From the Ground Up

West Librarian Relations Manager Erika Beck believes the time is ripe for curriculum reform.
by Jay Shuck

"If I were running things," says West Librarian Relations Manager Erika Beck, "I would make legal research a full-blown, full-credit course for all three years of law school. I would also love to see each doctrinal course have a research component. Alternatively, schools could build on the basic research courses and just make them more advanced every year."*

It's not surprising that Beck is passionate about law school curriculum reform. Formerly a tax attorney, law firm reference librarian, and academic law librarian (for nine years at Emory University School of Law), Beck has seen the challenges of current legal research training up close. "Law school has historically not done a very good job at preparing attorneys to do research, which is something all students will ultimately have to do," she says. "Many law librarians have been pushing for curriculum reform and we've made some baby steps, but it's a very conservative profession in terms of embracing change. I think it will happen eventually, but it won't be soon enough for many people." "I think there's a huge disconnect between the senior partners and the incoming associates," she says. They expect that everything is going to be fast, easy, and free. And the partners think that the associates can find everything in the most cost-efficient way. It's not the case at all."

As a Librarian Relations manager acting as liaison between West and law librarians in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, Beck believes she can be part of the solution. "I think we can work more closely with research and writing programs and in partnership with our academic representatives," she says. "We can get in front of curriculum committees and even deans to stress the fact that the world is changing in terms of what the research resources are and that those resources need to be incorporated throughout the law school experience."

She adds that collaboration between the academic and law firm spheres is essential. "I'm hoping there's a way to put people in the academic world together with people in the law firm world and have them communicate in a positive way," she says. "Unless you have support from the faculty, the deans, the ABA, and the community as a whole, nothing is ever going to change."

Armed with a master of laws degree in taxation from Emory University School of Law, Beck practiced tax law in New Orleans before working in a variety of positions in the information industry, including as an account executive at Prentice Hall and West, as owner of a research and library management services business, and as a law librarian at Emory University School of Law, where she was involved at many levels of legal research instruction.

Beck is currently working on a three-part series of librarian master classes that will be used for tax law research certification. "I'm hoping that the master class will look at the American legal system and show how and why tax is different," she says. "People want to know how to solve a problem in the world of tax without become overwhelmed by all the jargon. The Internal Revenue Code is very dense and there's a lot of intra-code cross-referencing. As soon people realize that there is a structure and everything fits into their regular research pattern, they can see where the different documents can be found."

Ultimately, Beck wants to see her fellow law librarians become more powerful in their organizations. "I even prefer to use the term empowering rather than teaching because I think that's really the end result that we're looking for—to empower," she says. "It's a very complicated world right now. I think it's important people feel confident that they're using the right tools."

* Beck's view has been expressed by many law librarians, including Mary Foote, who wrote—in 1917—that the law is "practically the only science which gives to its novice no training in the use of the tools which must furnish him his living." Mary S. Foote, The Need for College Instruction in the Use of Law Books, 10 LAW LIBR. J. 25, 28 (1917), quoted in Patrick Meyer, Law Firm Legal Research Requirements for New Attorneys, 101 LAW LIBR. J. 297, 298 (2009).