The Future of Legal Research Discussion

In connection with preparation of Week 5’s Case Study, please access the link posted under Week 5’s Required Resources to material developed by the California Western School of Law outlining the history and relevance of West’s Digests. (link below)

https://www.cwsl.edu/student-life/library/electronic-resources/library-research-guides/using-the-digest-system

“Modern legal researchers do not search for rules with the print digest and facts with computers. Instead, they prefer to search for everything using an electronic resource that is fast and easy to use. Unfortunately, tomorrow’s lawyers are unaware of some common shortcomings of electronic research and do not possess the strategies to compensate for them. The blame for this situation does not lie with the vendors who trained them, the college librarians who failed to teach them information literacy skills, or the databases that are not easy enough to use. The blame must be placed squarely upon law librarians who have not recognized the needs of their patrons and who must do more to make them excellent legal researchers in the electronic environment.”  [The Death of the Digest and the Pitfalls of Electronic Research: What Is the Modern Legal Researcher to Do? (Lee F. Peoples)]

After your review of this week’s course material regarding digests, please answer the following questions:

Do you agree or disagree with the above quote?

Are the digests dead?

Is there too much reliance of utilizing electronic resources and not enough focus on traditional legal research material found on the shelves of law libraries?