Workshops in the Library Research Series

The live Zoom workshops have concluded for this semester. 

Asynchronous workshop content (videos, quizzes, tips and handouts) will remain accessible here, via the 5 workshop tabs in this guide!  You can visit some or all of this content at your convenience. 

There is some additional workshop content available on the MyLaw page. 

And, if you have questions, UCLA Law Students are always welcome to email the reference librarians to set up an individual Zoom appointment or ask questions via email.   Please see the MyLaw page for information on how to contact the reference librarian team.

Our Spring 2021 Library Research Series is underway!  Please see the list for the dates and times of our live Zoom workshops.

Additionally, asynchronous workshop content (videos, quizzes, tips and handouts) will remain accessible via the 5 workshop tabs in this guide!  You can visit some or all of this content at your convenience. 

And if you have questions, UCLA Law Students are always welcome to email the reference librarians to set up an individual Zoom appointment or ask questions via email.   Please see the MyLaw page for information on how to contact the reference librarian team.

Below are descriptions of current and past workshops. 

Spring 2021 Workshops: 

Researching for Your SAW Paper or Law Journal Comment

Learn methods for researching a seminar or other scholarly research paper. This workshop will assist you in developing and executing a research plan for your paper, including where to research and how to research, with a focus on staying organized throughout the process.

1L Research Efficiency: Tips from the Experts

Learn research efficiency tips and helpful strategies that you can use on more than one research platform. Efficiency tips covered include: How to avoid being overwhelmed by search results; knowing when to stop researching; finding secondary sources that save you time; and making the most of citators. Leave feeling more confident as you begin your Spring LRW Graded Assignment.

Research for Transactional Lawyers

Learn about the EDGAR database of SEC filings, and how those filings are used to populate powerful precedent databases that can help you start drafting, compare documents to yours, gain negotiating leverage and more. Workshop will also cover researching public and private companies.

Beyond the Big Two: Alternative Legal Research Tools

This workshop will explore a variety of databases and tools for legal research and enable you to locate and evaluate alternatives to Westlaw and Lexis for your legal research needs.

Researching Administrative Law

Agencies play an important role in everything from environmental law to entertainment law to corporate law. Brush up on the basics of researching laws created by federal and California agencies, including regulations, guidance documents, and administrative decisions.

Litigation Analytics, or How to Appear Wise Beyond Your Years

Imagine you’re a litigator, designing case strategy for a new client. The client wants to know whether the assigned judge is friendly to you, whether opposing counsel is any good, and whether the defendant has ever had cases like this before. As a newer attorney, you’d typically have to find these answers by asking a senior partner or reading every decision by the judge. Today, new litigation analytics products claim that they can answer these questions with a few quick clicks. Can they? Well, as is usual in the law, it depends.  In this 60-minute interactive workshop, you will learn about several different litigation analytics tools, including how to evaluate their strength or weakness on particular types of questions.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

This workshop will combine professionalism, communication, and efficiency tips applicable to working on research assignments.  Come learn how you can make life easier for yourself and your colleagues by avoiding common pitfalls.

Some of our other workshops: 

Action Plans to Start Your Research

How do you begin your first summer/post-grad research assignment? With an Action Plan! Create one with confidence after attending this hour long training. Learn how to create an action plan for your research assignments at work. Know where to start your research and how to know when you're done. When you put your plan into action you can present your research results with confidence

Learning to Bluebook

Do you have a research paper to write this semester? Are you baffled by the Bluebook? Well, you are not alone. Join Cheryl Kelly Fischer for an hour long training covering important points of Bluebook citations and tips for navigating the rules. Make sure you have a copy of the current Bluebook handy as this workshop is hands-on!

Advanced Searching Techniques

Become a more efficient legal researcher! In this hour long training you will learn how to create effective and efficient searches using various types of connectors, truncation, and wildcards. (If you have no idea what those are, you should definitely come to the session!)

1L Research Refresher Before the Graded Problem

Prepare for the research portion of your LRW Graded Memo in this hour long research refresher.  Need to boost confidence in your research skills before your first graded memo assignment is handed out? Refresh your skills in using secondary sources and locating on-point cases in this recap of the research methods already covered in your LRW class. (Note: the graded memo assignment is under wraps, so no graded memo secrets will be spilled!)