Rated a MUST READ
(3 out of 3 'gavels') by
Legal Information Alert
Vol.16, No.7

"As a reference book or instructional text,
Unplugged promises to be a valuable addition to any lawyer's library."
Charles J. Condon
Computer Services Reference Librarian,
College of Law Library, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb

       After acknowledging the shortcomings of computer-assisted legal research (CALR) programs in law schools, this author goes to work to provide both novice and experienced users with a text and reference manual of considerable worth. Piacente offers a comprehensive, detailed text that can lead new users through the CALR process, while also serving as an authoritative reference source for anyone with a CALR question.

        Piacente begins with the problem. Most CALR instruction programs are brief instruction sessions, with students actually receiving only an hour or two of training. Of course, the result is that, in his terms, "law students inevitably develop inefficient and expensive research habits which serve them poorly once they become practitioners."

        To address this problem, Piacente has developed a text that guides users through both Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw with an eye toward efficiency. His approach is balanced, favoring neither system by pointing out useful features of each service. Computer-Assisted Legal Research Unplugged is filled with examples of how to use each system and is especially helpful since Piacente includes illustrations of actual screen displays so that users can readily follow the text while performing the research. However, the goal here is to produce efficient CALR researchers.

        To this end, Piacente emphasizes that time spent before logging on pays off in faster and more accurate results. In his third and fourth chapters, he outlines the importance of planning the research "off-line." These chapters contain handy suggestions for selecting the right approach to a legal research problem.

        Chapter 5 deals with the costs of CALR. In fact, his treatment of the cost issue should be particularly welcome news to those who pay the bills for on-line research. Piacente takes great care to analyze all the costs involved in the CALR process and includes actual charges for various features and functions of the two systems. This approach yields positive results because law students are rarely, if ever, reminded of the costs associated with CALR. In addition to the detailed breakdowns of costs in this chapter, Piacente includes a chart showing "Charges for Computer-Assisted Legal Research" as an appendix.

        This work also includes chapters on Boolean searching, segment and field searching, plain English and natural language searching, using the citators, and researching statutory authority. In each instance, a detailed table of contents guides users through the material. Thus, users can readily locate a discrete feature of either service and focus on the material using either the table of contents or the index. As a reference book or an instructional text, Unplugged promises to be a valuable addition to any lawyer's library.

        Overall, this text presents a positive step towards the goal of producing better trained and more efficient legal researchers. Piacente has utilized his considerable expertise and experience in legal research to produce a quality resource for anyone interested in becoming a better researcher.

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