
Brian M. Flaherty
Instructional Services Librarian
Lecturer
Biography
Brian Flaherty jointed the Fineman and Pappas Law Library in January, 2018. As the Instructional Services Librarian, he coordinates research portion of the first year lawyering program, overseeing the curriculum, serving as a liaison between the lawyering faculty and the librarians, and teaching several classes. He also teaches in the American Legal Studies LLM program, as well as an Advanced Legal Research, and a Transactional Legal Research class, and several classes in the Legal Research Skills for Practice program. He helps staff the reference desk both in person and online, and works closely with a number of faculty members including the transactional law faculty and the immigration law faculty.
Brian began his library career as an acquisitions clerk at the New England School of Law in January 1990. He graduated from Simmons with an MLS in 1995, and eventually became the Acquisitions and Government Documents librarian at New England School of Law. He moved to Suffolk Law School as a reference librarian in 2000, and then back to New England as a reference librarian in April, 2003. It was there that he developed his passion for teaching, first helping to coordinate the first year research program, and starting in 2006, teaching an annual Advanced Legal Research class. He also has run the LLNE Legal Research Instruction Program since 2015.
Brian has written and presented on different aspects of librarianship and teaching, including an early AALS presentation on bridging the gap between technical services and public services, programs on the pedagogical science and teaching, and most recently a book chapter, “Millennials Are Proving Experience Is the Best Teacher,” in the collection, Millennial Leadership in Law Schools: Essays on Disruption, Innovation, and the Future.
- Profile Types
- Faculty, Librarians, Library Administration, Part-Time Faculty, Staff, and Transactional Law
Publications
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Gigi Walker & Brian Flaherty, Cuing Safety in the Law School Classroom: Using a Polyvagal Theory Framework in Support of Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices 53 The Journal of Law and Education (2024)
Scholarly Commons
In the Media
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Tax Prof November 29, 2024
Weekly Legal Education Roundup
Marni Goldstein Caputo, Kathleen Luz, & Brian Flaherty are named.
read more - View All Articles
Activities & Engagements
No upcoming activities or engagements.
Courses
Advanced Legal Research: LAW JD 879
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.
FALL 2024: LAW JD 879 A1 , Sep 3rd to Dec 5th 2024Days | Start | End | Credits | Instructors | Bldg | Room |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thu | 8:30 am | 10:30 am | 2 | Brian Flaherty | LAW | 204 |
Transactional Law Research: LAW JD 718
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.
SPRG 2025: LAW JD 718 A1 , Jan 13th to Apr 23rd 2025Days | Start | End | Credits | Instructors | Bldg | Room |
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Thu | 8:30 am | 10:30 am | 2 | Brian FlahertyMcCarthy | LAW | 203 |