Legal skills: research methods Books

Book SynopsisLegal academics in Europe publish a wide variety of materials including books, articles and essays, in an assortment of languages, and for a diverse readership. As a consequence, this variety can pose a problem for the evaluation of academic legal research. This thought-provoking book offers an overview of the legal and policy norms, methods and criteria applied in the evaluation of academic legal research, from a comparative perspective. The expert contributions explore developments relating to professional vs academic publications, editorial review vs peer review, rankings of journals and law schools vs other reputation mechanisms and a range of other evaluation practices and their intended and unintended effects. Analysing research evaluation practices across more than ten jurisdictions and multiple contexts, this insightful book reveals how evaluation practices differ across Europe. Through this analysis, the book exposes a range of possibilities for further debate and study. Engaging and topical, Evaluating Academic Legal Research in Europe will be valuable reading for legal academics, university and faculty managers, higher-education policy-makers and administrators as well as editors of law journals, legal publishers and research foundation and funding bodies.Contributors include: A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, K. Byland, D. Costa, J. Hojnik, P. Letto-Vanamo, A. Lienhard, D. Mac Síthigh, E. Maier, G. Peruginelli, N. Petersen, K. Purnhagen, A. Ruda Gonzalez, M. Schmied, M. Snel, R. van GestelTrade Review'I had the privilege to work with Andreas Lienhard on the topic of Evaluation of Legal Research in Switzerland. In a much needed further step, he has now, with Rob van Gestel, masterfully broadened the perspective on the European level. As the insightful introduction of the book shows, evaluating academic legal research is neither obvious nor easy. By comparing various national approaches, this book goes a long way towards better understanding a complex and high-stakes matter.' --Thierry Tanquerel, University of Geneva, Switzerland'[Law] is a discipline that is both venerable and vulnerable. In many ways, the legal discipline (my discipline) lags behind most of the other academic domains. If we want our discipline to catch up with the others, we need to develop reliable and transparent international standards for evaluating its quality. I truly hope that this great comparative book, with contributions from the finest legal scholars, will help us make significant progress. This is an issue that needs our urgent attention.' --Carel Stolker, President of Leiden University and author of Rethinking the Law School - Education, Research, Outreach and GovernanceTable of ContentsContents: Preface Introduction Rob van Gestel and Andreas Lienhard 1. Evaluation of academic legal publications in the United Kingdom Daithi MacSithigh 2. Evaluation of academic legal publications in The Netherlands Rob van Gestel and Marnix Snel 3. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Germany Kai Purnhagen and Niels Petersen 4. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Austria Elisabeth Maier 5. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Switzerland Andreas Lienhard, Karin Byland and Martin Schmied 6. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Sweden Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt 7. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Finland Pia Letto-Vanamo 8. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Italy Ginevra Peruginelli 9. Evaluation of academic legal publications in France Delphine Costa 10. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Spain Albert Ruda-González 11. Evaluation of academic legal publications in Slovenia Janja Hoinik 12. Evaluation of legal publications on the EU level Marnix Snel 13. Conclusion and discussion Rob van Gestel and Andreas Lienhard Index

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Book SynopsisLegal Research and Writing Skills in Ireland offers an easy-to-use and accessible guide on the core legal skills of research and writing. While Legal Research and Writing Skills in Ireland is specifically tailored to developing these skills in an Irish context, much of the information included in this book will be of value to a reader outside of Ireland as well. Using worked examples and practical tips, this book guides the reader through the stages of undertaking a piece of legal writing. It does this in three parts. Part I condenses and clarifies the research process by discussing research planning and how to find sources of legal information. Part II delves into the writing process and offers advice and tips on good writing generally and effective legal writing specifically. It also includes guidance on how to cite your sources. Finally, Part III combines the skills discussed in Parts I and II and applies these to practical situations in which legal research and writing will be relevant. In doing so it discusses, and provides practical tips on, how to plan and write a dissertation proposal, how to tackle a written assignment, the elements and structure of effective emails and letters, and the written portion of a presentation.Table of ContentsChapter 1 – An Introduction to Legal Research and Writing Part I – The Research Process Chapter 2 – Planning your research Chapter 3 – Finding Information Part II –The Writing Process Chapter 4 – Effective (Legal) Writing – the Building Blocks Chapter 5 – Effective (Legal) Writing – Making the Right Impact Chapter 6 – Citations and Referencing Part III –Legal Research And Writing In Specific Situations Chapter 7 – Legal Research and Writing in Specific Situations

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