Legal researchers must, on occasion, look beyond the traditional sources of the legal publishing realm to find needed background information involving expertise of other disciplines. One option for in-depth research of a specific issue is to find Ph.D. dissertations and Master’s theses on point. Litigation research often requires research of dissertations and theses for purposes of investigating potential expert witnesses and impeaching their testimony:

...As with any expert witness, counsel should first establish the expert’s qualifications and background. While the curriculum vitae can be a starting point, counsel should explore the educational and academic record of the expert to discover any areas in which the expert focused during his or her education. This would include, for example, the subject matter of the expert’s thesis or dissertation, and any research conducted while in school.1

New York criminal defense attorney Thomas F. Liotti describes the payoff of such research:

Although they can be difficult to secure, I have obtained, through my investigator, copies of an expert's unpublished master's thesis and Ph.D dissertation and used them for evidentiary voir dire. A witness' writings can be like hitting the mother load. They must be carefully reviewed for "junk science" and inconsistencies.2

Depending upon the circumstances, you may be looking for all research done on a particular topic or only research completed by a particular individual. In either case, you must first pinpoint the bibliographic information of research work desired and then obtain the full-text version of it. For purposes of identifying a dissertation or thesis, many Doctoral and Master’s candidates’ works are indexed in various online database sources available to Cumberland and Samford students.3

By far, the best resource on campus for finding bibliographic information of theses and dissertations is Dissertation Abstracts Online. This database “selectively covers masters theses and dissertations including dissertations from Canada, Great Britain and Europe” [as well as the United States]. Go to: http://library.samford.edu/articlesalpha.html#d and then click on the database title to go directly to the homepage. Once there, the “dissertations” database should already be indicated, with you needing only to type keywords of a topic or author before clicking on “search.” The resulting screen will be an abbreviated citation list of results; from there, you can click on the highlighted title of the document to see full citation information, and in many cases, an abstract of the work. While this full citation information is critical to finding the needed work, it cannot be said that obtaining the full text is an easy task even with the citation in hand; in many cases, the dissertation is unpublished and only obtainable through the library of the institution where the research work was created (if they are willing to lend it). As a result, consultation with a librarian can be particularly crucial in locating these documents--in many instances, the materials can be borrowed through interlibrary loan, while at other times, it will be necessary to purchase a copy through UMI (http://www.umi.com/umi/dissertations/ordering.shtml).

Beyond Dissertation Abstracts Online, there are numerous databases available through Samford University Library website found at http://library.samford.edu/articlesalpha.html#aa which include citations to theses and dissertations, but also articles found in scholarly journals; among them are America: History and Life, Business Source Premier, Academic Search Premier, Child Abuse, Child Welfare and Adoption Database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Family and Society Studies Worldwide, Historical Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) and Sociological Abstracts. Please bear in mind that many of these databases are only accessible by computers on the Samford campus. Librarians at the Law Library or Samford University Library are available for helping you devise an effective search strategy with any of these services.

1John Michael Klamann & Bert Stephen Braud, Third-Party Accountant Liability–Prospective Financial Statements Used in Securities Offerings, 45 AM. JUR. TRIALS 113, §111 at 269-270 (1992).

2 Thomas F. Liotti, Feature: Evidentiary Voir Dire, THE CHAMPION, May 2002, at 26, 28.

3 Also, many local public libraries may have access to many of the same or other databases that index dissertations and theses.

To develop legal writing skills, consider these selected resources in Cumberland’s Law Library. Pick up a handy list of these books and more at the kiosk between the Law School and Law Library.

Armstrong, Stephen V. THINKING LIKE A WRITER : A LAWYER’S GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE WRITING AND EDITING. 2nd ed. KF250/.A76/2003/Reserve.

Block, Gertrude. EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITING: FOR LAW STUDENTS AND LAWYERS. 5th ed. KF250/.B56/1999/Reference.

Charrow, Veda. CLEAR AND EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITING. 3rd ed. KF250/.C452/2001/Reference.

Enquist, Anne. JUST WRITING : GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, AND STYLE FOR THE LEGAL WRITER. KF250/.E57/Reference.

Fajans, Elizabeth. SCHOLARLY WRITING FOR LAW STUDENTS : SEMINAR PAPERS, LAW REVIEW NOTES, AND LAW REVIEW COMPETITION PAPERS. 2nd ed. KF250/.F35/2000/Reference.

Garner, Bryan A. THE REDBOOK : A MANUAL ON LEGAL STYLE. KF250/.G375/Reserve.

Garner, Bryan A. THE WINNING BRIEF : 100 TIPS FOR PERSUASIVE BRIEFING IN TRIAL AND APPELLATE COURTS. 2nd ed. KF251/.G37/2004/Reserve.

Haggard, Thomas R. LEGAL DRAFTING IN A NUTSHELL. 2nd ed. KF250/.H33/2003/Reserve.

LeClercq, Terri. GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING STYLE. 3rd ed. KF250/.L3913/2004/Reserve.

Neumann, Richard K. LEGAL REASONING AND LEGAL WRITING : STRUCTURE, STRATEGY, AND STYLE. 4th ed. KF250/.N48/2001/Reference.

Oates, Laurel Currie. THE LEGAL WRITING HANDBOOK : ANALYSIS, RESEARCH, AND WRITING. 3rd ed. KF250/.O18/2002/Reference.

Oates, Laurel Currie. THE LEGAL WRITING HANDBOOK : ANALYSIS, RESEARCH, AND WRITING. 3rd ed. KF250/.O18/2002/Reference.

Volokh, Eugene. ACADEMIC LEGAL WRITING : LAW REVIEW ARTICLES, STUDENT NOTES, AND SEMINAR PAPERS. KF250/.V6/2003/Reserve.

Wydick, Richard C. PLAIN ENGLISH FOR LAWYERS. 4th ed. KF250/.W9/1998/Reference.

Source: OCLC Top 1000, Posted Online at http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000 (January 14, 2005).

Source: Library Board Puts Jon Stewart’s Book Back On Shelves, Posted Online at http://www.cnn.com (January 11, 2005).

Need a Gift for the Right Person?

Do you collect bobblehead dolls? If so, call Tommy Spina’s law office. You could order a Spina bobblehead doll complete with a red tie, dark suit, criminal law book and a briefcase. The idea for a personalized bobblehead came to Spina’s mind after a lawyer friend in Minneapolis had one made in his own image. Spina searched for a maker and after about six months the dolls arrived at his office. The dolls have been requested from California to France and they sit in metro Birmingham offices, homes and businesses. Now when people call Tommy Spina’s law office, chances are they are looking for more than legal help. “They say, ‘I want a bobblehead’,” said Spina who was surprised by the reaction.

[Tommy Spina is a Cumberland graduate, class of 1978.]

Source: Lawyer’s Bobblehead Dolls Turning Heads, Posted Online at http://www.al.com (January 18, 2005).

On January 10, 2005, 500 pages were deposited into each law students’ lab print account. Westlaw and Lexis print jobs should not be printed to Law Library stand-alone printers as they will count against the student print accounts. These print jobs should be sent to Westlaw or Lexis dedicated printers. Here are the instructions for printing to the Lexis and Westlaw dedicated (or stand-alone) printers from the web.

LEXIS-NEXIS:

After you have logged in to the Lexis website, and have found the document that you wish to print, click on the Print icon.

A print box will appear. The drop down menu shows that Lexis print jobs may be sent to the dedicated Lexis Lab printers: 700302-LAB or 700303-LAB . If everything is set up the way you want it, click on the Print button.

WESTLAW :

After you have logged in at the Westlaw website, and have found the document(s) or citations that you wish to print out, look at the bottom of the screen for the print button. Click the button. This will take you to the Print/Download page.

The drop down menu shows that Westlaw print jobs should be sent to Stand-alone Printer (The stand-alone printer in pool PL112). This will then send the Westlaw print jobs to either of the dedicated Westlaw printers in the Westlaw Lab.

In the print window, there are several choices : stand-alone Printer, which is the dedicated Westlaw printers, E-mail, or Download (to disk). Choose the Stand-Alone printer option. In the middle of the print window, there are several options to choose from including: Current document, Selected documents, All documents, and Result List. Once you have selected what you want to print, click on the Send Request button.

For more help with this, please contact Grace Simms, Computer Services Librarian, at 726-2687 or e-mail at
glsimms@samford.edu.

The CHECK IT OUT is published three times a semester. Your opinion is important to us! Send your ideas and/or comments to: Becky Hutto via e-mail at: Becky Hutto at rmhutto@samford.edu.We welcome new ideas!