Legal Research

Lisa Smith-Butler

Charleston School of Law

Lisa Smith-Butler is a tenured associate professor of law at the Charleston School of Law where she teaches Torts I, Torts II, Professional Responsibility, and Children and the Law.

Francine Tone

Tone & Tone, Attorneys at Law

Francine Tone has been involved in the legal business for over 40 years and has been a California lawyer since 1989. She is the managing partner of Tone & Tone, Attorneys at Law.

On-Demand: August 12, 2022

$245.00 3 hour CLE

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Program Summary

Session l – Google-Based Legal Research for Attorneys: Is everything there? | Lisa Smith-Butler

Research is one of the foundational skills required by attorneys. In order to effectively practice, attorneys must be able to quickly and cost-effectively locate primary sources of American law: cases, statutes, and regulations. Secondary sources are also important in assisting attorneys with locating and understanding primary sources of law.

Cost-effective legal research skills and strategies are important for practitioners. To help attorneys obtain and maintain these skills, Google: Is Everything There? is a one-hour CLE designed to help practitioners become more familiar with the cost-effective legal research capabilities of Google.

Key topics to be discussed:

Effectively Using the Google Search Bar
Advanced Google: What Is It? Where Do I Find It?
Google Scholar

Session ll - Research Strategies: Finding it free and fast | Lisa Smith-Butler

Research is a skill needed by attorneys to practice law. As the Testing Task Force of the National Conference of Bar Examiners concluded in their FINAL REPORT, issued in April of 2021, research of case law, statutory authority, and secondary sources are three of the most commonly performed tasks by attorneys. Knowledge areas needed by attorneys include legal research methodology and sources of law.

According to the Spring 2021 The Bar Examiner, legal research is one of the foundational skills that will be tested on the new bar exam. While every law student receives legal research training, many feel unprepared to cost effectively locate and provide accurate legal information for their clients. Older attorneys, caught between the print and digital revolution, are sometimes bewildered by the choices confronting them.

This proposed CLE, is a one-hour CLE designed to help practitioners locate information resources, both legal and non-legal, with cost-effective techniques regardless of whether the format is print or electronic. It will help attorneys cost-effectively locate primary sources of American law, cases, statutes, and regulations, in both fee based and reputable free Internet sites. It will discuss research strategies, including how to decide what information is needed and where to search for it.

Key topics to be discussed:

Getting Started
Primary Sources of American Law (Federal & State)
Specialized Primary Sources of Law
Secondary Sources of Law
Research Strategies Worksheet

Session lll - Professionalism: What they didn't teach you in law school can hurt you | Francine Tone

Did you know that your brain, unbeknownst to your conscious mind, may be interfering with your ability to be a zealous advocate while being highly professional?

Judges and Bar Associations are crying out for more professionalism in the legal community. Some Bars even have a "professionalism agreement" or "Lawyer's Creed" that they ask all lawyers to follow with express consent and agreement. These actions acknowledge a problem exists but don’t actually solve the problem.

Can you continue to be a zealous advocate for your client? Can you hold your cards close to your chest? Can you negotiate fiercely to get the best deal for your client? How can you measure professionalism? Can a bright line be drawn between what’s professional and no professional? A key is found in elevating emotional intelligence. By elevating emotional intelligence, something that can be measured, no bright lines are required. You will know what to do and how to act that reflects professionalism in your practice. More importantly with elevated emotional intelligence, your clients will love you, judges will respect you, and colleagues and peers will hold you in high esteem. Who doesn't want that?

Key topics to be discussed:

Discuss why being a good lawyer carries with it skills that cut against emotional intelligence and professionalism, and how to overcome this in order to maximize your professional presence.
Identify core emotionally intelligent competencies that uphold central standards of professionalism.
Weave emotional intelligence and pillars of professionalism into your critical thinking mind to become an even more effective lawyer.

This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.

Date / Time: August 12, 2022

Closed-captioning available

Speakers

Lisa Smith-Butler | Charleston School of Law

Lisa Smith-Butler is a tenured associate professor of law at the Charleston School of Law where she teaches Torts I, Torts II, Professional Responsibility, and Children and the Law. She previously taught Legal Bibliography and Advanced Legal Research courses from 1995 onwards at Georgia State University College of Law, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law, and the Charleston School of Law.

Smith-Butler helped guide the law library successfully through the final ABA accreditation process in 2010 and served as the library dean until December of 2017 when she moved over to the faculty full time.

Smith-Butler practiced law in Georgia and Nebraska between 1984 – 1992 as a solo and small firm practitioner as well as working for the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. In 1993, she moved full time into the field of law librarianship. As a law librarian, she worked for the Atlanta law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Fraser & Murphy (now Bryan Cave), Georgia State University, and Nova Southeastern University. At NSU, she served as the assistant dean of the library from 2003 until 2009.

She received her J.D., Cum Laude, from Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska in 1984 where she served as an assistant editor for the Creighton Law Review and on the Moot Court Board. She received her B.A., Magna Cum Laude, in 1982 from Hastings College where she received the Stephen Lingwall Senior English Award and was a Bellevue Academic Scholar. Her M.L.S. is from Clark Atlanta University.

Her best-known publication is the book, Law Librarianship in the 21st Century, co-authored with two Florida colleagues. She has authored articles on legal research, social media and school bullying, and workplace privacy.

She has done Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentations in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Her interests include strategic planning, information technology, jurisprudence, privacy, and writing. She teaches Children and the Law, Professional Responsibility, Torts, and Workplace Privacy.

Francine Tone | Tone & Tone, Attorneys at Law

Francine Tone has been involved in the legal business for over 40 years and has been a California lawyer since 1989. She is the managing partner of Tone & Tone, Attorneys at Law. She is an Appellate Law Specialist, certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, with a focus on real estate, business, family law, and criminal defense. She has sat as a judge pro tem for over 20 years. She is also a litigation and trial strategist helping trial attorneys shore up cases to reduce the likelihood of appeal or prevail on appeal.

Agenda

Session l – Google-Based Legal Research for Attorneys: Is everything there? | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Effectively Using the Google Search Bar | 12:00pm – 12:20pm
Advanced Google: What Is It? Where Do I Find It? | 12:20pm -12:40pm
- Search Operators
Google Scholar | 12:40pm – 1:00pm
- Primary Sources
  - Cases
  - Citators

- Secondary Sources
  - Articles
  - Google Scholar as an Academic Search Engine

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

Session ll – Research Strategies: Finding it free and fast | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

Getting Started | 1:10pm -1:20pm
- What do you need?
- Where can you find it?
Primary Sources of American Law (Federal & State) | 1:20pm – 1:35pm
- Cases
- Statutes/Legislation
- Regulations
Specialized Primary Sources of Law | 1:35pm -1:50pm
- Bankruptcy
- Court Rules & Forms
- Decisis
- FastCase
- MPRE
- Taxes
Secondary Sources of Law | 1:50pm -2:00pm
Research Strategies Worksheet | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Break | 2:10pm – 2:20pm

Session lll – Professionalism: What they didn’t teach you in law school can hurt you | 2:20pm -3:20pm

Discuss why being a good lawyer carries with it skills that cut against emotional intelligence and professionalism, and how to overcome this in order to maximize your professional presence | 2:20pm – 2:40pm
Identify core emotionally intelligent competencies that uphold central standards of professionalism. | 2:40pm – 3:00pm
Weave emotional intelligence and pillars of professionalism into your critical thinking mind to become an even more effective lawyer | 3:00pm – 3:20pm