Mary Rumsey

The Skills They Need: International and Foreign Legal Research

Law schools should offer classes in international and foreign legal research (IFLR) because the increasing globalization of law practice requires new skills of lawyers. Moreover, internationalized law school programs and curricula, including human rights clinics, exchange programs, and transnational law courses, require complementary research skills. Currently, few schools offer a stand-alone IFLR class. This article describes an ideal IFLR class, which would cover public and private international law, foreign law, and selected topics, and provide students with basic IFLR skills. The author notes that librarians are best suited to teach such a class because of their extensive knowledge of IFLR resources and usage.

International and foreign legal research : a coursebook

This book is designed for use as a coursebook for classes in foreign and international legal research. However, librarians, students, law professors and other researchers can also use it as a research guide outside of formal classes. The order of chapters is one possible way to structure a class in international and foreign legal research, but it is by no means the only one or the best one. This book can also be used as a tool for quick look-ups when a researcher needs some direction on a topic or information on a source.

International and Foreign Legal Research

International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook, second edition by Hoffman and Rumsey, now in a second edition, is designed for classes in foreign and international legal research. Topics covered in the book range from treaty research to chapters on particular subjects of international law. Coverage also includes chapters on researching foreign and comparative law as well as major international organizations, including the UN and the EU.