Debate Continues on New Lawyers'/Students' Lack of Research Skills

Two blogs comment on the apparent lack of legal research skills of new lawyers and law students:

• In the post entitled Information Illiteracy, Out of the Jungle (University of Buffalo) contributor Marie S. Newman writes about the "overall poor level of preparation for the practice of law" and points to various approaches developed to boost information literacy.
• The post Study: New Lawyer Skills Are Lacking on LexLibris (University of Minnesota Law Library) refers to a Harvard Law School study that also reveals many shortcomings in research and evaluation skills.

Slaw.ca, the Canadian cooperative legal research blog, has carried a number of items in the past few months that show that the Canadian situation is not necessarily better:

• Research Skills: Law Schools and Law Firms (May 10, 2006)
• Ah! American Students Are Not That Different (June 28, 2006)
• Law Librarians Debate Student Research Skills (November 6, 2006)