Biddleblog

In 1953, ALI-ABA, the continuing legal education program jointly run by the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, set out to develop a periodical that would impart knowledge to temper the day-to-day challenges of practicing law.  Unlike legal treatises and law reviews, which explored the theoretical underpinnings of the law, this journal aimed to provide articles, advice, and other newsworthy items that would help a lawyer make his way in the world.

This idea became a reality in January 1955 when ALI-ABA published the first issue of "The Practical Lawyer."  In the periodical's opening address to its readership, George Wharton Pepper (the organization's Council Chair and a past president of the American Law Institute, as well as a former Penn Law professor) characterized his ideal legal expert, one that "The Practical Lawyer" hoped to educate and cultivate as follows:

Somebody, with a flair for sarcasm, has defined a jurist as a man familiar with the laws of all countries except his own.  If there is an element of truth in this definition it is because the student of foreign law is apt to conceive of it as a field for intellectual exercise rather than as a body of principles and rules for guidance and control of every-day human life.  On the other hand, the lawyer in active practice knows that the law is something to do as well as something to know.  He is a fortunate man if he can maintain a just balance between these two aspects of his profession.

    
Lexis and Westlaw research terminals at the Biddle Law Library, 1984

Online legal research platforms have come a long way since the days of a dedicated Lexis or Westlaw terminal, and this month the Penn Law community has access to the newest development in online legal research, WestlawNext.

WestlawNext looks and performs very differently from classic Westlaw. Some examples of differences between these two research platforms are:

• Unlike classic Westlaw, WestlawNext does not require that you select a database before you begin your search.
• WestlawNext searches do not require boolean search operators. As a result, searching in WestlawNext is more similar to a natural language search in classic Westlaw.
• Printing from WestlawNext to the dedicated Westlaw printers in the law school is currently not supported. You must bring up a document in classic Westlaw to print from the Westlaw printers.
• WestlawNext offers the ability to annotate materials online, organize materials in folders, and send documents to your Kindle e-reader device.
• Not all content available in classic Westlaw is available to search on WestlawNext. If you are curious about whether a specific resource is available on WestlawNext, you can search for the title in the main search box, browse WestlawNext to locate your title, or ask a reference librarian for assistance. 

For more information on the differences between WestlawNext and classic Westlaw, consult Westlaw's own guide, Comparing Westlaw and WestlawNext. If you're interested in responses to WestlawNext, a roundup of reviews is available here.

Generally, users more familiar and comfortable with Google searching might prefer WestlawNext and researchers that like more control over their searches and results may prefer classic Westlaw. Knowing how to navigate both systems is essential, as legal practitioners may have access to only one (or none) of these systems in their practices. For assistance with WestlawNext, speak with a reference librarian or attend a WestlawNext training sessions provided by the law library early this spring semester (dates and times to be announced).

Many thanks to my colleague Jordon Steele and the Biddle Archives for locating excellent examples of Biddle Law Library's old Westlaw and Lexis terminals.

Penn Law and the community at large lost one of the singular figures in American legal education with the passing of Professor Clyde Summers who died on October 30, 2010. Summers was widely regarded as one of his generation’s leading authorities on labor law.  Professor Summers wrote over 125 articles on topics such as employee rights, unions, and comparative labor law.