1 / 33

Class 2

Class 2. Inspiration: Choosing a Subject & Developing a Claim (cont’d) Initial Proposal Research Strategy. Inspiration: Choosing a Subject & Developing a Claim (cont’d). Last Week: Choose and narrow your Subject Find a Claim This Week: Test Your Proposed Solution for Soundness

glenna
Download Presentation

Class 2

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Class 2 Inspiration: Choosing a Subject & Developing a Claim (cont’d) Initial Proposal Research Strategy

  2. Inspiration: Choosing a Subject & Developing a Claim (cont’d) Last Week: • Choose and narrow your Subject • Find a Claim This Week: • Test Your Proposed Solution for Soundness • Preemption Check to Ensure Originality

  3. What Makes a Proposed Solution “Sound”? • Specific, not “mushy” • Discuss both the substance and procedure of your proposed solution • Consider the political feasibility of your proposed solution

  4. TEST YOUR PROPOSED SOLUTION FOR SOUNDNESS 1. Develop a “test suite” of hypotheticals to analyze the soundness of your proposed solution. Example: You propose a statute requiring eviction of tenants in publicly subsidized housing if “the tenant or a guest engages in any drug-related activity in the apartment.”

  5. Hypothetical A: Old lady evicted b/c her grandson smoked marijuana in the apt. She was unconscious in hospital at time so couldn’t have known.

  6. Hypothetical B: Conscientious mother finds out her son is using drugs. Does everything possible to make him stop—call police, get drug counseling, confronts him, etc.

  7. Hypothetical C: Man suspects his sister, who lives with him, sells drugs from the apt. He doesn’t want to get involved, so every day, he stays in his room.

  8. TEST YOUR PROPOSED SOLUTION FOR SOUNDNESS (cont’d) 2. Use “critical reading” techniques to analyze your own claim.

  9. PREEMPTION CHECK TO ENSURE ORIGINALITY • Look at the articles, books, and cases on your subject to make certain nobody else has already given thorough and thoughtful treatment to the claim you intend to make.

  10. Initial Proposal • State your claim • Describe the existing commentary • Statement of originality • Mentor • Progress report

  11. Your Claim: Hazardous waste dumps are disproportionately located in neighborhoods occupied by racial minorities. Under current law, there is no feasible way for affected minorities to sue for racial discrimination. The reason is that the constitutional doctrine of equal protection requires proof that the defendant’s action was taken with intent to discriminate on the basis of race. [Cite case]. However, in decisions regarding the location of hazardous waste dumps, usually there is no racist intent or such intent is exceedingly difficult to prove. To provide relief to affected minorities, a federal statute should be enacted that allows plaintiffs to prevail on a claim of discrimination either by showing racist intent in the decision of the site for a hazardous waste dump or by showing that there is already a disproportionate number of hazardous waste dumps in the proposed location.

  12. 2. Describe the Existing Commentary: a. Commission for Racial Justice, United Church of Christ, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States … : This report describes how minorities are disproportionately affected by toxic waste. b. Target of Toxins: Poor communities charge 'environmental racism,' USA Today … : This story covers a national summit on the topic of environmental racism. c. Lawrence S. Bacow & James R. Milkey, Overcoming Local Opposition to Hazardous Waste Facilities: The Massachusetts Approach, 6 Har. Envtl. L. Rev. …: This article proposes a method to compensate neighborhoods for the harm done to them when toxic waste dumps are located there.

  13. 3. Statement of Originality

  14. My claim is original because it proposes a novel solution—a statutory amendment—to the problem of disproportionately siting toxic waste dumps in minority neighborhoods. My claim is distinguishable from [cite law review article] that discusses how constitutional equal protection claims may be a remedy for minority neighborhoods where toxic dumps are located. My claim is also different than the claim made in Bacow and James R. Milkey’s article that any neighborhood where a toxic waste dump is cited should be compensated. My claim does use as background the facts found in several publications, such as the USA Today story and the United Church of Christ report, that discuss the problem of environmental racism.

  15. Mentor • Progress report (discussed below)

  16. Research Strategy Gathering Info Assimilating Info

  17. Gathering Info • Get the Big Picture • Find a Research Guide • Be Thorough with the Details • Be Accurate • Stay Current • Ask Someone • Be a Savvy Internet User • When Do I Stop?

  18. 1. Get the Big Picture • Once you’ve identified your general topic, read a short book on it—e.g., Foundation’s Concepts and Insights, West’s Nutshells, Matthew Bender’s Understanding series. • Goals: • Understand the field. • Be able to draw on principles that arise in areas within the field unrelated to your topic.

  19. Also, early on review a treatise in the area. • Then look at law review articles, other secondary sources. They will give you a good guide to the statutes, cases, and other primary authorities.

  20. 2. Find a Research Guide • aka “Pathfinder” • On many U.S. law school law libraries websites . E.g.: http://www.law.seattleu.edu/library/research/startingpoints?static-page=yes • Google search: “research guide” and “administrative law” • LLRX.com “International Law Guides” and “Pathfinders” • “Globalex” (NYU): International, comparative, and foreign research guides.

  21. 3. Be Thorough with the Details • Goals: • Be thorough to be comprehensive and accurate. • Be thorough to be certain your claim hasn’t been preempted.

  22. “Legal Resource Index”: Index of 900 law journals, law newspapers, and specialty publications in the U.S. and Britain. Covers 1977-now. Updated weekly.

  23. Sample from Legal Research Index AUTH: Perkins, Jared TITL: Habeas corpus in the war against terrorism: citizen enemy combatants REFR: BYU Journal of Public Law 19 2 437-471 (FALL, 2005) LCIT: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 124 S. Ct. 2633 (2004) TERM: War on Terrorism; Habeas corpus; Detention of persons Combatants and noncombatants

  24. Look at the Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com) for unpublished articles, i.e. “working papers.”

  25. 4. Be Accurate Compare: Journalism—Credibility is a journalist’s most important asset, and accuracy is the best way to protect it. To ensure accuracy, reporters must check and double-check all of the information they collect for a news story.

  26. 5. Stay Current • Look for the most recent article or case first • “Shepardize”

  27. “Shepardizing” Shepard’s Citations allows a researcher to: • Check whether an article in LEXIS has been cited in any further articles or cases. • More…

  28. Sample Shepard’s Results

  29. 6. Ask Someone • To find the recent article or case, ask a professor, lawyer, or judge who works in the area.

  30. 7. Be a Savvy Internet User • When using search engines (Google, Baidu, etc.), remember: All information is not created equal—websites don’t necessarily have an editing process like treatises and law reviews. • Learn the rules of search (e.g., how to limit search to .edu or .gov sites, search for exact phrase, search for two terms, exclude a term, etc.)

  31. Compare: Journalism: Whatever sources you use to research the background of a story, it’s critical to consider the validity and the credibility of the source: • How does the source know what he knows? • How can I confirm this information through other sources? • How representative is the source’s point of view? • Has the source been reliable and credible in the past? • What is the source’s motive for providing the information?

  32. 8. When Do I Stop? Lots of factors and no easy answers...but... • When the costs outweigh the benefits • When you keep finding the same sources • When you find the answer • When you run out of time

More Related