Legal Rearch: A Revised View

When Professor Marjorie Dick Rombauer concluded her landmark article twenty years ago, she expressed a hope that many law schools have yet to realize. While legal research and writing programs exist in all law schools, many still have short-term and short-sighted programs. Many, if not most, law students are not rigorously trained, do not experience sustained individualized instruction, and do not explore problem-solving in an environment that simulates either law practice or rigorous legal scholarship. After their first year, most students fend for themselves in an atmosphere that tests their writing abilities in only two of several potential genres—exams and seminar papers—and few are trained by legal experts whose experience and study offer the best methods for ushering novices into a new discourse.