and regulatory change in the upcoming year. This one-credit experiential course will help students navigate this complex and shifting legal and regulatory environment, by covering a broad spectrum of search strategies and tactics for researching immigration law issues.  The course will initially focus on some key immigration statutes (the Immigration and Nationality Act and its many amendments, the Refugee Act, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility of 1996). From there the course will proceed to administrative law, which heavily impacts immigration. Students will look at the agencies responsible for immigration procedure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Labor (DOL), and they will learn to research the regulations, administrative decisions, and guidance documents from these agencies and how they affect immigration law. Research topics will include asylum law, grounds of inadmissibility, deportation and removal proceedings, visa classifications, business immigration law and the intersection of criminal law and immigration. The goal of the course is for students to become comfortable researching both simple and complex immigration issues. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the class. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first meeting to be considered for enrollment.

This course begins with an overview of basic legal research skills, processes, and resources using intellectual property subject matter. The course then proceeds to specific research strategies in copyright, patents, and trademark law, providing students an increased understanding of advanced legal research skills using: secondary sources, legislative history, administrative materials, and more. Students will gain an even deeper understanding of the context and framework of legal resources and how they are applied to real-world research from practitioner guest lecturers. Classes combine instruction and hands-on exercises, with an emphasis on exposure to databases beyond Lexis and Westlaw. Students are evaluated on weekly research assignments and a final research project. PREREQUISITE: Intellectual Property. NOTE: Students may not add this course after the first class is held. NOTE: This class counts toward the 6-credit Experiential Learning requirement. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 15 students. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Students who fail to attend the first class or obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the class. Students on the waitlist are required to attend the first class meeting for enrollment eligibility

Most students will end up practicing transactional law which presents unique legal research challenges. Students will learn to navigate the statutory and regulatory frameworks of transactional areas of the law like tax, banking, securities and other practice areas. They will research agency guidance, use specialized practice materials and search for filings and company information, among other research tasks. Legal information and technologies in these area are constantly changing and new lawyers should be familiar with the most recent research techniques and tools. Classes will combine instruction and hands-on exercises using major print, electronic, and web based resources for securities law research. Students will be required to complete several assignments using electronic and print resources and put together a final client presentation on a transaction. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6 credit Experiential Learning requirement.