Use CALI Lessons to Perfect Your Legal Research Skills
CALI lessons are an excellent tool that you can use to hone your legal research skills. The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) publishes a library of online interactive tutorials for anyone interested in legal education. The lessons cover all legal topics from Administrative Law to Wills and Trusts, and include researching primary and secondary sources of law and federal and state jurisdictions.
Whether you are graduating in a few weeks or about to finish your first year of law school, you should use CALI lessons if you plan on doing any legal research this summer. Here are some CALI lessons that you should try out:
- Researching Federal Administrative Regulations
- How to Brief a Case
- Citation Form for Briefs and Legal Memoranda
- Decision Point: State or Federal?
- Finding Statutes
- Hold ‘em, Fold ‘em, Walk Away or Run: When to Stop the Search
- How to Find Case Law Using the Digests
- Introduction to Search Logic and Strategies
- Updating/Validating Case Law Using Citators
CALI also includes lessons on state-specific legal research such as “Colorado Legal Research – Secondary Source Materials“ and “Georgia Legal Research – Primary Source Material.” Librarians Jennifer Morgan and Cindy Dabney have created a lesson on Indiana legal research, “Indiana Primary Resources.” Our lesson will be published in a few weeks, so keep an eye on the CALI website (or this blog) for an announcement of this new lesson.
The Library has a subscription to CALI, so you need a password (i.e., student CALI authorization code) to be able to access CALI lessons. Stop by the reference desk to get your CALI password.
