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Showing posts from September, 2018

Practitioners Rank Legal Research as Only Top-20 Specific Legal Skill for the "Whole Attorney"

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In a recent survey conducted by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), a wide array of legal employers ranked the legal skills and professional competencies and characteristics that they believe new lawyers most need to succeed. (There is a detailed accounting of the study’s results and an explanation of the study’s role within IAALS’s broader project in the summer 2018 edition of The Bar Examiner , pp. 17-26.) The results revealed that legal employers value foundational characteristics and competencies much more than they do foundational legal skills.  The 20 Foundations Identified as Most Necessary in the Short Term for New Lawyers  • Keep information confidential • Arrive on time for meetings, appointments, and hearings • Honor commitments • Integrity and trustworthiness • Treat others with courtesy and respect • Listen attentively and respectfully • Promptly respond to inquiries and requests • Diligence • Have a strong work ethic and p

The Librarians' "Crusade" for Academic Freedom

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After recent events at the University of California - Davis, there's been an uproar surrounding college librarians and academic freedom . The uproar was created after a librarian in the UC system used a title for her presentation that an administrator colleague thought might be offensive: "Copy cataloging gets some respect from administrators." Inspired in part by [the librarian's] cautionary tale, the [UC-Davis] union sought to include a provision in the new contract clarifying that librarians have academic freedom. Union representatives proposed in late April a guarantee of academic freedom to all librarians so that they could fulfill responsibilities for teaching, scholarship, and research.  The union says negotiators for the system rejected the proposal . . . .  Claire Doan, a spokeswoman, said UC policies on academic freedom "do not extend to nonfaculty academic personnel, including librarians . . . . "  UC negotiators said in July that academic f