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Law School Libraries as the Hub of Law Student Blogs

August 26, 2022

This last week generated discussion on law students using blogs for their briefing.

Rather than doing their necessary briefing – especially true for 1L’s – on Word or Google Doc’s, law students would write up their briefs on a blog.

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Seeing my suggestion of blogs for briefing, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, also known as CALI, not only liked the idea, but offered its WordPress-based Classmaster platform for the creation of the blogs – for free.

When I saw Boley Law Library of Lewis and Clark Law School chime in with a ”Blog your brief” I asked if any students or professors were ready to run with the blogging of briefs at Lewis and Clark – or any law school.

Silence. Understandable with everything going on at a law school to kick off a new year – and no planning ahead nor program to support the concept.

Law students wouldn’t know if blogging your briefs was a good idea, or even something that would get them in trouble.

Law professors are not the most innovative lot – or at least most of them. The vast majority of law professors don’t blog.

Now law school librarians are innovative by nature. Go to the annual American Association Law Libraries Conference. Innovation and technology abounds – maybe the best legal tech conference I go to.

Law libraries are keenly familiar with blogs. Not only as a means of open law advancing the law, but as a means of logging their work and engaging other law libraries.

Law school libraries, from what I can call on Twitter the last week, are the hub of learning and research resources for law students.

Not only do law libraries make resources available to students – many that law students didn’t even know were there – but the library helps students know how to use the resources. Often with online tutorials.

Cali and LexBlog would be there with free platforms. The Open Legal Blog Archive and LexBlog could give additional visibility to the students and the schools.

Law school libraries seem like the perfect hub for “blog your brief.” Make sense?