I finally got around to tallying the responses to the annual
questionnaire I send returning USC law students who clerked in a legal
setting during the summer. These stats are from those who worked in a
legal setting in the summer of 1997. Legal setting includes
law firms (where largest percent worked); in house counsel, Research
Assistant for a Prof.; Other (gov. such as DA, etc).
50 law students returned questionnaires.
Responses:
1. "Were you required to perform much research where you worked?"
36 Often
2 Seldom
12 Moderate
2. "Did most of your research require using books or computers?"
21 Mostly books
2 Mostly computers
26 Books and computers
3. (new question added) "During your summer work did you use a CD Rom
product?"
16 yes
30 no
"Did you have any problem using any of the CDs? (Pro & Con)?"
Written responses: Summary -- most said no problem using them. A
few said they found them slow or awkward.
a few selected responses:
1. CDs are much faster, however, I prefer books because it is easier
to view/analyze.
2. I loved it. Although not as thorough as Lexis or Westlaw -- it is
fast and cheap.
3. I liked it almost more than the online sources when I first
started using it; however at the end of the summer I used
the online sources more.
4. They are free to the clients, but are a little slower than
Lexis/Westlaw
My general observations. Looking back quickly over past year's
responses most students are still finding there was a lot of research
required in their summer jobs. Increasingly students indicate they use
books and computers to perform research (now this category is the largest
percent), but the number indicating "mostly computers" has increased
very little. Their responses continue to provide valuable insight to me
as well occasional humor.
Albert Brecht
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:31 PST