Event Title
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
12-6-2019 2:45 PM
End Date
12-6-2019 3:15 PM
Presenter Biography
Julie Graves Krishnaswami is the Head of Research Instruction and a Lecturer in Legal Research at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School. Since 2012, she has taught Advanced Legal Research (ALR), among other courses. Julie also regularly lectures on regulatory, statutory, and legislative history research methods. Her current research focuses on the structure of the United States Code. With Shawn Nevers of BYU Law School, she has a forthcoming article, The Shadow Code: Statutory Notes in the United States Code. With Fred Shapiro of Yale Law School, Julie also published the Secret History of the Bluebook in the Minnesota Law Review. She has also published several pieces on integrating critical thinking methodology into legal research pedagogy. Additionally, Julie is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Most notably, she served on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, chaired the Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award Jury, and was elected Member at Large for the Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS).
Before coming to Yale Law School in 2011, Julie was a law librarian and legal research professor at Vermont Law School and an Associate Law Library Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. As an attorney, Julie worked as a litigator on national securities and antitrust class actions, and she clerked for Judge Susan L. Reisner of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. In law school, Julie represented public benefit recipients in administrative hearings before the New York City Department of Human Resources Administration. She has also worked for the Planned Parenthood Federation of American (PPFA), tracking and researching state legislation on abortion and women’s health issues in the public policy/litigation and law departments.
Julie earned her JD from CUNY School of Law (2004), where she was the Symposium and Articles Editor for The New York City Law Review. She received her Masters in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from Pratt Institute (2008) and her BA in history from Reed College (1999).
Description
At Yale Law School, the Law Librarians take a holistic approach to providing legal research instruction. With that approach, we meet students where they are – academically and curricularly – through courses, reference consultations, guest lectures, and workshops. We provide elective research instruction in a variety of fora to meet the needs of our students. Our research courses are elective and are supplemented by workshops and guest lectures in clinical and doctrinal courses, and for student groups. Yale Law School students recognize the need for research instruction, and we have expanded our offerings to meet demand. The Law Library’s holistic and pedagogical approach to teaching legal research is, indeed, working well and as supported by course evaluations and enrollment data, students are responding positively. Students understand that research skills are fundamentally important for law school and prospective employment. Because Yale Law School lacks a required research course, the Law Librarians strive to meet the students’ demands to enroll in the elective courses and meet students at the point of their need for research instruction. As we work towards a required course at Yale Law School, we are mindful of meeting the needs of our students.
Research Instruction at Yale Law School
At Yale Law School, the Law Librarians take a holistic approach to providing legal research instruction. With that approach, we meet students where they are – academically and curricularly – through courses, reference consultations, guest lectures, and workshops. We provide elective research instruction in a variety of fora to meet the needs of our students. Our research courses are elective and are supplemented by workshops and guest lectures in clinical and doctrinal courses, and for student groups. Yale Law School students recognize the need for research instruction, and we have expanded our offerings to meet demand. The Law Library’s holistic and pedagogical approach to teaching legal research is, indeed, working well and as supported by course evaluations and enrollment data, students are responding positively. Students understand that research skills are fundamentally important for law school and prospective employment. Because Yale Law School lacks a required research course, the Law Librarians strive to meet the students’ demands to enroll in the elective courses and meet students at the point of their need for research instruction. As we work towards a required course at Yale Law School, we are mindful of meeting the needs of our students.