Legal research is a competency mandated by the ABA standards. It’s also a natural area where law schools would want to know if their students are performing competently. This outcome is also low hanging fruit for assessment, since there are numerous places in the curriculum where you examine students’ research (1L Legal Writing, clinics, externships, and seminars all come to mind).

Laura Ray, Outreach and Instructional Services Librarian at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, is gathering information on how law schools are planning to assess legal research outcomes. She invites comments at l.ray@csuohio.edu.