1. Most summer positions involve extensive research. Assignments, techniques, and the employer’s office culture can be very different from a law school research experience.

3.  Getting Started on a Research Project  Making the Most of Research Time  Reporting Research Results

4. More detailed advice on various types of research is available in the TMLL “Successful Summer Strategies” Research Guide

5.  If you know before starting work, or find out upon arrival, that you will be doing a lot of research in a particular area of law, get some background knowledge or an overview of the subject by quickly reviewing a Nutshell, hornbook, or treatise. Ask a librarian to suggest an appropriate source.

6.  Ask for information as to your employer’s policies in regard to copying and borrowing materials, and billing research services to clients. Find out whether your office has access to Lexis and/or Westlaw, or to other research resources, and clarify what, if any, restrictions are placed upon use of these resources.  If you are lucky enough to have access to a law librarian, make that person's acquaintance immediately! Ask for a library orientation if one isn't automatically made available.

7.  Try to clarify your assignment as completely as possible during the initial assignment interview.  Try to get a strong sense of how to fill the assignor’s expectations.  Make sure you are clear about the format in which you are expected to report the results.  Use the “JUST Ask” formula…

8.  J = Jurisdiction  U = Useful Tips  S = Scope of Research  T = Time frame  A = Acronyms, terms of art  S = Sources  K = Key cost considerations *Adapted with permission from publications by Karen Summerhill, Georgetown University Law Library and Ellen Callinan, Crowell & Moring

9.  Get background knowledge or an overview of the subject by quickly reviewing a Nutshell, hornbook, or treatise. Ask a librarian to suggest an appropriate source.  Find a topical research guide on the Internet – or even an overview from Wikipedia.

10.  Think first, start later  Make nice with librarians, paralegals, and secretaries  Keep costs in mind  Take stock of your progress and report as you go along ; manage your time  Develop efficient systems for recording your notes  Know when to stop

11.  Perform a preliminary knowledge assessment  Plan your research strategy, including electronic searches  If you can’t write a memo to yourself that answers the threshold questions, you are not ready to begin research

12.  Law librarians at your firm or organization, or librarians at your law school;  Associates or paralegals at your workplace. Support staff may also be a gold mine of useful information;  Customer service at Lexis or Westlaw, or your law school's or employer's Lexis or Westlaw representatives

13.  Exhaust local resources before spending money to get your information. Find out what’s available in hard copy, or on the organization's intranet  Find out what other databases (besides Lexis and Westlaw) your employer provides  Check the Internet, especially for statutes, court rules, administrative decisions, appellate court decisions, and congressional documents

14.  Find out how your organization is billed for Lexis and Westlaw. Pricing for Lexis and Westlaw varies depending on the size and nature of the organization, the volume of research performed, and the pricing plan.  For a given research assignment, determine whether you can use paid databases  Utilize “free days” and other training benefits

15.  Ask for clarification if you need it  The time to ask for an extension is not the day the assignment is due  E-mail may be an effective means to report progress or problems  The last thing you want is to “drop out of sight for two weeks and show up with a dog- eared pile of cases no one cares about.”  James Windels, litigation partner, Davis, Polk & Wardwell

16. If you have a conflict resulting from multiple supervisors and multiple projects, tell them, and “make them decide what you should work on.” - Cynthia Arato, senior litigation associate at Parcher, Hayes & Snyder

17.  Design a system for taking notes during the assigning interview.  Some firms have forms to record your research progress; if not, design your own.  Keep track of the sources you have consulted; chances are high you will be interrupted before you finish.  Record full citations in Bluebook form.

18.  It is always possible to find one more source or one more angle to explore.  What is the cost to the client? When is the deadline?  End when you find diminishing returns or the same answer in various sources.

19.  Have I responded to the question presented to me?  Have I used good professional judgment and logic in reaching an answer?  Have I been thorough in my research?  Have I plotted out the structure of my presentation?

20.  Don’t forget that the librarians at TMLL are available all summer to help with your research questions. Find contact information on the TMLL Web page at http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/abo utlibrary/contact.html http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/abo utlibrary/contact.html