Filming Legal Cultures: French and American Civil Procedures Compared

June 5, 2009 — Sergio Stone

West’s Legal Ed Center has a free video program called “Filming Legal Cultures: French and American Civil Procedures Compared” in which U.S. and French judges and practictioners dicuss the differences between American and French civil litigtaion. In addition to the video discussion, the site also provides handouts.

https://westlegaledcenter.com

Program Description:

As more and more French companies conduct business in the United States, they face the possibility of being sued.  U.S. companies conducting business in France face a similar possibility in France. It is difficult for them to grasp the nuances of working within these two very different legal systems. It is easier to learn about the law than to comprehend the culture of a foreign court. This innovative project seeks to make such understanding possible through the use of images.

Judge Antoine Garapon, head of the Institut des Hautes Études sur la Justice in France and author of Juger en Amérique et en France, along Daniel Schimmel, an American litigator with Shearman and Sterling will explore some of the intricacies of the two systems in a completely new manner.  Their analysis of images of both French and American civil trials will show how practitioners, companies, academics, judges, and others working in a global environment can reach a better understanding of U.S. and French legal cultures.

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The Research Plan for Maximizing Effective Legal Research

June 5, 2009 — Paul Lomio

Hooray!  It’s Friday.  And that means I get to review the latest Hein Greenslips (a highlight of my week).  Today’s include a reference to a favorite book of mine:

Just Research, 2nd ed.

By Laurel Currie Oates and Anne Enquist

New York: Aspen Publishers, 2009.  $ 51.00

One of our students this past quarter reviewed Just Research, and liked it so much that she bought a copy for herself (we tell students about it, but don’t require it – our required text this coming year is Legal Research Methods, by Michael D. Murray and Christy H. DeSanctis.).  By the way, Aspen, I’d be much more inclined to tell our students to buy a copy of Just Research if you could get its price down to $ 35.00 or less.

Earlier we wrote here about the research log, which is related to the research plan.  Planning and documenting results are key steps for saving time.

Our student concludes her review of Just Research by writing:

I think the biggest takeaway point from the book and the most useful nugget of wisdom is to develop a research plan ahead of time.  This is analogous to setting up logic games on the LSAT.  You can delve right in without a plan, thinking it will take less time, but the setup and planning is key to maximizing efficiency.  I think the same holds true here.  The book presents a number of excellent roadmaps for categorizing, planning and implementing legal research.  I definitely intend to use it as a guide.

Posted in Legal Research & Writing, Research process. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »