introduction of legal case study

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Legal Research Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide to Brushing Up on Your Skills

Legal research is imperative to the practice of law. Depending on where you are in your legal career, there could be multiple reasons to brush up on the basics of legal research. You could be a: 

• Law student or recent graduate preparing for your career 
• Seasoned attorney aiming to brush up on the basics amidst ever-evolving legal research technology 
• Growing law firm preparing to train new attorneys or paralegals 

Regardless of which of these categories you align with most, reviewing the basics of legal research should become regular practice. After all, the importance of legal research cannot be overstated – pinpointing the best facts and knowledge for your case can make the difference between winning and losing.  

Use this article to review the basics and set yourself (and your firm) up for success. First, we’ll define legal research and its components. Then, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process for conducting superior legal research. Finally, we’ll close with recommendations for tools that can help you become both an accurate and efficient legal researcher – which ultimately equips you with a reputation for success in the courtroom.  

What is Legal Research?

Legal research is defined as the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. There are multiple reasons you might conduct legal research: 

• To find “good” case law that backs up your motion or brief  
• To provide legal counsel to clients  
• To provide a memo or brief for class (law students only)  
• To identify case law that refutes an opposing argument 
• To support the over-arching narrative of your case 

What is the Importance of Legal Research?

Legal research provides support for decision-making on complex issues, by providing specific facts and legal precedent that allow you to produce complete answers for clients. Quality legal research is critical to the practice of law.

Historically, attorneys combed through books and libraries for the perfect facts, cases, and issues; now, technology has largely replaced this process. While the prominence of ever-evolving technology has made the process more efficient (and, in many ways, easier), the sheer number of products and options available can be overwhelming.  

The Legal Research Process

Understanding that the legal research process can be overwhelming and time-consuming, we’ve broken the legal research process down into three key steps: 

• Understand the facts of your case 
• Gather sources of law 
• Check your citations for “good” law 

Each of these steps is detailed below, alongside a quick-view checklist.  

Step 1: Record the Facts of Your Case and Create a Research Plan  

Handling a legal task with authority requires confidence in the process. This is true in any practice, jurisdictional setting, or level of legal expertise. A good process should start by taking time to identify and understand the facts of your case. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• What is the legal issue at hand?  
• What are the details of the case?  
• What jurisdiction is most relevant?  
• Do you need state or federal case law? 

Record your facts in a case management tool before beginning – this can help you develop a course of action and narrow down where to start your research. While it may be tempting to skip this step, a commitment to this process saves you time in the long run by helping you efficiently juggle multiple clients. Not to mention, you will likely need what you’ve recorded to file a motion or brief. 

With the facts of the case recorded, you can begin your research. Because this will help you develop a plan for gathering your sources, we will briefly discuss creating a research plan before moving on to Step 2.  

Did you know? LexisNexis boasts a collection of state case law superior to its leading competitors. Easily filter by jurisdiction before or after your search.  

Creating a Research Plan  

Review the facts you recorded to determine what information you will need to build your case. When legal research first moved online, many attorneys felt the need to start with a free service like Google to identify terms of art before conducting a search in a legal research platform. However, this is no longer necessary. Research platforms like Lexis+ allow you to start your search with a natural language search or question and equip you to quickly comb both primary and secondary sources. Litigators, specifically, can use Fact and Issue Finder – integrated directly with Lexis+ – to help quickly identify the best terms of art for their search.  

Creating your research plan is less about planning where you will search and more about planning what you will search. You know your research can be conducted on one, fully integrated platform. So, what questions will you ask to get started? What legal issues do you need more information about? What filters will you need (jurisdiction, time period, etc.)?  

Once you know what you will search for, you are ready to gather sources.  

Step 2: Gather Sources of Law  

The next step in your process is to gather relevant sources of law. Below, we detail the difference between primary law and secondary law. Importantly, when gathering sources, start with secondary law materials. This helps ensure you are up-to-speed on what experts have to say about a topic before you begin your case law search. Why does this matter? Think about it as building your knowledge base before crafting an argument – you’ll be less likely to make mistakes and more inclined to spot case-winning primary law.  

What are Secondary Sources of Law?  

Secondary legal sources are materials that describe or interpret the law. They are educational resources that provide analysis of the law. These documents are cited by attorneys to persuade a court to reach a particular decision in a case, but which the court is not obligated to follow. Start with secondary sources to learn from legal experts that have already explored a given topic.  

Secondary sources may include: 

• Practice guides 
• Legal treatises 
• Law review articles 
• Scholarly journals 
• Legal news 
• Jury instructions 
• Legal dictionaries and encyclopedias 

What are Primary Sources of Law?  

A primary legal source is a formal document officially issued by the government that establishes the law on a particular matter, such as a case decision or legislative act. Primary sources are the law. This is the most authoritative step in the legal research process. You can support arguments with primary sources as they are not only authoritative, but precedential and controlling.  

Your primary sources may include: 

• Case law (federal and/or state) 
• Orders 
• Decisions 
• Statutes and regulations 
• Constitutions  
• Treatises 

Step 3: Check to See If You’re Using Good Law   

The final step in your research process should include a final check to ensure you have used “good” law – this means you are using case law that has been treated positively in court (as opposed to case law that has been overturned or brought into question). 

Check your case citations as you collect them, especially since legal research software can allow a quick view of how your case has been treated in court directly from your search results. However, it is best practice to review your citations once your research process is complete to check for any gaps, changes, or oversights.  

Read more about using good law and the process of " Shepardizing ."

Conduct Winning Legal Research  

Following this three-step process ensures you’re taking the right measures to find the most accurate, relevant and valuable data to achieve your objectives. Now that you’re ready to conduct winning legal research, take some time to review products and tools that can help you in your path to success.  

Getting Started with Legal Research Tools   

Legal research is key to drafting effective documents and building winning cases. Legal research solutions have evolved substantially – helping you conduct legal research with increased efficiency and accuracy . Below is a list of legal research tools to help you build a winning case:  

• Lexis +:  This is the premier LexisNexis fully integrated legal research platform. Features such as Shepard's At Risk ensures you’re citing only the most authoritative sources, with unprecedented visibility into whether a case is at risk of being overruled or undermined. Other Lexis+ features include, but aren’t limited to: 
• Brief Analysis: Get a clear picture of the contents of your legal brief to identify any missteps and bolster your arguments against opposing counsel. Simply upload and file and quickly evaluate the legal authority cited in your (or an opposing) brief in granular detail and receive recommendations for additional searches.  
• Litigation Analytics: Get the most accurate insights into judges, courts, attorneys, and law firms to ensure your success in litigation. Understand critical insights regarding caseloads, experience across case types, timing to key milestones, and damages by comparing federal districts and judges. 
• Shepard's ® Citations Service:  See if a case has been overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases, or is at risk of negative treatment. Your research needs to provide precedential value. Using reversed or overruled authority doesn't qualify as "Good Law" and your research may be ineffectual or harmful to your case.  
• Practical Guidance: View professional insights on 20 different practice areas. Accomplish any task with practice notes, annotated templates, and checklists.  
• Legal News Hub: Receive up-to-the-minute, award-winning journalism and legal news from Law360 and Law360 Pulse anytime you need it — without having to leave the Lexis+ ecosystem. Stay current on critical developments across legal practice areas, with over 70 coverage areas spanning the practice and business of law. 

LexisNexis is here to support your firm in winning your next case. With Lexis+, all of your legal research needs are integrated into one platform as a true start-to-finish solution. Ready to learn more? Take a guided tour of Lexis+ today. 

Buy Now    Free Lexis+ Access

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Library electronic resources outage May 29th and 30th

Between 9:00 PM EST on Saturday, May 29th and 9:00 PM EST on Sunday, May 30th users will not be able to access resources through the Law Library’s Catalog, the Law Library’s Database List, the Law Library’s Frequently Used Databases List, or the Law Library’s Research Guides. Users can still access databases that require an individual user account (ex. Westlaw, LexisNexis, and Bloomberg Law), or databases listed on the Main Library’s A-Z Database List.

• Georgetown Law Library
• Research Process

Case Law Research Guide

Introduction.

• Print Case Reporters
• Online Resources for Cases
• Finding Cases: Digests, Headnotes, and Key Numbers
• Finding Cases: Terms & Connectors Searching

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Every law student and practicing attorney must be able to find, read, analyze, and interpret case law. Under the common law principles of stare decisis, a court must follow the decisions in previous cases on the same legal topic. Therefore, finding cases is essential to finding out what the law is on a particular issue.

This guide will show you how to read a case citation and will set out the sources, both print and online, for finding cases. This guide also covers how to use digests, headnotes, and key numbers to find case law, as well as how to find cases through terms and connectors searching.

To find cases using secondary sources, such as legal encyclopedias or legal treatises, see our Secondary Sources Research Guide . For additional strategies to find cases, like using statutory annotations or citators, see our  Case Law Research Tutorial . Our tutorial also covers how to update cases using citators (Lexis’ Shepard’s tool and Westlaw’s KeyCite).

Basic Case Citation

A case citation is a reference to where a case (also called a  decision  or an  opinion  ) is printed in a book. The citation can also be used to retrieve cases from  Westlaw  and  Lexis . A case citation consists of a volume number, an abbreviation of the title of the book or other item, and a page number.  

The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case. You should review the rest of this section on citing cases (and the relevant rules in  The Bluebook ) before trying to format a case citation for the first time. See our Bluebook Guide for more information.

The basic format of a case citation is as follows:

Parallel Citations

When the same case is printed in different books, citations to more than one book may be given. These additional citations are known as  parallel citations .

Example: 265 U.S. 274, 68 L. Ed. 1016, 44 S. Ct. 565.

This means that the case you would find at page 565 of volume 44 of the  Supreme Court Reporter  (published by West) will be the same case you find on page 1016 of volume 68 of  Lawyers' Edition  (published by Lexis), and both will be the same as the opinion you find in the official government version,  United States Reports . Although the text of the opinion will be identical, the added editorial material will differ with each publisher.

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Updated 10/22 (MK) Links 07/2023 (VL) Revised 07/2024 (JAS)

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• © Georgetown University Law Library. These guides may be used for educational purposes, as long as proper credit is given. These guides may not be sold. Any comments, suggestions, or requests to republish or adapt a guide should be submitted using the Research Guides Comments form . Proper credit includes the statement: Written by, or adapted from, Georgetown Law Library (current as of .....).
• Last Updated: Aug 2, 2024 9:02 AM
• URL: https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/cases

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Legal Research: A Guide to Case Law

Introduction.

• Federal Court Decisions
• State Court Decisions
• Decisions by Topic (Digests)
• Databases and Online Resources
• Dockets and Court Filings

Law Library : Ask a Librarian

Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.

Authors: Emily Carr, Senior Legal Reference Librarian, Law Library of Congress

Elizabeth Osborne, Senior Legal Reference Librarian, Law Library of Congress

Editors: Barbara Bavis, Bibliographic and Research Instruction Librarian, Law Library of Congress

Anna Price, Legal Reference Librarian, Law Library of Congress

Note: This guide is adapted from a research guide originally published on the Law Library's website .

Created: September 9, 2019

Last Updated: February 1, 2023

Each branch of government produces a different type of law. Case law is the body of law developed from judicial opinions or decisions over time (whereas statutory law comes from legislative bodies and administrative law comes from executive bodies). This guide introduces beginner legal researchers to resources for finding judicial decisions in case law resources. Coverage includes brief explanations of the court systems in the United States; federal and state case law reporters; basic Bluebook citation style for court decisions; digests; and online access to court decisions.

Court Systems and Decisions

The United States has parallel court systems, one at the federal level, and another at the state level. Both systems are divided into trial courts and appellate courts. Generally, trial courts determine the relevant facts of a dispute and apply law to these facts, while appellate courts review trial court decisions to ensure the law was applied correctly.

Stare Decisis (Precedent)

In Latin, stare decisis means "to stand by things decided." In the U.S. legal system, this Latin phrase represents the "doctrine of precedent, under which a court must follow earlier decisions when the same points arise again in litigation." ( Black's Law Dictionary , 11th ed.) Typically, a court will deviate from precedent only if there is a compelling reason. Under "vertical" stare decisis , the decisions of the highest court in a jurisdiction create mandatory precedent that must be followed by lower courts in that jurisdiction. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court creates binding precedent that all other federal courts must follow (and that all state courts must follow on questions of constitutional interpretation). Similarly, the highest court in a state creates mandatory precedent for the lower state courts below it. Intermediate appellate courts (such as the federal circuit courts of appeal) create mandatory precedent for the courts below them. A related concept is "horizontal" stare decisis , whereby a court applies its own prior decisions to similar facts before it in the future.

Case Law Reporters

Decisions are published in serial print publications called “reporters,” and are also published electronically. Reporters are discussed in greater detail under " Federal Court Decisions " and " State Court Decisions ." Information about how to cite decisions in a reporter is discussed under " Citations ."

• Next: Federal Court Decisions >>
• Last Updated: Mar 29, 2023 2:13 PM
• URL: https://guides.loc.gov/case-law

Understanding Legal Case Studies: An In-Depth Analysis of Real-Life Legal Scenarios

Hello and welcome! Today, we will delve into the fascinating world of legal case studies. Through an in-depth analysis of real-life legal scenarios, we will explore the intricacies of the law and gain a better understanding of how it applies in different situations. So, let’s jump right in and explore this exciting topic!

Understanding Legal Case Studies:

1. What are Legal Case Studies? Legal case studies are detailed examinations of real legal cases that have been heard in courts across the United States. These studies provide a comprehensive analysis of the facts, legal issues, arguments presented by both parties, and the final decisions reached by the courts.

2. Purpose of Legal Case Studies: The primary purpose of legal case studies is to educate and inform individuals about the law by illustrating how it is applied in real-life situations. By studying these cases, individuals can gain insights into legal principles, reasoning, and how courts interpret and apply laws.

3. Types of Legal Case Studies: Legal case studies cover a wide range of legal areas, including criminal law, civil law, constitutional law, administrative law, and more. Each case study focuses on a specific legal issue and provides a detailed examination of the facts, legal arguments, and outcomes.

4. Key Components of Legal Case Studies: a. Facts: Case studies present a detailed account of the events that led to the legal dispute.

b. Legal Issues: These studies highlight the specific legal questions or controversies that arose in the case.

c. Arguments: Both parties present their arguments and legal reasoning to support their positions.

d. Precedents: Case studies often reference previous court decisions (precedents) that may have bearing on the current case.

e. Court Decision: The case study provides an analysis of the court’s final decision and its reasoning.

5. Benefits of Studying Legal Case Studies: Studying legal case studies can be beneficial for various individuals, including law students, legal professionals, and curious individuals interested in understanding the law. By examining these cases, one can develop critical thinking skills, improve legal analysis, and gain a deeper understanding of the legal system.

6. Ethical Considerations: When studying legal case studies, it is essential to approach them with an open mind and respect for the parties involved. Remember that these cases involve real people and real legal disputes that have had significant impacts on their lives. It is crucial to maintain privacy and confidentiality while discussing and analyzing these cases.

In conclusion, legal case studies provide a valuable tool for understanding the law and its application in real-life situations. By examining the facts, legal issues, arguments, and court decisions of these cases, individuals can develop a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the legal system. So, let’s embark on this journey together and explore the fascinating world of legal case studies!

Understanding the Practical Application of Case Studies in Real Life Scenarios

In the realm of law, case studies play a crucial role in understanding and analyzing legal scenarios. A case study is a detailed examination of a particular legal case or situation, which serves as a valuable tool for lawyers, law students, and anyone interested in understanding the practical application of law in real life.

1. Detailed Analysis: Case studies provide a comprehensive analysis of legal issues, facts, parties involved, and the reasoning behind court decisions. These studies offer a deeper understanding of the complexities and intricacies of legal cases by breaking them down into distinct elements.

2. Real-Life Scenarios: Case studies simulate real-life situations that legal professionals encounter in their practice. They present actual legal disputes that have been resolved by courts or settled through negotiations. This allows for a direct application of legal principles to real-world scenarios.

3. Legal Principles and Precedents: Case studies delve into the legal principles and precedents that have shaped the outcome of a particular case. By examining previous court decisions and legal doctrines, case studies help lawyers develop a deep understanding of the principles that guide the law.

4. Learning from Precedents: Precedent is a fundamental concept in the legal system, referring to previous court decisions that serve as binding authority for future cases. Case studies provide an opportunity to study and analyze precedents, allowing legal professionals to understand how courts have interpreted and applied the law in similar situations.

5. Problem-Solving Skills: Studying case studies enhances problem-solving skills by presenting complex legal issues that require critical thinking and analysis. Lawyers must identify relevant facts, assess legal arguments, and propose effective strategies to resolve the case. Case studies offer valuable practice in honing these skills.

6. Ethical Considerations: Case studies often explore ethical dilemmas faced by legal professionals. By examining the ethical implications of legal decisions and actions, case studies promote ethical awareness and encourage lawyers to make informed and morally sound choices in their practice.

7. Practical Application: Understanding legal case studies is essential for effectively applying legal concepts in real-life scenarios. By studying how the law has been applied in similar situations, lawyers can draw upon that knowledge to advocate for their clients, negotiate settlements, or develop strategies to prevent potential legal disputes.

In conclusion, grasping the significance of legal case studies is crucial for anyone involved in the legal field. They provide a detailed analysis of real-life legal scenarios, allowing for a deeper understanding of legal principles, precedents, and problem-solving skills. By immersing oneself in case studies, one can gain valuable insights into the practical application of law in various situations.

Analyzing a Legal Case Study: Key Steps and Considerations

Legal case studies are an essential tool used by legal professionals to analyze and understand real-life legal scenarios. These studies offer a detailed examination of the facts, the legal issues involved, and the outcome of a particular case. An in-depth analysis of a legal case study can provide valuable insights and guidance for both attorneys and potential clients.

It is important to approach the analysis of a legal case study in a systematic and methodical manner. The following steps and considerations should be taken into account when analyzing a legal case study:

• 1. Identify the Relevant Legal Issues: The first step in analyzing a legal case study is to identify the specific legal issues that arise from the facts of the case. These issues may include matters such as contract disputes, negligence claims, criminal charges, or constitutional questions. Clearly identifying the legal issues at hand will help focus the analysis and determine which areas of law are applicable.
• 2. Review the Facts: Carefully reviewing and understanding the facts of the case is crucial to conducting a comprehensive analysis. This involves examining the events leading up to the legal dispute, the actions of the parties involved, and any relevant documentation or evidence. The facts will serve as the foundation for applying legal principles and determining the strengths and weaknesses of each party’s position.
• 3. Research Applicable Laws: Once the legal issues and facts have been identified, it is important to research and understand the relevant laws that apply to the case. This involves reviewing statutes, regulations, case precedents, and legal doctrines that pertain to the specific areas of law involved. A thorough understanding of the applicable laws will provide a basis for evaluating the strength of each party’s arguments.
• 4. Analyze Precedent Cases: Examining relevant precedent cases can provide valuable guidance and insights when analyzing a legal case study. Precedent cases are court decisions that have addressed similar legal issues in the past and have established legal principles or guidelines. They can help predict how a court might rule in a similar situation, and assist in crafting persuasive arguments.
• 5. Evaluate Legal Arguments: After conducting thorough research and analysis, it is important to evaluate the strength of each party’s legal arguments. This involves assessing the credibility and relevance of the evidence presented, identifying any weaknesses or inconsistencies, and weighing the potential impact of legal precedents. Evaluating legal arguments requires careful reasoning and the consideration of various perspectives.
• 6. Consider Potential Outcomes: When analyzing a legal case study, it is important to consider the potential outcomes or consequences of different legal arguments. This involves assessing the likelihood of success for each party, considering the potential remedies or damages that may be awarded, and evaluating the impact on future legal precedents. Considering potential outcomes helps inform strategic decision-making and assists in determining the best course of action.
• 7. Seek Legal Advice: While analyzing a legal case study can provide valuable insights and guidance, it is important to consult with a qualified attorney for professional advice. A knowledgeable attorney can provide a deeper understanding of the legal issues involved, offer strategic advice, and help navigate the complexities of the legal system.

Analyzing a legal case study requires careful attention to detail, thorough research, and critical thinking. By following these key steps and considerations, one can gain a deeper understanding of real-life legal scenarios and make informed decisions based on sound legal principles.

Understanding the Mechanics of an In-Depth Case Study

In the world of law, legal case studies play a vital role in understanding the intricacies of real-life legal scenarios. These studies provide a comprehensive analysis of the mechanics involved in the resolution of complex legal disputes. Whether you are a law student, a legal professional, or simply interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the legal system, delving into the details of case studies can be an enlightening and educational experience.

What is a Legal Case Study?

A legal case study refers to an in-depth examination of a specific legal dispute, typically based on real-life scenarios. These studies aim to provide a detailed analysis of the legal issues at hand, the parties involved, the relevant laws and regulations, and ultimately, the outcome of the case. By dissecting the facts and circumstances of a case, legal case studies offer valuable insights into the application and interpretation of the law.

Why Study Legal Case Studies?

1. Learning from Precedents: Legal case studies help us understand how courts have interpreted and applied the law in previous cases. By analyzing past precedents, we can gain a better understanding of how legal principles are established and how they evolve over time.

2. Developing Analytical Skills: Studying legal case studies hones our ability to analyze complex situations, identify key legal issues, and evaluate different arguments. This analytical skillset is crucial for any legal professional, as it enables them to effectively navigate through complicated legal disputes.

3. Gaining Practical Knowledge: Case studies allow us to see how legal theories and concepts are put into practice. By examining the strategies and tactics employed by attorneys in real-life cases, we can gain practical knowledge that may prove valuable in our own legal endeavors.

4. Understanding Legal Processes: Legal case studies provide a behind-the-scenes look at the legal process. From the initial filing of a complaint to the final resolution of a case, these studies shed light on the various stages and procedures involved in legal proceedings.

The Mechanics of an In-Depth Case Study

When conducting an in-depth case study, several key components should be considered:

1. Factual Background: A thorough understanding of the facts surrounding the case is essential. This includes information about the parties involved, their relationships, and the events leading up to the legal dispute.

2. Legal Issues: Identifying the central legal issues is crucial. This involves analyzing the applicable laws and regulations and determining how they relate to the facts of the case.

3. Legal Analysis: A comprehensive legal analysis involves examining and interpreting relevant statutes, regulations, and precedents. This step helps establish the legal framework within which the case will be evaluated.

4. Arguments and Counterarguments: A critical aspect of an in-depth case study is evaluating the arguments put forth by each party. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these arguments allows for a more objective assessment of the case.

5. Outcome and Implications: Finally, analyzing the outcome of the case and its potential implications is essential. This includes considering the impact on future legal disputes and potential changes to existing laws or regulations.

As a seasoned attorney in the United States, I understand the value of staying up-to-date with legal case studies. Legal case studies provide an in-depth analysis of real-life legal scenarios, allowing attorneys and legal professionals to deepen their understanding of various areas of law and refine their legal strategies. In this article, I will reflect on the importance of staying informed about legal case studies and offer some suggestions on how to effectively utilize this valuable resource.

Legal case studies offer a unique opportunity to examine the application of law in real-world situations. They provide detailed accounts of actual legal disputes, including the facts, legal issues, arguments presented by both parties, and the final outcome. By studying these cases, attorneys can gain insights into the intricacies of legal reasoning and decision-making by judges and juries.

One of the key benefits of understanding legal case studies is the ability to learn from the successes and failures of others. By examining past cases, attorneys can identify effective legal strategies that have proven successful in similar situations. This knowledge can be applied to future cases, allowing attorneys to advocate more effectively for their clients and increase their chances of achieving a favorable outcome.

Furthermore, legal case studies serve as a valuable source of precedent. The decisions made in previous cases, especially those by higher courts, often establish legal principles that guide future rulings. By familiarizing themselves with relevant case law, attorneys can provide informed advice to their clients and craft persuasive arguments based on established legal principles.

Staying up-to-date on legal case studies is essential for any attorney seeking to provide high-quality legal representation. Here are some suggestions on how to effectively utilize this valuable resource:

1. Read Legal Journals and Publications: Legal journals and publications often publish analyses of significant legal cases. These articles provide expert insights and interpretation of the key issues and implications of the cases. Subscribing to reputable legal publications can ensure that you receive regular updates on new and noteworthy case studies.

2. Attend Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Programs: CLE programs are designed to help attorneys stay current with legal developments. Many CLE programs include sessions dedicated to analyzing recent case studies and their impact on specific areas of law. Attending these programs can provide valuable insights and allow for networking with other legal professionals.

3. Join Professional Associations: Professional associations, such as bar associations and specialized legal organizations, often offer resources and opportunities for attorneys to engage in case study discussions with peers. These associations may provide access to exclusive databases or discussion forums where attorneys can exchange ideas and insights on recent legal cases.

4. Utilize Online Legal Research Platforms: Online legal research platforms, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw, provide comprehensive databases of legal cases. These platforms allow attorneys to search for relevant case studies, filter results based on specific criteria, and access additional resources such as court opinions and secondary legal materials.

While legal case studies are an invaluable resource, it is important to exercise caution and verify the content presented. Not all sources may be reliable or accurately reflect the current state of the law. Attorneys should always cross-reference multiple sources and consult primary legal authorities to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information they rely upon.

In conclusion, staying informed about legal case studies is crucial for attorneys looking to expand their knowledge and refine their legal strategies. By studying real-life legal scenarios, attorneys can learn from the successes and failures of others, understand legal reasoning, identify effective strategies, and establish a solid foundation of case law precedent. By utilizing various resources such as legal publications, CLE programs, professional associations, and online research platforms, attorneys can stay up-to-date with the latest legal case studies and provide exceptional legal representation to their clients.

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Introduction to Legal Research

Introduction

• Legislative Branch (statutory law)

The Judicial Process

Federal court system, finding a case, finding a case: annotated codes, finding a case: digests, find a case: legal encyclopedias, additional places to access federal case law, case reporters, reading a case citation, additional guides.

• Executive Branch (administrative law)
• Secondary Sources
• Georgia Law

Case Law and Its Authority

Case law is the collection of reported cases that form the body of law withing a given jurisdiction.  It is based upon judicial opinions by various courts, which may set future precedent.

Courts in the United States adhere to stare decisis , which generally means that courts respect and adhere to the precedent of previous decisions.  However, a court does not have to stand by a decision that is not binding precedent.  Generally courts will follow the decisions of higher courts in their jurisdiction.  Therefore the effect of a court's decision on other courts will depend both on the level of the court and its jurisdiction.  A decision by the United States Supreme Court is binding precedent in all courts. 

A decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit would not be binding on the United States Supreme Court or courts from another circuit.  However, it would be binding in all lower courts of the 11th Circuit.

Publication of Case Law

Not all case law is published.  Generally, appellate court decisions that will be used as future precedent are published (reported) in sources (case reporters) specific to that court.  Attorneys use published case law as a means to interpret the law.  For these reasons, few trial court decisions are published in case reporters.

A case starts at the trial court level, which could either be a trial by judge or trial by jury.  Generally, evidence and witnesses are presented at the trial court level.

An appellate court will hear appeals from parties seeking to change the result of the case heard at the trial court.  An appellate court will not answer questions of fact, meaning they will not review the evidence in a case.  Instead, the appellate court rules on questions of law, which means it considers legal issues.  

Because of the parallel system between state courts and federal courts, researching case law can be difficult and complex.  A researcher will often need to determine if their issue is one that is inherently federal or state.  Even then, some issues can overlap each other and require a state and federal analysis. 

The federal court system is made up of the following courts, excluding the specialized courts: 

The following link provides a map and additional information on the 11 circuits, the federal circuit, and the Supreme Court.

A researcher will not always have a case citation when they begin their research.  Often times a researcher will have an issue or topic that are looking for case law on.  Without a case citation, a researcher would have a daunting challenge trying to go straight to a case reporter and locate a case on their topic.  However, there are several avenues that a researcher can go down if they do not have a citation for a case.

Here are a few suggestions when looking for case law without a citation:

• Annotated Codes (statutes): annotated codes such as the United States Code Annotated (West) or the United States Code Service (LexisNexis) provide researchers with citations to case law. 
• Digests: provide an indexing function for cases in the National Reporter system.  
• Legal Encylopedias: cover a wide range of topics that are arranged alphabetically.  Many of the topics include footnotes with citations to relevant case law.     
• LexisNexis Academic: research system that allows users to search for cases by party name, case citation, or by keyword searches. 

Each of these methods are described in more detail in the boxes that follow.

Annotated codes produced by West and LexisNexis are a great way to find cases on a particular topic.  As mentioned on the Legislative tab , not every law is statutory law, therefore this would not be a good place to find cases where the underlying law is not rooted in statutory law.  However, for issues that do invoke statutory law, the annotated codes are an efficient way to find cases that have cited that particular statute.

Both the United States Code Annotated and the United States Code Service provide case citations after the text of the statute.  The cases will be grouped together by topic and they will often include a short summary.  This provides the researcher with an easier method of locating case law that deals with their particular issue.

For more information on finding a statute in an annotated code, please refer back to the  Legislative tab .  

West's Digests provide an indexing function for the cases in the National Reporter System.  The digests allow researchers to locate cases by subject from any jurisdiction.  In addition, the digests provide an abstracting function, giving researchers short summaries of the points of law discussed in the indexed opinions.  This enables researchers to determine if a case would be worth further exploring without having to read the entire case.   

The Digest System sub-divides the law into over 450 Topics , which are broad legal issues, and then further sub-divided into Key Numbers , which are assigned to specific legal issues within the broader issue.  Topics and Key Numbers are consistent throughout West's System - the same subject arrangement is applied to all cases from every jurisdiction, so that if you find a case from one jurisdiction that discusses a legal issue you are researching, you can use the topic and key number for that isssue to find other cases from other jurisdictions that discuss the same issue.  Remember that you need to know both the topic AND the key number to search the digests.

Currently, the GSU College of Law Library has West's Federal Practice Digest in its collection.  There are two ways that one can search the federal practice digest:

• Table of Cases:   The table of cases lists all of the cases indexed in the digest in alphabetical order.  In addition to the case name and citation, the table of cases also provides the Topics and Key Numbers that apply to that particular case.  This is a great way for a researcher to find the citation for their case if they have the name of the case.  Additionally, this is also a great way to see all of the Topics and Key Numbers that apply to a particular case.  This may lead to futher investigation of those Topics and Key Numbers, which could produce additional cases on the issue for the researcher.
• Desciptive Word Index: The descriptive word index allows researchers to search by topics and subtopics.  A researcher may start with a broad topic and then narrow down the topic to a subtopic.  A subtopic will either provide the appropriate Topic and Key Number where one can find that topic, or it will refer the researcher to another topic.  The index also includes a table at the beginning which lists the topics in order and their abbreviations used in the index.

Here is the typical process of using the descriptive word index to find a case along with an example: 

• A user who is doing research on "abduction" would first go to the Descriptive Word Index. The index is usually several volumes of the digest, generally located near the end of the set of books. Looking under "abduction," one would find several subtopics. If one was only concerned with the criminal liability involved in abduction, they they would look at "CRIMINAL liability" under the term "ABDUCTION." Criminal liability provides the user with the Topic and Key Number Crim Law 45.10 .
• The front of each index provides the researcher with a list of digest topics and what the abbreviations mean.  In the case of our example, Crim Law would mean topic Criminal Law.  Topics are in order alphabetically in the digest.  Therefore, to locate Criminal Law, one would need to just look on the spine of the book until the come to the appropriate volume.  
• Once at the appropriate volume and topic, the researcher can flip to Key Number 45.10.  Key numbers will be in chronological order in each topic.  Once at the correct key number, the researcher will see lists of cases with ciatations and short summaries of those cases.  If the case appears to be on point with what the researcher is looking for, then they can take down the case citation and retrieve that case from the appropriate reporter.

Legal encyclopedias are another great way to find case citations on topics.  Generally, a legal encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically by topic, which are further divded into more detailed subtopics.  Legal encyclopedias provide broad coverage of American state and federal law, including excerpts from judicial decisions and statutes.

For researching federal law, the two most popluar legal encyclopedias are American Jurisprudence (AmJur) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS).  Both of these publications provide researchers with a summary of the state of the law along with references to West's Topic and Key Numbers. 

Methods for Searching

Researchers can search for their issue in AmJur and CJS using the General Index.  Similiar to other indexes, the General Index is organized alphabetically by topic, with each topic divided into subtopics.  Citations are provided in Topic and Section format.  An abbreviations table is provided at the front of each volume of the general index to aid researchers in identifying topic names in the index.  Similiar to digets, once a researcher has the topic name and section number for their specific subtopic, they can browse the spine of the books and look for the topic name.  Once at the correct topic name, they can then look for the appropriate section number.  Sections are listed in chronological order. 

In addition to the General Index, AmJur also includes a volume entitled "Table of Laws and Rules."  This volume has several tables which provide cross references from United States Code Annotated sections and Code of Federal Regulations sections to topics and sections in AmJur.  This enables researchers to find articles citing those particular laws and regulations, which could lead to further case citations. 

Printed Reporters and LexisNexis Academic are not the only places researchers can access case law.  Many websites are devoted to providing free access to case law.  Although not comprehensive, many of these websites do offer a good amount of case law if someone knows what they are looking for.  

• Justia Justia provides legal information on numerous legal topics and jurisdictions, including federal and state case law.
• Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law The "Federal Law" section provides users with links to all of the Federal Courts' pages which provide court decisions. Although not comprehensive, many of these pages do provide case law from at least the mid-1990's. This is a good source of free case law.
• Oyez The Oyez Project is a multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work. It aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. The Project also provides authoritative information on all justices and offers a virtual reality 'tour' of portions of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of some of the justices.
• FindLaw Contains links for both state and federal cases. Opinions are categorized by jurisdiction.

Cases are published in chronological order in books called reporters .  Below is a list of the reporters for the three levels of federal courts:

Some reporters only include cases from a specific court.  For example, the United States Reports only publishes opinions from the Supreme Court of the United States.  On the other hand, some reporters includes cases from courts within a specific geographical region, also known as regional reporters.  For example, the South Eastern Reporter publishes reported cases from the southeastern United States, such as Georgia and North Carolina.  Moreover, some reporters only publish cases on a specific topic, such as bankruptcy or tax. 

In addition to these designations, reporters are also classified as official or unofficial reporters.  An official reporter simply means that it is the publication designated by statute or court order as official.  Generally it will contain only the text of the opinion.  A case published in an unofficial reporter will include the same text of the same case from the official reporter, but it will also include headnotes, topics, key numbers, and other aids to assist researchers.

Parallel Citations

As mentioned above, a case can be published in an official reporter and an unofficial reporter.  For that reason, a single case may have 2 or more citations.  When a case has more than one citation, the subsequent citations are known as parallell citations.  A classic example of this is Bush v. Gore , 531 U.S. 98, 121 S. Ct. 525, 148 L. Ed. 2d 388 (2000).

As one can see, not only is Bush v. Gore cited in the official reporter ( United States Reports ), but also in two unofficial reporters ( Supreme Court Reporter and Lawyer's Edition . 

Case citations allow a researcher to find a case quickly and easily.  Similiar to statutory citations, all case citations follow the same structured format.  This enables researchers to clearly identify the parts of a citation and where to locate the case.

Here is a breakdown of the citation for Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

From this, a researcher can determine that the case Roe v. Wade is located in United States Reports , Volume 410, Page 113.

The process is the same with parallel citations.  So if we use the previous example of Bush v. Gore , 531 U.S. 98, 121 S. Ct. 525, 148 L. Ed. 2d 388 (2000), the breakdown would look something like this:

Thus, a researcher would be able to either of these 3 reporters and find the same case using that reporter's volume and page numbers.  

Pinpoint Cite

A researcher may also come across a citation that includes an additional number after the page number.  This additional number, numbers or range of numbers are called pinpoint cites.  Cases and articles will often use these to refer researchers to exactly where the thought arose from.  Here is an example using  Bush v. Gore , 531 U.S. 98 (2000).

Federal Reporter Citation

Cases cited to Federal Reporter will have an extra element in the citation to identify the court.  Unlike the United States Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, and Lawyer's Edition, which only publishes cases from the Supreme Court of the United States, the Federal Reporter publishes cases from several different courts.  Therefore, cases published in these reporters include an element in the parentheses to identify the court that rendered the decision. 

Here is an example using United States v. MacDonald , 531 F.2d 196 (4th Cir. 1976).

In this case, the deciding court is 4th Cir. which means United States Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit.

Each circuit court will have its own abbreviation which will help the researcher identify the court that rendered the decision.  This is important for researchers because they might only want to find cases from their jurisdiction.  

Here is a table circuits and their abbreviations used in case citations for the United States Court of Appeals:

Federal Supplement Citation

Similar to the Federal Reporter , cases cited to the Federal Supplemen t will also include an extra element in the citation.  Cases cited to the Federal Supplement are United States District Court decisions.  Therefore, an extra element will be included in these citations so that a researcher can determine which court rendered the decision.  

Here is an example using Jenkins v. Byrd , 103 F. Supp. 2d 1350 (S.D. Ga. 2000).

In this case, the deciding court was the S.D. Ga, which means the United States District Court,Southern District of Georgia.

Because there could be several United States District Courts inside one state, a researcher unfamiliar with a state may need to look up the court abbreviation to determine which court is referenced in the citation.  

Here is a brief list of some abbreviations for United States District Courts that might be most useful for researchers in Georgia: 

For additional district court abbreviations, please refer to George Butterfield's libguide titled Legal Abbreviations.  

Here are some research guides created by other law schools that might be helpful in explaining how to conduct case law legal research.

• Boston University School of Law Federal Case Law Research
• Georgetown University Law Center Case Law Research Guide
• Georgetown University Law Center Case Law Research Tutorial
• University of Washington School of Law Case Law Research Checklist
• University of Washington School of Law Case Law Research
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• Last Updated: Feb 29, 2024 11:02 AM
• URL: https://libguides.law.gsu.edu/intro

Writing Effective Legal Case Briefs for Law Students

How to write a case brief, complete with examples.

tl;dr - Case briefs help your understanding of legal concepts and enable you to better prepare for exams. Here are some example case briefs .

As a new law student, one of the essential skills you need to develop is the ability to write effective legal case briefs. A case brief is a concise summary of a legal case that highlights the key issues, legal principles, and holdings of the court. Writing a good case brief can help you better understand the law, prepare for class discussions and exams, and become a more effective legal professional. In this article, we'll explore the key elements of a good legal case brief and provide some tips on how to write one effectively.

Legal case briefs are an essential tool for you as a law student, as they provide a concise and organized summary of a court case. Case brief examples serve as a means for you to understand the facts, issues, and legal principles underlying a court decision, and are crucial in helping you develop analytical and critical thinking skills.

One of the primary reasons why case briefs are important for you is that they help you understand the law in a practical and applied manner. In law school, you study legal principles and concepts in a theoretical sense. However, case briefs provide a means for you to see how these principles are applied in real-world situations. By analyzing and dissecting court decisions, you are able to gain a better understanding of how legal principles and concepts are applied in practice. For example, case brief examples of landmark cases like Marbury v. Madison or Brown v. Board of Education can help you understand the historical and legal significance of these cases.

Understand the Structure of a Legal Case Brief

Before we dive into the details of how to write a good legal case brief, it's important to understand its structure. A typical legal case brief, such as the examples of case briefs available on LSD , includes the following sections:

• Title and Citation: This section includes the name of the case, the court that decided the case, and the citation (i.e., the reference that identifies where the case is published).
• Facts: This section provides a brief summary of the key facts of the case, including who the parties are, what they did, and how the case came to court.
• Issues: This section identifies the legal issues that the court was asked to decide, and focuses on the questions that the court addressed in its decision.
• Holding: This section summarizes the court's decision on the legal issues presented in the case.
• Analysis: This section provides an explanation of the court's reasoning in arriving at its holding, including the legal principles and rules that the court relied on.

Focus on the Key Facts and Issues

When writing a case brief, it's important to focus on the key facts and legal issues presented in the case. You should avoid including unnecessary details or information that is not relevant to the legal issues. Instead, focus on the facts and issues that are essential to understanding the court's decision. This is evident in many examples of case briefs written by legal professionals.

Identify the Legal Principles and Rules

In addition to focusing on the key facts and issues, it's important to identify the legal principles and rules that the court relied on in arriving at its decision. This will help you understand the court's reasoning and the legal principles that are relevant to the case. Many examples of case briefs available online also highlight the legal principles and rules that were applied in a particular case.

Use Clear and Concise Language

A good legal case brief should be written in clear and concise language, as seen in examples of case briefs written by legal professionals. You should avoid using legal jargon or technical terms that may be difficult for a layperson to understand. Instead, use plain language that accurately conveys the meaning of the court's decision.

Be Organized and Structured

To make your case brief more effective, it's important to be organized and structured in your writing. Use headings and subheadings to separate different sections of your brief, and make sure that each section flows logically from one to the next. This is evident in many examples of case briefs available online, which are organized and structured in a clear and logical manner.

So, what’s the point?

Developing analytical and critical thinking skills.

Writing case briefs helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills. By analyzing court decisions and identifying key facts, issues, and legal principles, you are practicing your ability to think critically and to identify relevant legal issues. Case briefs provide a practical way to develop these skills and apply them to real-world legal problems.

To further develop your analytical and critical thinking skills, you can practice writing your own case briefs. Take a recent court decision and write a brief that summarizes the key facts, issues, and legal principles involved. This will help you become more proficient at identifying relevant information and organizing it in a structured manner.

Preparing for Class and Exams

In addition to being a valuable tool for developing analytical skills, case briefs also help you prepare for class discussions and exams. As you read cases and write briefs, you are gaining a deeper understanding of the law and the reasoning behind court decisions. This knowledge will help you participate more effectively in class discussions and will also help you prepare for law school exams.

To get the most out of case briefs when preparing for exams, you can practice writing case briefs for cases that you studied throughout the year, or to hypotheticals from past exams. This will help you apply the analytical skills you've developed to new situations and ensure that you are able to communicate your understanding of legal principles effectively.

In conclusion, case briefs are an essential tool for law students as they provide a practical application of legal principles, help develop analytical and critical thinking skills, and aid in preparing for class discussions and exams. By studying case brief examples, practicing writing your own briefs, and developing a deep understanding of the law in context, you can become a more proficient and effective student and legal professional. For examples, check out LSD's case brief database .

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Methodology

• What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

Table of contents

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

• Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
• Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
• Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
• Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

• Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
• Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
• Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

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Online Courses and Casebooks

Online courses.

These online courses are for lawyers looking to do a deep dive into a particular area, and for anyone looking to learn about how law works in practice. Offered by Harvard Law School in collaboration with Harvard’s Vice Provost for Advances in Learning and edX, these  courses are part of our ongoing commitment to lifelong learning.

Contract Law: From Trust to Promise to Contract

Learn about contracts in this online course from Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried, one of the world's leading authorities on contract law.

Financial Analysis and Valuation for Lawyers

Taught by Harvard Law School faculty, this Harvard Online course is designed to help you navigate your organization's or client’s financial goals while increasing profitability and minimizing risks.

Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics

An overview of the legal, medical, and ethical questions around reproduction and human genetics and how to apply legal reasoning to these questions.

Justice Today: Money, Markets, and Morals

Led by award-winning Harvard Professor Michael J. Sandel, this course will take a deep dive into various “needs” and whether they abuse market mechanisms.

Introduction to American Civics

Presented by Zero-L, this is HLS's short introduction to American Law and Civics.

The course explores the current law of copyright; the impact of that law on art, entertainment, and industry; and the ongoing debates concerning how the law should be reformed.

A networked course on patent law hosted jointly by Harvard Law School, the Berkman Klein Center on Internet and Society, and the HarvardX Distance-Learning Initiative.

HLS Executive Education Online Programs

Computer science for lawyers.

Computer Science for Lawyers will equip you with a richer appreciation of the legal ramifications of clients’ technological decisions and policies.

International Finance: Policy, Regulation, and Transactions

International Finance will give participants a framework for thinking about the policy issues that will shape the financial system of the 21st century.

Online Resources for Teaching Law

Constitutional rights in black and white.

A video casebook about the legal decisions that define and govern our constitutional rights. Each video tells the story of an important Supreme Court case, and then shows you how to read the case yourself.

Open Casebook

Open Casebook helps law faculty create high quality, open-licensed digital textbooks for free.

The Case Studies

This program publishes and distributes experimental materials developed by HLS faculty for HLS courses.

Looking for more options?

Additional course offerings are available through our Executive Education and Program on Negotiation.

Executive Education Programs

Program on negotiation.

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Case Study Resources

Case Study Affiliates at Harvard:

Harvard Business Publishing for Educators

Harvard Business Publishing has information on curriculums, online simulations, and online courses, as well as teaching and learning resources related to case studies in different business disciplines. 

Harvard Education Press Case Studies

Harvard Education Press provides access to cases in higher education and K-12 education. Topics include administration and finance, curriculum development, external relations and public affairs, faculty, human resources, leadership, marketing, planning, student affairs, data use, and community organizing. 

Harvard Kennedy School Case Program

Harvard Kennedy School of Government Case Program offers cases on a variety of topics related to government, as well as research and resources on teaching with cases. Multimedia cases are also available. 

Harvard Law School Case Studies Program

The Case Studies at Harvard Law School offers access for students, educators, for-profit and non-profit to legal cases. The website also features a blog, as well as teaching and learning resources for educators using cases. 

Harvard Medical School "Culturally Competent Care" Case Studies

Harvard Medical School Culturally Competent Care Case Studies provides access to cases that relate to culturally competent care, “…the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to provide quality clinical care to patients from different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. It involves tailoring delivery to meet patients' social, cultural and linguistic needs in an effort to improve outcomes and eliminate disparities in healthcare.”

The Pluralism Project Case Study Initiative

The Pluralism Project Case Study Initiative seeks to understand how the case method can be useful in creatively addressing theological and religious studies issues through teaching and learning. The texts relate to issues in civil society, public life, and religious communities. 

Teaching Negotiation Resource Center

The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center offers a range of materials, including role-play simulations, videos, books, periodicals, and case studies. Most of the materials in the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center are designed for educational purposes, whether in college classroom settings or in corporate training settings, by mediators and facilitators introducing their clients to a process or issue, or by individuals looking to enhance their skills and knowledge independently. 

Law Teaching and Learning:

Todd D. Rakoff and Martha Minow,  A Case for Another Case Method

Best Practices for Legal Education

This blog is a space for people interested in legal education to share opinions, ideas, and concerns. It documents innovations in the legal education reform movement and fosters dialogue in the legal education community. 

Institute for Law Teaching and Learning (see Online Resources )

The Institute serves as a space for ideas regarding legal education. This site contains, resources on curriculum design, teaching and learning, conferences, and recent publications. 

Teaching and Learning Law Resources for Legal Education (Barbara Glesner Fines, UMKC School of Law)

This page holds links to resources for student learning assessment in law schools, group and team-based learning, teaching law, learning law, and articles on legal education. 

Links and Resources (Legal Education, ADR, and Practical Problem Solving [LEAPS] Project)

The Legal Education, ADR and Practical Problem Solving (LEAPS) links and resources page holds resources for different topics in legal education. 

LegalED Problems and Exercises

Interactive exercises and ideas for professors to use in their classrooms. 

The Environmental Law Teacher's Clearinghouse

Case studies and simulations on environmental law. 

Online Education Resources (Renaissance Report, A Journal of Legal Education in Transition)

An analysis of legal education.

Transforming Legal Education (Paul Maharg)

Paul Maharg’s book, Transforming Legal Education , offers critiques and changes to the way law is studied. 

Tips on Case Teaching:

The ABCs of Case Teaching (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University)

A thorough publication on case studies, the ABCs of Case Teaching answers the question of why professors should use case studies, and offers strategies of engagement, of preparing to teach cases, debriefing, and more. It also provides a sample course packet and additional resources. 

Teaching with Case Studies (Stanford University, 1994)

This article provides information on writing, teaching, and discussing case studies in a legal education setting. 

The Case Method and the Interactive Classroom (John Foran, NEA Higher Education Journal)

Using Investigative Cases

Information on how to use investigative cases in teaching, the benefits of students learning investigative case methods, assessment resources, and examples. 

HBS:  Case Teaching and Learnin g Resources

HBS:  Case Writing Resources

HBS:  Participant-Centered Learning and the Case Method (multimedia resource)

HBS:  The Teaching Post educator forum (dedicated to Case Method Teaching in Action)

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Free cases and course materials:

The Case Centre

The Case Centre, a joint initiative in higher education to share case materials among business teachers, hosts free cases on a wide range of topics: entrepreneurship; arts management and music business; responsible management, including social responsibility, anti-corruption, and sustainability; global health delivery; “climate saver” best practices and commercial distribution to low-income regions; political economics; international business; e-commerce; marketing; operations information and technology; other business disciplines; and topical issues.

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The Case Studies Blog | Harvard Law School

• Discussion Forum
• Worker Centers & OUR Walmart: Case studies on the changing face of labor in the United States

Photo credit: The All-Nite Images from NY, NY USA on Wikimedia Commons

A q&a with sharon block, executive director of the labor and worklife program and lecturer on law at harvard law school.

by: Lisa Brem*

Recently, HLS Case Writing Fellow Brittany Deitch and I worked with Sharon Block , Executive Director of the  Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School , to create two case studies for her spring 2018 seminar entitled “Organizing for Economic Justice in the New Economy”: the first case study — “ Worker Centers ” — explores how worker centers have grown in both numbers and power as they seek to fill the gaps left by the decline of the union movement in the United States.  Part 1 of the case study examines the challenges and opportunities faced by the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and its affiliated National Guestworker Alliance. Part 2 gives a brief overview of the legal framework that defines and affects labor and workforce issues in the United States.

The second case study — “ OUR Walmart: Online-Offline Organizing ” — showcases a different model of worker organization that grew from employee activities at Walmart.  Students reading both case studies will be able to analyze and draw conclusions about the efficacy of different types of worker centers and the roles they play in the larger workforce ecosystem.

Lisa Brem (LB): Why did you choose to create these case studies for your course?

Sharon Block (SB):  One of my objectives in teaching this course was to demonstrate to students that this is a very exciting time for people interested in economic justice issues. Because of the historically low levels of union density in our country, more and more energy is going into testing how the law can facilitate new forms of worker organizations. There are a number of innovative and dynamic people leading these organizing efforts. They are confronting many new and challenging legal and strategic questions. With these case studies, I hoped to help students put themselves in the shoes of these leaders so they can appreciate how interesting work in these kinds of organizations can be.

LB: What challenges and opportunities did teaching these case studies present?

SB: One challenge presented by teaching these case studies is that they each capture a story that is on-going. Many case studies look back at a scenario that has already resolved so that students can see the outcome of the decisions that are the subject of the case studies. In contrast, these case studies address situations that are still unfolding – some consequences of the decisions analyzed are clear but many are not. Because I was able to have the principle players in the case study scenarios come to class, I hope that that challenge became an opportunity. The students were able to feel more involved in the scenarios and even feel like they may have an impact on the outcomes of these unfolding stories through the questions and issues they were able to raise with the principals who came to class.

LB: What are the major takeaways that students will learn by reading and discussing these case studies?

SB: I hope that the major takeaways that students will learn will be: (1) although laws may be enacted for a particular purpose, their impact may change over time, producing very different results than those intended; (2) creative lawyers can use the law as a tool to advance policy objectives that may be very different than those intended by the laws’ drafters; and (3) moments of crisis can create great opportunities for trying new solutions to old problems.

LB: How did the students react to the case studies?

SB: The students seemed to enjoy the immediacy of the situations covered in the case studies. I enjoyed seeing how the case studies gave them a new perspective on situations that were familiar to them. For example, all of the students were familiar with Walmart and many had patronized Walmart stores. The OUR Walmart case study gave them new insights into what it was like to work at a Walmart and the community among Walmart workers that would not be evident to customers. Similarly, most of the students knew generally about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans but learned a great deal more about how long-standing and complex the impact of the storm was on the New Orleans labor market and the lives of the people who lived and worked there.

LB: What would you tell (advice you would give) other faculty looking to use these case studies?

SB: I would recommend that if faculty use these case studies with students who haven’t taken labor law, that they spend a little time helping students understand traditional worker organizing so that the students can appreciate how innovative the leaders featured in these cases studies are.

Learn more about the Worker Centers and OUR Walmart and download both case studies for free on our website.

Quick facts on Worker Centers:

Case Study length:  37 pages including attachments. The case study includes Part 1 (general background, 22 pages) and Part 2 (legal background, 15 pages).

Format:  Worker Centers is best used to facilitate an 80- to 90-minute in-class discussion on worker centers in general, and the issues facing the New Orleans Center in particular. Some or all of the discussion questions listed in the teaching note can be provided to students prior to class along with the case study, to allow them to formulate ideas that they can share in class.

Quick facts on OUR Walmart:

Case Study length:  8 pages including attachments.

Format:  OUR Walmart is best used to facilitate an 80- to 90-minute in-class discussion on worker centers in general, and the issues facing OUR Walmart in particular. Some or all of the discussion questions listed in the teaching note can be provided to students prior to class along with the case study, to allow them to formulate ideas that they can share in class.

Teaching Notes  for both case studies are available for free download to qualified educators on Harvard Law School | The Case Studies website. Note that you must be logged in as a registered educator on our site to download teaching notes.

*Lisa Brem is the Managing Director of Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Solutions (TLC) at the HLS Library.  The Case Studies Program and Case Development are integral parts of the TLC.

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• Robbing the Piggy Bank? Moving from mutual to stock form at Friendly Savings Bank

A Q&A with Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann

by: Lisa Brem

Corporations and corporate finance courses typically spend the majority of their time talking about the stock form of corporate organization, which makes sense, given that this is the dominant form used by businesses in capitalist economies.  However, Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann spent his last Corporations class of the semester teaching a case study about something quite different: the mutual form. Yes, this is the organizational form memorialized in the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life” in which Jimmy Stewart famously played the part of small community bank champion George Bailey.  Why spend time in a corporations course talking about a mutual bank?  We asked Professor Spamann about Friendly Savings Bank and why he and his co-author Stanley Ragalevsky created this case study.

Lisa Brem (LB): Why did you choose to create this case study for your course?

Holger Spamann (HS): I wanted something to engage broader questions about corporate organization and purpose. The mutual form presents a counter model to the shareholder(-value) driven corporate form, and it is successful at least in a limited realm. It is, therefore, a good launch pad for discussion. The case also raises questions about the role of the lawyer, particularly if one comes to believe that the management is essentially “robbing the bank” in this case.

LB: What challenges and opportunities did teaching the case study present?

HS: We try to draw students into the case by putting them in charge: they lead and present at the hearing. The risk is that you get off track, or rather off timing. It requires setting a strict timetable and reminding the students of it periodically.

LB: What are the major takeaways that students will learn by reading and discussing this case study?

HS: At a minimum, they will be aware that it is possible, at least in a limited realm, to have successful commercial entities that are not controlled by, and operated for, investors. Perhaps they will come to think that these entities have advantages in certain areas, and they may think that the bank lawyers in this case were operating in questionable territory. But that all depends on the view they end up taking on the merits of this case.

LB: How did the students react to the case study?

HS: Generally favorably. Some didn’t get the connection to the big question about entity structuring, which I will make sure to emphasize more next time.

LB: What would you tell (advice you would give) other faculty looking to use this case study?

HS: Watch the clock!

Learn more about the Friendly Savings Bank and download it for free on our website.

Quick facts on Friendly Savings Bank:

Case Study length:  39 pages including attachments.

Format:   Can be taught in an 80 or 90-minute class discussion or taught as a role play simulation in a 2-hour class session.  The simulation has three roles: lawyers for the Regulators, Bank Management, and Dissidents; the Management and Dissident groups take turns presenting their arguments to the Regulators, who make a final determination as to whether Friendly Savings Bank can convert from mutual to stock form.

Teaching Note  available for free download to qualified educators on Harvard Law School | The Case Studies website . Note that you must be logged in as a registered educator on our site to download teaching notes.

• The Argument for Active Learning

Multiple studies have shown that active learning is more effective than lecturing at achieving educational outcomes. One large 2014 meta-analysis of STEM classes found that average student failure rates decreased from 34% to 22% and that average student performance improved by half a letter grade when active learning replaced traditional lecturing. Given these findings, imagine the savings in tuition dollars if active learning were to be widely implemented. When it comes to assessments, researchers looked at concept inventories (which measured higher-level cognitive skills) and course examinations (which measured lower-level cognitive skills). While both higher- and lower-level skills were improved, they found that “active learning has a greater impact on student mastery of higher-versus lower-level cognitive skills”. In addition, the authors found that active learning disproportionally benefitted female and disadvantaged students.

The case study method, which encourages students to step into the shoes of a case study protagonist to wrestle with a real-world dilemma, is a proven active learning pedagogy.  The use of discussion and problem-solving via a case study can heighten student engagement, critical analysis, and reflection, thus creating conditions that foster transformative learning.  This can be true for both small groups and large classes, either peer-directed or facilitated by an instructor.

By using these case studies in your classroom, you can encourage innovation and inclusivity while you watch student outcomes improve.

Freeman, S., S. L. Eddy, M. Mcdonough, M. K. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, and M. P. Wenderoth. “Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.”  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  111, no. 23 (2014): 8410-415. Accessed March 13, 2018. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111.

• Spotlight on: International and Comparative Law

Photo used under Creative Commons Licensing, Earth seen from the International Space Station.

“The flow of goods, technology, ideas, capital, and people across borders means that the work of lawyers, whether in private practice or public service, increasingly involves matters in which knowledge of legal systems beyond one’s own can prove important.” — from International and Comparative Law Overview, hls.harvard.edu.

HLS Case Studies authors have compiled several case studies that have an international or comparative law component. Continue reading to learn more about these case studies.

The WikiLeaks Incident  is a workshop-based case study designed as a background document to set the stage for several hypothetical classroom exercises during which students play the roles of various stakeholders to broaden their understanding of the issues involved. The 2010 WikiLeaks shared leaked U.S. government documents, many of which were classified, resulting in legal maneuvering and tensions between Wikileaks, its critics, and its supporters. This case encourages students to ponder the question: What is the lawfulness and ethics of the actions taken? Students will analyze the government’s reaction to a large amount of classified material being published online, explore ways to respond appropriately to future leaks of sensitive material from the point of view of various stakeholders, and discuss ways in which the Internet as changed whistleblowing activity as well as the legal ramifications of these changes.

This case was developed for an Advanced Problem Solving Workshop in Cyberlaw and Intellectual Property, a second- or third-year elective course taught in the Harvard Law School J.D. program. The case can be taught in four 90-minute class sessions.

Sanctuary Cities  asks students to engage in a legislative simulation before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security. The subcommittee hears testimony from various groups on a proposed House bill that would cut federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. Students play the roles of majority and minority members of the subcommittee, representatives of various organizations with an interest in the proposed legislation, and correspondents from different media outlets . 

This simulation could be taught in Immigration Law courses, or seminars and clinical seminars on immigrant rights and advocacy. It could also be used in Legislation and Regulation courses.

“I wanted the students in my immigration law class to engage with the complex legal issues presented by the current debate over sanctuary policies and was eager to facilitate a productive debate.” – Professor Sabrineh Ardalan

Click here to read more on case Professor Ardalan’s comments about this case study.

The Case of the Lead Toys is a workshop-based case study that follows the story of toymaker Mattel that came under fire in 2007 when one of its European retailers found lead paint on some toys manufactured in China. The case asks students to play the role of the General Counsel for Mattel, determine what questions to ask their client, and draft a press release to communicate to the public about the crisis. The problem fits in the general category of avoiding trouble or distributing losses that have already occurred. Students will discuss whether lawyers should advise clients as if they were solely interested in taking maximum advantage of their legal rights or if their advice should encompass the full range of the client’s concerns, engaging the client’s moral compass in deciding whether it is right to pursue a legally-available objective.

This case was developed for the Problem Solving Workshop, a second-semester required course taught in the Harvard Law School first-year J.D. program. It has been used as the introductory case to highlight decisions faced by lawyers working directly for and with clients. The case can be taught in four hours over two sessions.

Ching Pow: Far East Yardies!!  is a workshop-based case study based on the story of Jamaican filmmaker and entrepreneur Bruce Hart, who set out to make a low-budget box office hit called “Ching Pow: Far East Yardies!!,” a satirical redubbing of a kung fu movie that appeared to be in the public domain. However, with sponsorship secured and production underway, Hart discovered that there existed a copyright holder to the original film. This case follows Hart’s international quest to find the copyright holder and secure permissions to release his movie. Readers will take the stance of Bruce Hart’s lawyers and parse out the distinctions of derivative and orphan works in intellectual property law, identifying a systematic approach to problem-solving when faced with an unresolved issue.

This case was developed by Professor Charles Nesson for an elective course for the Harvard Law School J.D. program. Educators may want to pair this case study with a discussion of the United States’ unique policy of statutory damages in copyright infringement cases. This case can be taught in two 90-minute sessions.

So ma lia in Crisis: Famine, Counterterrorism, & Humanitarian Aid ( Part A , B1 , B2 ) is a free, 3-part case study that forefronts the 2011 Somalia famine to ground the teaching of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with a real-world application.

Part A   is a workshop-based case study that provides an opportunity for students to examine the potential impacts of U.S. material-support-to-terrorism laws in the context of humanitarian crises, through the lens of the Somalia famine. Participants are primed to problem solve, navigate potentially competing domestic and international law and policy, and make ethical and legal decisions in a high-pressure, complex international crisis. Then, in Parts B1 and B2, students will engage in role play exercises designed to expose the challenges in developing a consensus response among U.S. government agencies to a humanitarian crisis where a terrorist organization perceived as threatening U.S. security interests is involved.

Part B1 is best suited for two class periods spanning 90 minutes each. Part B2 can be taught in one or two class periods spanning 90 minutes each.

“…role-play exercises such as the Somalia Case Study help to contextualize IHL, introduce students to law’s real-world application, and potentially galvanize ideas about legal reform.” – Professor Rebecca Sutton

Check out our 4-part blog series about what students of Professor Rebecca Sutton’s Re-Imagining International Humanitarian Law course at the University of Western Ontario Law School thought about the use of this roleplay in a course on International Humanitarian Law. Read Part 1 ,  Part 2 , Part 3 , and  Part 4 .

Want more? Browse through our 25 case studies that incorporate aspects of international and comparative law on our website .

Click here for more on International and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School and visit the Institute for Global Law and Policy .

• Fair Use Week: 5 Questions with Kyle Courtney

In honor of Fair Use Week , we are reposting our blog about our case study: How Fair is Fair Use? The Battle Over E-Reserves at GSU  (A)  and  (B)

Since it was published, this case study has been downloaded 82 times.

Kyle Courtney, Copyright Advisor at Harvard University

Kyle K. Courtney, Harvard University’s Copyright Advisor in the Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication, wanted to develop a case study on the contentious institution of fair use at a university. He chose to focus on electronic reserves at Georgia State University, which faced a copyright infringement suit from Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Sage Publications. The case shows how the four factors of fair use, which are designed to support educational use and engender case-by-case analysis of copyrighted works, got caught in the crossfire between educators and publishers over extralegal, universal guidelines. What better format to bring fair use back to case-by-case analysis than a discussion-based case study?

Courtney first introduced the case study in his Copyright Immersion Program for Harvard University librarians designated as “Copyright First Responders.” Courtney has plans to use the case in his cyberlaw class at Northeastern University, which attracts students in law, criminal justice, and computer science. Courtney plans to teach the case in a continuing legal education program and to use taped segments of the Copyright Immersion Program for a massive open online course (MOOC). This case study could fit well in a number of other educational settings, such as intellectual property courses and professional development for general counsels or university officials.

Courtney shared with us his experiences as a first-time case study author:

EM: What inspired the case study?

KC: This was one of the most important library fair use cases in the last decade. It also marks a new era, one in which university presses sue university libraries. It’s a shift in the legal landscape.

This case involved a weighty decision for GSU: whether to go to trial and how to measure risk. It involved a lot of judgment, and judgment isn’t taught enough. This seemed like the ideal case for a teaching moment.

EM: What challenges and opportunities did the case writing process present?

KC: It was a challenge to lay out everything that happened before the suit: the GSU case itself represented a particular moment when decades of contention came to a head. There was very little precedent but so many forces at play: the libraries’ reliance on reserves, technological leaps, changing publishing models, and the challenges of copyright intersecting and sometimes interfering with education.

It was a rare opportunity to look inside at how these forces interact. It was a 353-page decision: you can’t not write a case study on that!

EM: What advice do you have for case writers and teachers in the legal classroom?

KC:  Getting up to speed on the law can be complex. Spend time on the introduction: engagement with the first part is critical to having a good discussion because it sets the scene and establishes the foundation for the discussion. When I first taught the case, my students had to get up to speed on how the law had been interpreted in the past. For this reason, I’m not sure the case should be taught in one sitting.

I had my participants in teams representing multiple sides, because for them, identifying with libraries was already easy. By asking different teams to reach a middle ground you bring in negotiation. Where are there areas for wins? What do the sides have in common?

We also explored what other schools, like Cornell, have done with similar suits in the past and about what would happen if an institution chooses not to fight. I did this as a lark at the end, but it was a great exercise.

EM: How did the students react to the case study?

KC: They really liked it—even I was surprised at the amount of enthusiasm generated by something as routine as e-reserves. The case led to a robust discussion. I think the participants realized that their work today may have an impact on the law!

Case studies are great because they reflect the front-line problems that education has with copyright law. Capturing these problems is complex but proves that these issues can be reasoned, analyzed, and addressed. Cases give front-line people the sense that there is ground to be gained and that their newfound knowledge will serve them as better employees.

EM: What, if anything, would you do differently next time?

KC: I might spend more time hitting home the points in the introduction. With busy professionals, you can’t be sure they’ve read the whole case.

More generally, I think it helps to integrate case studies into classes where you’re building copyright law. Substantive legal courses don’t normally include opportunities for role play, but it’s a critical skill using the analytical side of your brain.

Our Bestselling Cases

Harvard Law School | The Case Studies has served 7,986 customers , published 220 cases , and fulfilled 8,152 orders over the last 6 years. Here is a list of our top 5 bestselling case studies:

2. Ernest Shackleton’s Journey to the Endurance   describes the path that led Ernest Shackleton to embark on his epic voyage to the Antarctic aboard the Endurance in 1914. The case, a compelling saga of crisis and survival, allows instructors and students to review what happened during the voyage and explores what is required for effective teamwork and leadership in the face of turbulence.

3.  William Fox  follows the life and career path of William Fox, a mid-career partner at a prestigious law firm in London. This case enables participants to reflect on how to evaluate one’s career trajectory, the balance between commitments to work and personal life, and how the meaning of “success” might evolve over time.

4. Linklaters (A): Seeking Clear Blue Water   follows Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel as he seeks to implement his vision for the global law firm. This case allows participants to discuss the importance of creating and articulating a clear strategy in a professional service firm, the challenges related to implementing such a strategy, and the considerations that lead to a successful change management.

5.   How to Approach a Case Study in a Problem Solving Workshop  is a free product that gives helpful tips for approaching problem-solving case studies and effectively reading these cases to prepare for discussions and exercises.

In 2017, HLS Case Studies published 16 new case studies , 11 of which are free to download .  Browse all 40 free case studies , including  Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering Law Compliance, and Blockchain Technology , the most popular case study published in 2017.

Negotiation instructors might want to review Mortgage Crisis Call , our  most viewed new case, which has been viewed nearly 20,000  times since it was published in January 2017. This case is a multiparty negotiation scenario that provides an introduction to group decision making. It is set in the aftermath of the 2008 U.S. residential mortgage crisis, which left more than ten million homes foreclosed.

Please  view the full catalog of cases published in 2017.

New Product: Sanctuary Cities: The Legislative Hearing

Photo used under Creative Commons Licensing, Statue of Liberty.

Q&A with Professor Sabrineh Ardalan

Harvard Law School | The Case Studies  has published a new case study and classroom simulation developed by Sabrineh Ardalan, Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School and Assistant Director at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, along with Brittany Deitch, J.D. Case Writing Fellow, and Lisa Brem, Managing Director of the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum group at HLS.

The case study includes a background note on sanctuary jurisdictions and a roles for six stakeholders who present comments and testimony at a mock legislative hearing on  a bill affecting such jurisdictions.

Our Case Studies Program staff asked Professor Ardalan about her experience developing and teaching the case study. Read her answers to our questions below, and download free copies of   Sanctuary Cities .

Why did you choose to create this simulation for your course?

I wanted the students in my immigration law class to engage with the complex legal issues presented by the current debate over sanctuary policies and was eager to facilitate a productive debate. A legislative simulation seemed like the ideal format for the class, particularly given the various legislative proposals introduced in Congress, as well as in city councils and states across the country.

What challenges and opportunities did teaching this simulation present?

The simulation allowed for both sides of the debate to have equal airtime so that students could fully understand the arguments for and against sanctuary-related policies and legislation. It was a challenge deciding what legislative initiative to use to allow students to explore the issues most fully, and we considered various bills pending at the state and federal level before making a decision.

What are the major takeaways that students will learn in this simulation?

Students will learn how to distill complicated legal arguments into clear, persuasive, and concise talking points and how to think through their strongest and weakest arguments in order to respond to questions and provide comments on testimony.

How did the students react to the simulation?

The students were very engaged both in the simulation itself and in the preparation for the simulation. They worked well in teams to develop testimony, arguments, and questions.

What would you tell (advice you would give) other faculty looking to use this simulation?

The more time you can allocate to debrief, the better. I wish I had built in additional space for a group discussion and feedback afterwards. Also, I would recommend bringing in advocates who have attended or testified at prior Congressional hearings to participate in the simulation, either by chairing the committee hearing or by commenting on the simulation and the issues presented after the fact.

Acknowledgments

I was lucky enough to have two amazing lawyers –  JJ Rosenbaum , formerly the Legal Director with the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice which led efforts in New Orleans and advocacy efforts at the Congressional hearings on  New Orleans as a Sanctuary City , and  Avideh Moussavian , who  works on sanctuary issues at NILC  – chair the hearing for the simulation, which greatly enhanced the experience for everyone involved.

Strategies for consensus-building and decision-making

Sabrina Bruno and Eric Blay

This is the fourth in a series on the use of Somalia in Crisis role play in a law school course on International Humanitarian Law. Read the Introduction.

The goal of the Somalia simulation was to help bring an end to the Somalia famine quickly without compromising American national security. There were numerous disagreements between opposing interest groups that necessitated consensus-building. While members of each of the parties were behaving as rational actors, individuals’ differing objectives led them to become quickly entrenched in their assigned positions. This tended to make them lose sight of the overall goal of the meeting, which was to develop a strategy for ending the famine in Somalia.

Our team played the advisory role of the intelligence agency. Striving to help build consensus with others while serving in an advisory role was challenging. It was imperative to remain in character—advocating the priorities of the intelligence agency—throughout the simulation. Differentiating between personal opinions and the insights that our assigned character was likely to espouse was challenging, but vital. In an advisory role, it is important to be aware of the seemingly incompatible agendas held by different parties. Equally necessary is to work with participants to identify underlying interests that might provide grounds for formulating solutions that meet everyone’s objectives to some extent. While each party held different principal priorities, their overarching goals seemed to converge. For instance, a central aim of all parties was to ensure the safety of American citizens, though each group differed as to how that safety could be achieved.

Reaching consensus among the groups was a difficult task. They became immersed in their assigned character roles and tended to focus on the issues that divided them rather than emphasizing what they had in common. It seemed that all parties felt that, despite being ordered to end the famine quickly, their specific interests ( i.e. legal, security, humanitarian, etc.) had to take up equal space at the bargaining table. In actual negotiations of this type one would hope that objective criteria, such as feasibility, would govern the final decisions, instead of having the final word going to the most forceful individuals who took the strictest hard-lined positions.

Allowing time for discussions amongst the representatives of the various teams was an effective strategy; it allowed multiple conversations to occur simultaneously, and created space for groups to identify similar interests as well as obstacles to reaching consensus. In comparison with the time spent having all participants met as one group, it seemed that the more chaotic intermingling of groups was much more efficient. Considerable decision-making work was done by group representatives who liaised with other interest groups to garner support for their position, or to collaborate on ideas for mutually acceptable solutions. This allowed them to present a united front to other, more ideologically opposed groups. A breakthrough came when groups accepted that compromises would have to be made by all parties. When given sufficient time to discuss amongst themselves, groups were able to create a unified plan, with the exception of concerns about fungible aid and the payment of access fees to FTOs. The result was a semi-secure and partially effective solution.

This simulation was a useful exercise for learning how human character and subjectivity influence policy-making processes. All aspects of strategy for the response to the Somalia famine were heavily influenced by the personalities and proclivities of the individuals who participated in the negotiation. The most significant thing we learned was that, in practice, the negotiation process is not ruled by objective criteria so much as the subjective views of participants. No matter what the nature of the factual scenario at hand is, it is clear that negotiation, mediation, and conciliation skills are crucial to navigating the entrenched positions of various stakeholders. Read Part 2 and Part 3 .

Written by law school students Sabrina Bruno and Eric Blay as part of the Re-Imagining International Humanitarian Law course at University of Western Ontario Law School.

Discerning the interests and priorities of diverse stakeholders

Katrina Younes, Rob Alfieri, Aaron Zaltzman

This is the third in a series on the use of Somalia in Crisis role play in a law school course on International Humanitarian Law. Read the Introduction.

During the simulation of a National Security Council (NSC) meeting regarding the 2011 Somalia Famine, we observed that the first step for building consensus between parties espousing disparate positions was to efficiently and accurately categorize the identities, key issues, and positions of the respective groups. The task of the NSC Committee Chair was to incorporate the competing views of 20 different voices, representing four distinct interest groups, and facilitate a consensus in just a few hours. While this extremely tight timeline made us nervous, the key to working effectively was the efficient management of the conversation.

One way we navigated these time constraints was by laying out a roadmap that outlined the policy points that were predicted to generate the most debate. This roadmap was developed after each team had been invited to specify which issues they believed could fairly easy garner consensus, versus the issues they felt would require further persuasion. The central aim of the NSC team, for example, was to end the famine and secure legal assurances that individuals would not be prosecuted for delivering life-saving humanitarian services to this end. This was their static position, from which they would not budge. The NSC team also identified lower-stakes positions that they were open to re-thinking—so long as their core static position was not compromised.

Once the respective views of each team had been expressed, the next task was to speak to other members of other teams to see what headway could be made.  One of the groups—which consisted of U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of National Intelligence and Department of the Treasury—chose to focus on interacting with groups whose views were not in alignment with their own in order to see if there was any room to maneuver. It was during this part of the simulation exercise that it became clear just how entrenched various teams were in their positions. Upon a return to the plenary formation, the Chair of the NSC meeting quickly identified which policies had broad general support, and which were now proving to be the most contentious.

In the final round of negotiations, it was clear that all parties agreed that the Somalia famine represented an emergency that demanded immediate action. It was also evident that the idea of a humanitarian exemption to the counter-terrorism laws had some support, particularly if it could be executed in conjunction with a Partner Vetting System. The most contentious issue, it emerged, was whether NGOs should be permitted to pay access fees to FTOs if necessary. Ultimately, this issue consumed the bulk of the discussion. It also ended up standing in the way of a group consensus on the overall approach. However, since the various issues had been divided up and dealt with according to level of difficulty, many smaller and less divisive issues were still possible to agree upon. This enabled the parties to forego needless arguments over small points and focus on the more significant issues at hand. Read Part 2 and Part 4 .

Written by law school students Katrina Younes, Rob Alfieri, Aaron Zaltzman as part of the Re-Imagining International Humanitarian Law course at University of Western Ontario Law School.

Legal, political, strategic and ethical dimensions of the 2011 famine

Elspeth Graham & Laura Snowdon

This is the second in a series on the use of Somalia in Crisis role play in a law school course on International Humanitarian Law. Read the Introduction.

The United Nations declared a famine in Somalia in July 2011. The humanitarian response to this crisis was slowed by the presence of al-Shabaab, and the famine ultimately claimed the lives of nearly 260,000 people. Six years later, five teams of law students representing various U.S. government departments participated in a simulation exercise to negotiate the legal, strategic, ethical, and political concerns that arose in relation to the crisis. The five teams represented the National Security Council, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of State, and Office of the Vice President, respectively.

Legal concerns regarding issues of enforceability and a lack of clarity in U.S. material-support-to-terrorism legislation hindered consensus-building amongst the negotiating parties. The representatives of each group recognized that the legal landscape governing humanitarian workers in Somalia was complex and unclear, resulting in a chilling effect on the provision of aid. A majority of representatives concluded that a temporally- and geographically-limited humanitarian exception was a feasible path forward: it could potentially balance the U.S.’s moral obligation to provide aid alongside its important national security concerns. They were persuaded to agree on a humanitarian exception on the basis of moral arguments, namely the moral obligation of the U.S. to help save the lives of Somali citizens in crisis. However, the team representing the Department of Defense was the lone holdout, preventing group consensus on this point. Given its mandate to prioritize national security, it voiced concerns that any humanitarian exception—however limited—might allow al-Shabaab to financially benefit from U.S. humanitarian assistance.

The likelihood of consensus could have been increased if those teams favouring a humanitarian exception had considered arrangements more sensitive to national security. A strong attempt at this argument was that the failure to provide a humanitarian exception could actually pose a greater security threat for the U.S., due to prospects of radicalization in the face of an increasingly grave humanitarian crisis. While the Department of Defense team recognized this risk, it still insisted that directly supporting terrorist organizations posed the greater threat. Arguably, other stakeholders could have challenged this set of assumptions more effectively. After further rounds of discussion, the representatives of the Department of Defense finally appeared open to a very limited humanitarian exception so that food and water could be delivered to Somali citizens. However, they maintained the view that their obligations to protect American citizens prevented them from permitting humanitarian aid workers to pay access fees to Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) such as al-Shabaab.

In terms of political concerns, the teams also considered how a potential humanitarian exception to the counter-terrorism legislation might affect international relations. During informal discussions, some argued that it was in the interest of the U.S. to allow humanitarian assistance: this would preserve its image and status in the international community. Otherwise, the U.S. might be viewed as weak, and even callous, for failing to assist in the response when it clearly had the capacity to do so. Cutting against this was the fear that allowing for a humanitarian exception could cause the U.S. to be viewed as a state that supports terrorist organizations.

The 2011 Somalia famine was an exceptionally problematic crisis, due to the need for humanitarian assistance in the context of an armed conflict involving a terrorist group. As a result of the intersection of these issues, decision-making in response to the famine was rendered even more complex. Only time will tell if the U.S. can learn from its past mistakes to coordinate an effective humanitarian response when similar crises unfold elsewhere in the world. Read Part 3 and Part 4 .

Written by law school students Elspeth Graham & Laura Snowdon as part of the Re-Imagining International Humanitarian Law course at University of Western Ontario Law School.

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Bringing law to life through real-world case studies

First year module introduces students to law by exploring the interaction of legal norms with climate change and homelessness, as Professor Maria Lee, UCL Laws, explains

21 March 2019

In 2018, UCL Laws introduced an ambitious, innovative, compulsory induction module for first year law students, Laws’ Connections: Legal Doctrine and Contemporary Challenges . 

Teaching through case studies 

The case study is the central teaching methodology for Laws’ Connections . In 2018, four case studies were available, of which each student took two: 

• climate change
• the gig economy
• homelessness
• medical accidents

In Laws’ Connections , students begin their time with us by engaging with the way that the legal system and legal norms interact with a social issue, rather than from the perspective of a legal category (such as contract, property or crime). This means that we can begin to think critically and deeply about law and ideas right from the start, even as the students are just beginning to develop their knowledge of legal doctrine. We are also able to explore some necessary introductory material on basic legal structures and legal concepts, which can seem quite abstract and dry at this stage, in a more urgent and compelling way. 

The case studies also introduce students to some important legal skills, and we require them to: 

• read (part of) a case
• read (part of) a statute
• read (part of) an academic article
• carry out a written exercise
• do some group work
• contribute to an oral presentation. 

Careful support is provided in small groups for each of these activities, and detailed feedback provided.

Supporting the transition to university

Each case study is made up of 5x3 hour classes, and involves no compulsory out of class preparation (save preparing for the final assessment). Time for reading and thinking is provided within the schedule, in a small group of peers, with a teacher. This reduces anxiety and allows students the space to settle into the broader social side of university life, as well as guiding expectations. 

Introducing the study of law

In addition to the case studies, each student on Laws’ Connections takes Introduction to Law . A moodle site is available for new students to access before they arrive at UCL. It includes bespoke material that I produced in four chapters: 

• Introduction to law at UCL
• What is law (for)?
• Structure of the English legal system
• Lawyers and the legal profession

Each chapter contains links to reading from various sources, including chapters from introductory English Legal System texts, as well as websites and more ‘popular’ books such as The Secret Barrister . 

A number of colleagues made short (under 5 minute) videos on various foundational or important legal issues – UCL made us all look rather wonderful, and this personalized and livened up potentially dry material. 

The Introduction to Law element of Laws’ Connections also includes a series of skills lectures, including topics like essay writing, problem solving, getting the most out of lectures and tutorials [see Case Study:  It's a trap! How I got students to engage with assessment: the power of guided marking ] 

Each student is assessed (pass/fail) in one of their two case studies. The assessments this year were comprised of group presentations (two case studies), a blog and an essay. Students can take the assessment as many times as necessary to pass.  

Introduction to Law is assessed by multiple choice questions, with a pass being 20 out of 25. Students can take the test as many times as they need. 

Teaching by staff, students and alumni

I took the lead on developing, designing and running Laws’ Connections , initially in my capacity as Vice-Dean (Programme Development and Delivery), although now simply as module convenor. 

But this sort of innovation takes the commitment of many colleagues. Most obviously, the four case studies were each put together by different people (I led the climate change case study). About a dozen colleagues and students reviewed the case studies and Introduction to Law . 

Equally importantly, convenors of our four compulsory first year subjects ‘donated’ a lecture and a tutorial each.    And nearly fifty individuals taught on Laws’ Connections . Teachers on the case studies included final year law students and some of our recent graduates, as well as all levels of faculty, from post-graduate research students to very experienced professors. The final year students and recent graduates enriched the teaching, and they confirmed in feedback that they gained a great deal from the experience. One thing we had not anticipated was that Laws’ Connections provides a different sort of ‘clinical’ legal experience for our students.

Such an ambitious and intensive programme also requires practical, moral and financial support from senior colleagues, and we had that from the Faculty of Laws Dean’s Team and the Dean. 

And of course, without the enthusiasm of our professional services colleagues for improving the student experience, and their extraordinary support, we could not have done this. 

The inspiration for Laws’ Connections

It had never been my ambition to develop such an ambitious initiative. Laws’ Connections emerged from many discussions with a large number of colleagues and students about our experiences and our hopes. 

We reflected on the enormous privilege of engaging with all of these young people, on their first steps in the transformative experience of higher education, within our walls and within our discipline. What did we really want their first experience to be? 

Student and staff responses

We asked for anonymous feedback about Laws Connections from students and staff:

Student feedback

“ Laws Connections introduced me to the integration of the law into society and the importance of it in the issues that we face today. 

“ It gave me a better understanding of how law works in the UK, in terms of how legislation is passed and how power is distributed. It also introduced the ethical issues that lawyers could potentially face.

“ The best thing about Laws’ Connections was being able to speak to different academics, students or experts about each topic, since every single person has a different aspect to introduce to your analysis.

Staff feedback

“ The opportunity to introduce students to the connection between law and social issues, and to law in action, so early in their degree studies was fantastic. The teaching teams worked incredibly well - there was a team camaraderie and enthusiasm that made the teaching experience especially rewarding and also engaged students in the subject matter.

“ The programme is very exciting...I'm not sure the students will have realised just how much they have learned about how to be a law student.

Laws' Connections: future development and broader impact

These things don’t and shouldn’t last forever. But Laws’ Connections does feel sustainable, and should be able to flourish and evolve for a number of years. A few colleagues are working on additional case studies for 2019 and 2020, and many colleagues are keen to stay involved, or to get involved for the first time next year. We want to work harder on integrating Laws’ Connections into the rest of our programme. 

We’re all applying the experience of teaching Laws’ Connections to other areas of our teaching and professional lives. Through some of our conversations around Laws’ Connections , we’ve empowered ourselves to teach across the curriculum in the way we think best. 

Top tips for introducing new modules to your courses

• Take the time to build a level of consensus and enthusiasm among colleagues – this sort of ambitious programme does not work without buy in. 
• Give it the time and resources it needs. We started our reflective workshops in January 2017, and spent much of the rest of the year working around the issues with colleagues. The faculty agreed to go ahead at the Education Away Day in November 2017, and we ran Laws’ Connections for the first time in September 2018.
• This sort of thing succeeds only if a core group is committed to making this work – don’t underestimate the challenge. 
• But don’t underestimate how rewarding this can be! For those developing the initiative, for colleagues, and most importantly for students.   

Further Information 

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Law 101: Fundamentals of the Law

Michael H. Martella

Copyright Year: 2018

Publisher: Open SUNY

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Marcus Ellison, Adjunct Faculty, Trine University on 4/22/21

The textbook covers a wide variety of general legal areas. Each chapter can stand alone however, some are focused more on the nuances of New York state law and would best be suited for courses that require that. Other chapters however only cover... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The textbook covers a wide variety of general legal areas. Each chapter can stand alone however, some are focused more on the nuances of New York state law and would best be suited for courses that require that. Other chapters however only cover general legal principles or broad federal and constitutional law areas. It is worth the time to browse the table of contents as there are several stand-alone chapters that would work in a variety of legal subject matter area courses. There are also numerous citations and references throughout the textbook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text is accurate in its assertions and materials shared as of the time it is written. Each chapter has in-text citations and a list of references at the end of the chapter that supports the information that is cited and referred to throughout the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content varies in that some of it covers specific areas and sections of the law that may need to be updated or refreshed frequently. However, other chapters cover broad-based legal principles and historical legal traditions that are timeless. Each chapter is independent of other chapters so it would be easy to use parts of this book for a wide variety of legal courses depending upon need.

Clarity rating: 4

This book is written at a level that would be suitable for undergraduate students seeking a basic understanding of the American legal system or anyone wanting a basic understanding of how the law works. Some chapters have very practical steps that cover basics such as finding legal counsel and how cases progress through the legal system. The text is plain-spoken about most legal topics and not full of jargon and overly technical terminology.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent in terms of terminology and framework. Each chapter can be used and read as a stand-alone unit separate from the other chapters in the text.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter of the book covers a unique area that can be studied separately from the other chapters. There are citations, references, and appropriate appendices again broken up by each chapter.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book as a whole has a logical flow even though each chapter covers a unique area of law. Some chapters focus on legal specifics, in particular the sections that are heavy on New York State-specific law. Other sections are much more broad-based in focus and or cover more practical and background-oriented aspects of the law.

Interface rating: 5

The text is laid out well with an appropriate amount of white space. The tables, charts, and visual cues are appropriate to the subject material.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is free from grammatical and spelling errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The textbook is not insensitive or offensive in any way and it has a chapter that focuses on discrimination law that is well-written, timely, and appropriate for the age and time.

This is a good textbook for undergraduate students seeking a basic understanding of the law or for any student or person considering pursing a career in the legal field as an attorney or as a paralegal. The textbook is written in such a fashion that each chapter stands alone and thus its is a book that can be used in whole or in part as a reading resource for a legal class that covers almost any topical area of interest.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1 – Major Factors In Choosing And Working With An Attorney
• Chapter 2 – Comparing And Contrasting Civil And Criminal Law
• Chapter 3 – New York State And Federal Court Structure And Sources Of Law
• Chapter 4 – How The United States And New York State Constitutions Affects Our Lives
• Chapter 5 – The Path Of A New York State Criminal Case
• Chapter 6 – Traffic Stops & DWI
• Chapter 7 – Discrimination Law
• Chapter 8 – The Path Of A Civil Tort Case
• Chapter 9 – Marriage, Divorce And Family Law
• Chapter 10 – Common Estate Planning Processes And Documents
• Chapter 11 – Taxes
• Chapter 12 – Real Estate Transfers
• Chapter 13 – Residential Lease Transactions
• Chapter 14 – Elements Of A Contract, Consumer Protections, And Bankruptcy
• Chapter 15 – Privacy

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Law 101: Fundamentals of Law, New York and Federal Law is an attempt to provide basic legal concepts of the law to undergraduates in easily understood plain English. Each chapter covers a different area of the law. Areas of law were selected based on what legal matters undergraduates may typically encounter in their daily lives. The textbook is introductory by nature and not meant as a legal treatise.Facebook

About the Contributors

Michael H. Martella is an Assistant Professor at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. He is also the Director of the college’s ABA Approved Paralegal Studies Program. He has taught CRJ 101, Constitutional Law, Law 101, Domestic Relations, Introduction to Paralegal Studies, and Trusts and Estates. He has been a practicing attorney in the state of New York since 1982.

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Legal Studies focuses on the factors influencing the development of law and justice, including legal institutions and the legal process, from a social science perspective. The courses deal with a wide variety of subjects, including philosophy of law, American legal history, non-western legal traditions, politics and law, the criminal justice process, property law, and economic regulation.

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Crime, Justice, and the American Legal System: Case Study Preparation

Throughout the term students prepared three case studies in order to engage with information on the american legal system..

Up to two of the case studies could be replaced by multimedia projects.  The case studies were discussed in lectures and sections, and the multimedia projects are presented in the final lecture, allowing for students to regularly showcase their hard work. For both projects, students had to complete the course reading in order to propose a topic that engaged course scholarship and themes. 

There is a detailed handout describing how to create case studies.  In short, a case study examines a real life situation and includes three components:  (1) Part A--a detailed factual background section that raises (but does not resolve) several significant questions/dilemmas in the case; (2) Part B--a follow up factual section explaining what subsequently occurred and how the questions/dilemmas were actually addressed; and (3) Part C--a final analytical section contextualizing the case study in light of course themes and theories, while substantively engaging and citing course readings.  Multimedia projects are unstructured and open ended, but must be approved in advance by the course staff.  Examples are shown to students early in the term.

Prior to the first submission deadline, the instructor presented an earlier student case study in lecture so students understood the structure and pedagogical objectives of the case studies.  Part A was distributed to students to read in class (much as is done at the Business School, for example).  After reading Part A, students debated the dilemma presented and how they feel the protagonist should proceed.  Part B is then distributed in class and it describes what decision(s) the protagonist actually made and the ramifications of that/those decisions.  Students then discuss and debate what occurred, and how it connects to course theories and themes.  With respect to multimedia projects, many are video documentaries and are shown in class followed by a structured discussion by the course instructor.

With respect to case studies, students are given a word processing template so that all output is uniform (similar to case studies produced by the business, law and government professional schools).  Students often prepare the case studies with a combination of text, photos and graphs/charts.  Prior examples were both discussed in class and made available online for students to use as a reference.  For multimedia projects, most students created videos that incorporated person-to-person interviews with correctional officials, police officers, business owners, fellow students, community organizers, public defenders, etc--and these interviews were edited along with voice-overs and other video clips and still images to create compelling presentations.  Other students presented their multimedia presentations live, some utilizing powerpoints and even one student performing in class an anti-death penalty song (that she wrote) in the form of a traditional protest folk ballad.  Other students have created fictitious television programs and even a children's book harnessing course themes.  All multimedia projects must be accompanied by a short essay contextualizing the project, citing course scholarship and themes.

For case studies, students researched unique topics (students must write on different topics from one another), some of which are publicly known and others that are known only from the student's own personal experience.  Students must not only find compelling cases to analyze, but they must engage in the pedagogical exercise of finding a strong "dilemma" or "decision point" in the story that could be debatable in class.  This is more difficult than it appears, as the break between Part A and Part B cannot simply be a break in the action; the break must present a compelling and controversial dilemma that is likely to create an excellent and robust class discussion.  The best case studies are chosen by the instructor and then distributed in class (anonymously), and discussed--both in terms of the criminological questions raised, but also the pedagogical strength of the case study's construction.  With respect to multimedia projects, at least 5 minutes of every project is presented in class (either "live" by the student or through video), and then the instructor provides constructive feedback for the students.  In past years students have also provided constructive feedback both in class and on iSite (online).

The goal of the case studies is for students to (1) research a relevant, real life case that illustrates course themes and theories; (2) analyze a real life fact scenario not only for course themes, but also for classroom pedagogical potential in terms of the dilemma and issues presented for discussion/debate; and (3) to analyze (in Part C of the case study) the case selected by substantively engaging course scholarship, forcing students to move beyond merely descriptive assignments and to develop their own opinions and views, contextualized by course themes and readings.  For the multimedia projects, students are encouraged to explore their passions and think "outside the box" in exploring a criminological topic in a media format that speaks to them.  While most students use video format for interviewing key stakeholders, others have created songs, children's books, advocacy pieces, fictitious television episodes, fictitious magazines/tabloid front pages, and even music videos.  The over-arching goal of these projects is to illustrate how the course themes can be intensely (and engagingly) relevant to students--and our society.

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Blog about Writing Case Study and Coursework

dudestudy.com

How to Write an Introduction for a Case Study Report

If you’re looking for examples of how to write an introduction for a case-study report, you’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll find a sample, guidelines for writing a case-study introduction, and tips on how to make it clear. In five minutes or less, recruiters will read your case study and decide whether you’re a good fit for the job.

Example of a case study introduction

An example of a case study introduction should be written to provide a roadmap for the reader. It should briefly summarize the topic, identify the problem, and discuss its significance. It should include previous case studies and summarize the literature review. In addition, it should include the purpose of the study, and the issues that it addresses. Using this example as a guideline, writers can make their case study introductions. Here are some tips:

The first paragraph of the introduction should summarize the entire article, and should include the following sections: the case presentation, the examinations performed, and the working diagnosis, the management of the case, and the outcome. The final section, the discussion, should summarize the previous subsections, explain any apparent inconsistencies, and describe the lessons learned. The body of the paper should also summarize the introduction and include any notes for the instructor.

The last section of a case study introduction should summarize the findings and limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for further research. The conclusion section should restate the thesis and main findings of the case study. The conclusion should summarize previous case studies, summarize the findings, and highlight the possibilities for future study. It is important to note that not all educational institutions require the case study analysis format, so it is important to check ahead of time.

The introductory paragraph should outline the overall strategy for the study. It should also describe the short-term and long-term goals of the case study. Using this method will ensure clarity and reduce misunderstandings. However, it is important to consider the end goal. After all, the objective is to communicate the benefits of the product. And, the solution should be measurable. This can be done by highlighting the benefits and minimizing the negatives.

Structure of a case study introduction

The structure of a case study introduction is different from the general introduction of a research paper. The main purpose of the introduction is to set the stage for the rest of the case study. The problem statement must be short and precise to convey the main point of the study. Then, the introduction should summarize the literature review and present the previous case studies that have dealt with the topic. The introduction should end with a thesis statement.

The thesis statement should contain facts and evidence related to the topic. Include the method used, the findings, and discussion. The solution section should describe specific strategies for solving the problem. It should conclude with a call to action for the reader. When using quotations, be sure to cite them properly. The thesis statement must include the problem statement, the methods used, and the expected outcome of the study. The conclusion section should state the case study’s importance.

In the discussion section, state the limitations of the study and explain why they are not significant. In addition, mention any questions unanswered and issues that the study was unable to address. For more information, check out the APA, Harvard, Chicago, and MLA citation styles. Once you know how to structure a case study introduction, you’ll be ready to write it! And remember, there’s always a right and wrong way to write a case study introduction.

During the writing process, you’ll need to make notes on the problems and issues of the case. Write down any ideas and directions that come to mind. Avoid writing neatly. It may impede your creative process, so write down a rough draft first, and then draw it up for your educational instructor. The introduction is an overview of the case study. Include the thesis statement. If you’re writing a case study for an assignment, you’ll also need to provide an overview of the assignment.

Guidelines for writing a case study introduction

A case study is not a formal scientific research report, but it is written for a lay audience. It should be readable and follow the general narrative that was determined in the first step. The introduction should provide background information about the case and its main topic. It should be short, but should introduce the topic and explain its context in just one or two paragraphs. An ideal case study introduction is between three and five sentences.

The case study must be well-designed and logical. It cannot contain opinions or assumptions. The research question must be a logical conclusion based on the findings. This can be done through a spreadsheet program or by consulting a linguistics expert. Once you have identified the major issues, you need to revise the paper. Once you have revised it twice, it should be well-written, concise, and logical.

The conclusion should state the findings, explain their significance, and summarize the main points. The conclusion should move from the detailed to the general level of consideration. The conclusion should also briefly state the limitations of the case study and point out the need for further research in order to fully address the problem. This should be done in a manner that will keep the reader interested in reading the paper. It should be clear about what the case study found and what it means for the research community.

The case study begins with a cover page and an executive summary, depending on your professor’s instructions. It’s important to remember that this is not a mandatory element of the case study. Instead, the executive summary should be brief and include the key points of the study’s analysis. It should be written as if an executive would read it on the run. Ultimately, the executive summary should include all the key points of the case study.

Clarity in a case study introduction

Clarity in a case study introduction should be at the heart of the paper. This section should explain why the case was chosen and how you decided to use it. The case study introduction varies according to the type of subject you are studying and the goals of the study. Here are some examples of clear and effective case study introductions. Read on to find out how to write a successful one. Clarity in a case study introduction begins with a strong thesis statement and ends with a compelling conclusion.

The conclusion of the case study should restate the research question and emphasize its importance. Identify and restate the key findings and describe how they address the research question. If the case study has limitations, discuss the potential for further research. In addition, document the limitations of the case study. Include any limitations of the case study in the conclusion. This will allow readers to make informed decisions about whether or not the findings are relevant to their own practices.

A case study introduction should include a brief discussion of the topic and selected case. It should explain how the study fits into current knowledge. A reader may question the validity of the analysis if it fails to consider all possible outcomes. For example, a case study on railroad crossings may fail to document the obvious outcome of improving the signage at these intersections. Another example would be a study that failed to document the impact of warning signs and speed limits on railroad crossings.

As a conclusion, the case study should also contain a discussion of how the research was conducted. While it may be a case study, the results are not necessarily applicable to other situations. In addition to describing how a solution has solved the problem, a case study should also discuss the causes of the problem. A case study should be based on real data and information. If the case study is not valid, it will not be a good fit for the audience.

Sample of a case study introduction

A good case study introduction serves as a map for the reader to follow. It should identify the research problem and discuss its significance. It should be based on extensive research and should incorporate relevant issues and facts. For example, it may include a short but precise problem statement. The next section of the introduction should include a description of the solution. The final part of the introduction should conclude with the recommended action. Once the reader has a sense of the direction the study will take, they will feel confident in pursuing the study further.

In the case of social sciences, case studies cannot be purely empirical. The results of a case study can be compared with those of other studies, so that the case study’s findings can be assessed against previous research. A case study’s results can help support general conclusions and build theories, while their practical value lies in generating hypotheses. Despite their utility, case studies often contain a bias toward verification and tend to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions.

In the case of case studies, the conclusions section should state the significance of the findings, stating how the findings of the study differ from other previous studies. Likewise, the conclusion section should summarize the key findings, and make the reader understand how they address the research problem. In the case of a case study, it is crucial to document any limitations that have been identified. After all, a case study is not complete without further research.

After the introduction, the main body of the paper is the case presentation. It should provide information about the case, such as the history, examination results, working diagnosis, management, and outcome. It should conclude with a discussion, explaining the correlations, apparent inconsistencies, and lessons learned. Finally, the conclusion should state whether the case study presented the results in the desired way. The findings should not be overgeneralized, and the conclusions must be derived from this information.

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Introduction

This page has links to your course readings that can be accessed through UMD's Library resources. Click on the Week # tabs below to access each week's readings. You may be prompted to login to UMD's Central Authentication System (CAS) -- this will be the same username and password that you use to login to ELMS or your email.

This page does not have all of your course readings! These are just the ones that are available through the UMD Libraries.

Course Readings by Week

• "Bankers and Common Men in Beford Falls: How the FBI Determined that It’s a Wonderful Life was a Subversive Movie" Noakes, John A. (1998). Bankers and Common Men in Bedford Falls. Film History 10(3): 311–319. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=30h&AN=27249548&site=ehost-live.
• Clint Eastwood and Equity: Popular Culture's Theory of Revenge Miller, William Ian. (2000). Clint Eastwood and Equity: Popular Culture's Theory of Revenge. In A. Sarat and T. R. Kearns (Eds.), Law in the Domains of Culture. University of Michigan Press. https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=e025xna&AN=310028&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_161
• "The Seductive and Subversive Meta-Narrative in Unforgiven" Kupfer, J. H. (2008). The Seductive and Subversive Meta-Narrative of Unforgiven. Journal of Film & Video, 60(3/4), 103–114. https://doi-org.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/10.1353/jfv.0.0015
• "Why ‘Law-and-Film’ and What Does it Actually Mean? A Perspective" Kamir, Orit. 2005. Why ‘Law-and-Film’ and What Does It Actually Mean? A Perspective. Continuum 19(2): 255–278. doi:10.1080/10304310500084558.
• From Bonnie and Clyde to Thelma and Louise: The Struggle for Justice in the Cinematic South Miller, J. (1996). From Bonnie and Clyde to Thelma and Louise: The Struggle for Justice in the Cinematic South. Studies in Popular Culture, 19(2), 277–286. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41970283
• "Rethinking Regulation: Violence and 1967 Hollywood" Slocum, J. David. (2004). Rethinking regulation: Violence and 1967 Hollywood. In L. Moran et. al. (Eds.), Law's moving image (pp. 173-186). Routledge-Cavendish. https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=e025xna&AN=512682&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_173
• Outlaw Women: Thelma and Louise Spelman, E. V., & Minow, M. (1995). Outlaw Women: An Essay on Thelma & Louise. In After identity (1st ed., pp. 314–331). Routledge. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE. LINK IS FOR PHYSICAL JOURNAL IN LIBRARY.
• Law and the American Western: High Noon Nichols, M. P. (1998). Law and the American western: high noon. Legal Studies Forum, 22(4), 591-606. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lstf22&i=601
• The Firm Pringle, Mary Beth. (1997). The Firm. In John Grisham : a critical companion. (pp. 41-55). Greenwood Press. THIS CHAPTER IS NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE. LINK IS FOR PHYSICAL BOOK IN LIBRARY.

• Michael Clayton, Hollywood's contemporary hero-lawyer: beyond outsider within and insider without. Kamir, Orit. (2009). Michael Clayton, Hollywood's contemporary hero-lawyer: beyond outsider within and insider without. Suffolk University Law Review, 42(4), 829-848. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/sufflr42&i=843
• "The Force as Law": Mythology, Ideology and Order in George Lucas's Star Wars. Peters, Timothy D. (2012). The Force as Law: Mythology, Ideology and Order in George Lucas's Star Wars. Australian Feminist Law Journal, 36, 125-144. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/afemlj36&i=131

No class texts available through UMD Libraries for this week -- check your ELMS course for readings for this week!

• "Sunset Boulevard": Illusion and dementia Dean, Joan F. (1984). Sunset Boulevard: Illusion and Dementia. Revue française d’études américaines, 19(1), 89–98. https://doi.org/10.3406/rfea.1984.1159
• How Art and and Law Can Work Together Beyond the Marketplace Katyal, S. K. and Kee, J. (2017). How Art and and Law Can Work Together Beyond the Marketplace. Hyperallergic. https://hyperallergic.com/350921/how-art-and-law-can-work-together-beyond-the-marketplace/
• Anything Can Break Bad: An FBI Special Agent Has Learned the Difference Between the Art World and the Mafia Pollack, B. (2016). Anything Can Break Bad: An FBI Special Agent Has Learned the Difference Between the Art World and the Mafia. ARTnews. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/anything-can-break-bad-an-fbi-special-agent-has-learned-the-difference-between-the-art-world-and-the-mafia-6397/
• Art and Censorship Serra, R. (1991). Art and Censorship. Critical Inquiry, 17(3), 574–581. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343799
• Post-Modern Art and the Death of Obscenity Law Adler, A. M. (1990). Post-Modern Art and the Death of Obscenity Law. The Yale Law Journal, 99(6), 1359–1378. https://doi.org/10.2307/796739

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Why Republicans are calling Walz 'Tampon Tim' — and why Democrats embrace it

Rachel Treisman

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, pictured at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, is getting attention for a law he signed last year requiring public schools to provide free period products. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

For more on the 2024 election, head to the NPR Network's live updates page.

Republican critics of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz have given him a new nickname: “Tampon Tim.”

After Vice President Harris announced her pick , Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, tweeted , “She actually chose Tampon Tim.” Chaya Raichik, who runs the far-right social media account Libs of TikTok, photoshopped Walz’s face onto a Tampax box.

#TamponTim pic.twitter.com/eBPyEOSWPC — Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) August 6, 2024

“Tampon Tim is hands down the best political nickname ever,” tweeted conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. “It’s so… savagely effective. In one word tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about Tim Walz’s dangerous radicalism.”

The moniker refers to a law that Walz, the governor of Minnesota, signed last year, requiring public schools to provide menstrual products — including pads and tampons — to students in 4th through 12th grades.

The products are free for students, with the state paying about $2 per pupil to keep them stocked throughout the school year.

Takeaways from Tim Walz's introduction to the national stage

The law, which was the result of years of advocacy by students and their allies, took effect on Jan. 1, though students say the rollout has so far been smoother in some school districts than others .

It makes Minnesota one of 28 states (and Washington D.C.) that have passed laws aimed at giving students access to menstrual products in schools, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.

The issue enjoys broad popular support: 30 states have eliminated state sales tax on menstrual products, and Trump himself signed a 2018 package that requires federal prisons to provide them.

But Republicans appear to be taking issue with the wording of the legislation, which says the products must be available “to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students.”

Some Minnesota Republicans initially tried to limit the initiative to female-assigned and gender-neutral bathrooms, but were unsuccessful. Even the author of that amendment ultimately voted for the final version of the bill, saying his family members “felt like it was an important issue I should support.”

The bill’s inclusive language reflects that not all people who menstruate are women, and not all women get periods, which was important to those who lobbied for the legislation.

“It will make it more comfortable for everyone … then people can use whatever restroom they want without being worried,” Bramwell Lundquist, then 15, told MPR News last year.

But some in the Republican Party — which has increasingly promoted anti-transgender policies and rhetoric — see that aspect of the bill as a reason to attack Walz.

“Tim Walz is a weird radical liberal,” the MAGA War Room account posted on X, formerly Twitter. “What could be weirder than signing a bill requiring schools to stock tampons in boys' bathrooms?”

'Midwestern Nice' and 'Fun Dad' posts abound after Tim Walz is named VP pick

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt made a similar argument in a Tuesday appearance on Fox News .

“As a woman, I think there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender-transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools,” she said. “Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports. He actually signed a bill to do that.”

LGBTQ rights groups have cheered Walz’s selection and praised his track record, which includes a 2023 executive order making Minnesota one of the first states to safeguard access to gender-affirming health care, as dozens of states seek to ban it .

Walz, who once earned the title “ most inspiring teacher ” at the high school where he taught and coached football, hasn’t responded publicly to the “Tampon Tim” taunts. But he had strong words for his Republican opponents on Tuesday night.

“I'll just say it: Donald Trump and JD Vance are creepy and, yes, weird,” he tweeted , repeating the put-down he helped popularize in recent days. “We are not going back.”

Many on the left see “Tampon Tim” as a compliment

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Sandra Feist, the chief sponsor of the bill in the state House, sold it as a "wise investment" , explaining to her colleagues last year that “one out of every 10 menstruating youth miss school” due to a lack of access to menstrual products and resources.

She defended it again in a tweet on Wednesday morning, saying she was grateful to have partnered with Walz to address period poverty .

“This law exemplifies what we can accomplish when we listen to students to address their needs,” she wrote. “Excited to see MN representation at the top of the ticket!”

Feist ended the tweet with the hashtag #TamponTim.

Other Democratic figures have embraced both the hashtag and the policy behind it.

The case for free tampons and pads in schools

Many social media users responded that providing tampons in schools isn’t the bad thing that Republicans are making it out to be — and in fact, they see it as the opposite.

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said it was “nice of the Trump camp to help publicize Gov. Tim Walz’s compassionate and common-sense policy,” adding, “Let’s do this everywhere.”

Former Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen said Walz, as a former teacher, understands how the lack of access to menstrual products impacts educational outcomes.

“This makes me an even bigger fan of Tampon Tim,” she added.

Nearly 1 in 4 students have struggled to afford period products in the United States, according to a 2023 study commissioned by Thinx and PERIOD. Experts say period poverty is more than just a hassle : It’s an issue of public and personal health, dignity and more.

The Minnesota students who lobbied for the bill testified last year about having to miss class because they were unable to afford menstrual products, being distracted from schoolwork and tests and feeling that adults didn’t take their concern seriously.

“We cannot learn while we are leaking,” high school student Elif Ozturk, then 16, told a legislative hearing in 2023. “How do we expect our students to carry this burden with them during the school day and still perform well? The number one priority should be to learn, not to find a pad.”

• menstrual products

ACLU, Firms See Fifth Circuit Gains in Abusive Policing Suits

By Caitlin McLean

The ACLU of Louisiana reports unforeseen success teaming up with pro bono attorneys to challenge qualified immunity, including cases before the federal appellate court viewed as the nation’s most conservative.

Since its creation in 2020, the ACLU of Louisiana’s Justice Lab pilot program says it has won over 80 legal victories in state and federal courts, including 34 qualified immunity challenges. In total, the program has dealt with 59 qualified immunity cases. Qualified immunity wins, according to the group focusing on allegations of racist police practices, means a court ruled that law enforcement actions violated established rights, allowing a suit to proceed.

Nora Ahmed, the legal director for the ACLU in Louisiana, said the rights group notably has been “pleasantly surprised” at the “movement we’ve made” at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. “Getting reversals on qualified immunity—that has been something that we did not necessarily anticipate.”

The doctrine of qualified immunity created by the Supreme Court shields government officials from suits alleging violations of constitutional rights. In the law enforcement context, it has come under scrutiny since the 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer prompted a nationwide reckoning over race and policing.

But a 2024 report by the public interest law firm The Institute for Justice underscores the difficulty in overcoming qualified immunity defenses. The study, which analyzed all federal qualified immunity appeals between 2010 and 2020 found that 59% of the time courts, ruled solely in favor of public officials. Courts resolved appeals in favor of accusers 24% of the time.

The Fifth Circuit, a more conservative court, resolved appeals solely in favor of accusers least often among all circuits, just 16% of the time.

But Justice Lab has prevailed in seven qualified immunity challenges before the Fifth Circuit. Four others are pending, and three were losses.

Potential Shift

Joanna Schwartz, a professor at UCLA School of Law who teaches and writes on qualified immunity, isn’t surprised by Justice Lab’s success before the Fifth Circuit as it could indicate a broader shift in how courts look at the issue.

“It seems that the tide is turning to some degree. And in fact, there are some real skeptics about qualified immunity on the court, and there have been a number of pretty passionately written reversals of lower courts on qualified immunity,” Schwartz said.

Notable Justice Lab wins at the Fifth Circuit include a ruling in June in which the court confirmed the denial of qualified immunity in the police shooting of a man who the group said was having a mental health crisis.

And last August, the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court decision in the case of a man Justice Lab says was “illegally frisked” by police during an “unnecessary traffic stop.” The ruling allowed the case to move forward at the time.

‘Resources, Brainpower’

Schwartz credited Justice Lab success to the skill of the ACLU and its lawyers in arguing cases.

Fifty law firms, 19 legal clinics, and five community partners helped the Justice Lab litigate cases, securing $500,000 in settlements for clients’ families, according to the ACLU of Louisiana. Big Law partners include Linklaters, White & Case, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Noelle Williams, a Freshfields associate, said support for projects like the work being done at the ACLU of Louisiana is important to change “unfavorable law” in the Fifth Circuit.

“Putting all of that time and effort and resources and brainpower behind some of these social justice issues, is really the way to move the needle,” Williams said.

Ahmed said achieving Justice Lab goals will require similar efforts nationally.

“For the actual change that we’re looking for to occur across the country, a pilot program like this effectively needs to be running in every state with a distinct commitment to bringing these types of cases because it’s these types of cases that we strongly believe prevent the murders,” Ahmed said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Caitlin McLean in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at [email protected] ; John Crawley at [email protected]

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Local Moratoriums for Ohio Adult Use Marijuana Operators

Introduction.

In November 2023, 57% of voters in Ohio voted for Issue 2 , a ballot initiative which legalized adult recreational marijuana use and tasked the Ohio Departments of Commerce and Development with implementing a legal recreational cannabis industry in the state. As of December 7, 2023, individuals 21 years and older can legally consume and possess marijuana throughout Ohio, although recreational dispensaries are not expected to open until the summer or early fall of 2024. Like most other states that have legalized cannabis for recreational use, Ohio allows local jurisdictions to enact ordinances to prohibit or limit the operation of adult-use cannabis businesses within their boundaries.  This page presents information on 68 active local moratoriums enacted by Ohio jurisdictions as of July 19, 2024. Please note that the list of moratoriums may not be comprehensive and will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Figure 1. Map of Ohio Jurisdictions That Have Enacted a Moratorium for Adult Use Marijuana Operators

Local Prohibition Statute and Host Community Fund

The incorporation of a local business prohibition statute is common among the 24 states that have legalized adult cannabis use for recreational purposes. Only four states out of these 24—New Mexico, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Minnesota—do not give localities the power to prohibit businesses, although these states give localities the right to enact reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner of consumption. The extent to which localities opt out of the legal recreational market varies. For instance, in Michigan 73% of municipalities (1,300 out of 1,773) opted out; [1] in New York, only about 50% of municipalities (753 out of 1,520) opted out of allowing dispensaries within their boundaries. [2] . In comparison, the 71 Ohio municipalities that have passed moratoriums as of July 19, 2024, represent only a small fraction (just over 3%) of the 924 incorporated municipalities and 1,307 townships in the state of Ohio.

Ohio’s Issue 2 enacted Ohio Revised Code Section 3780.25, under which localities can enact ordinances prohibiting the operation of adult-use businesses, although they may not prohibit the operation of existing medical cannabis operators that are already located within their jurisdiction. Additionally, localities cannot pass ordinances prohibiting or limiting marijuana-related research conducted at state universities, levy a tax, fee, or charge on adult-use operators that are not being levied on other businesses within the municipal corporation or township, and they cannot prohibit or limit home grow, or any other activity authorized under Chapter 3780.

If a dispensary license is issued by the Division of Cannabis Control for a locality that does not have a moratorium in place, the locality has 120 days to enact an ordinance prohibiting the operations of the dispensary. Upon passage of the ordinance, the dispensary has 60 days to cease operations, or begin the process of initiating a petition to operate that would have to be voted on at the next general election.

Host Community Fund

While the current law gives communities the power to prohibit adult-use cannabis operators from their jurisdictions, it also created an incentive for municipalities to allow operators by establishing the Host Community Fund. Thirty-six percent of the recreational cannabis excise tax revenue collected by the state will be directed to the Host Community Fund, which is then distributed to municipal corporations or townships that have adult use dispensaries. This revenue, along with the local sales tax collected from the sale of recreational marijuana, can be used by communities to fund their own priorities. [3]

The State of Local Moratoriums

As of July 19, 2024, 71 Ohio municipal corporations or townships have passed moratoriums prohibiting adult-use cannabis businesses. We were able to collect the language of 59 of these moratoriums. [4] The 68 jurisdictions with active moratoriums represent just over 12% of Ohio’s population, with the average population of these localities hovering just above 21,000 residents.

Figure 2. Ohio Moratoriums by Jurisdiction’s Population Size

Of the 59 ordinances we collected, 58 jurisdictions enacted full moratoriums for all types of adult use operators. As shown in Table 1, 18 of these jurisdictions have left the length of the moratorium undefined, while the other jurisdictions averaged a moratorium of approximately nine months—30 are a full year or longer, while two are six months or shorter. A handful of jurisdictions that enacted adult-use moratoriums already have operating medical marijuana establishments.

Table 1. Ohio Jurisdictions That Have Enacted a Moratorium for Adult Use Marijuana Operators

The moratoriums are generally brief and often describe the need to ensure “public peace, health, safety, and welfare of [the locality’s] citizens.” The moratoriums also often cite the need for time to review current ordinances and identify any conflicting laws with state laws legalizing marijuana, or to wait for lawmakers in the Ohio General Assembly to revise Issue 2 before making any changes to their own code. Multiple jurisdictions have indicated an intent to actively study current law and create recommendations for their locality once the final state rules for the adult-use recreational industry are adopted.

Table 2. Stated Purpose and Intent of Local Moratoriums

Enduring Consideration for Localities

While approaching a recreational cannabis market carefully might be prudent, localities that prohibit adult-use operators are foregoing potentially significant tax revenue stemming from cannabis businesses being located within their boundaries. Though Ohio tax revenues will not begin to accrue until the second half of 2024, revenues soon thereafter are forecasted to be considerable. [5] In addition to money allocated through the Host Community Fund, localities with active adult-use operators will generate local sales tax revenue that can be used for purposes specific to the community.

Moratoriums also limit opportunities for local entrepreneurs seeking to enter the adult-use market as well as possible employment prospects for local residents. For instance, according to some reports, Michigan’s cannabis industry has created 45,000 full-time positions. [6] Because cannabis businesses advance economic development in myriad ways, municipalities and townships considering moratoriums need to weigh not only public health and public safety concerns, but also the potential benefits of economic development, job creation, and tax revenue.

Lastly, localities should consider the possibility that prohibiting adult-use operators could have the unintended effect of increasing efforts to access cannabis through other means by local residents. Localities cannot make cannabis possession or use or even home grow illegal, and some local citizens are likely to seek out cannabis despite local bans through home grow efforts, or by traveling to nearby localities to find legal stores, or by turning to illicit markets to fill the void. Localities should continuously examine whether public health and public safety concerns are best served through local prohibitions or through well-crafted regulatory efforts.

[1]  Ken Haddad, “Here is which Michigan communities are opted out of adult-use marijuana sales”, December 12, 2023. Click on Detroit . https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2023/12/12/heres-which-michigan-communities-are-opted-out-of-adult-use-marijuana-sales/

[2] Marijuana Opt-Out Tracker, Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY. https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/state-local-government/municipal-opt-out-tracker/

[3] The wording in the statute is as follows: “Thirty-six per cent to the host community cannabis fund for the benefit of municipal corporations or townships that have adult use dispensaries, and the municipal corporations or townships may use such funds for any approved purpose.” It is not clear what “approved purpose” means and which department, if any, is tasked with defining “approved purposes”.

[4] Avon Lake has enacted both a public consumption and adult use retail moratorium ordinances. Our center has collected language for both ordinances but does not include the public consumption ordinance in our count.

[5] Jana Hrdinova and Dexter Ridgway, “What Tax Revenues Should Ohioans Expect If Ohio Legalizes Adult-Use Cannabis?”, August 2023. Drug Enforcement and Policy Center. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4537855

[6] Angela Mulka, “Michigan's cannabis industry employs more than 46,000 workers”, April 26, 2024. Pioneer . https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/news/article/michigan-cannabis-industry-second-largest-in-us-19420833.php

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• Published: 06 August 2024

AI and ethics: Investigating the first policy responses of higher education institutions to the challenge of generative AI

• Attila Dabis   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4924-7664 1 &
• Csaba Csáki   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8245-1002 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  1006 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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This article addresses the ethical challenges posed by generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education and explores the first responses of universities to these challenges globally. Drawing on five key international documents from the UN, EU, and OECD, the study used content analysis to identify key ethical dimensions related to the use of generative AI in academia, such as accountability, human oversight, transparency, or inclusiveness. Empirical evidence was compiled from 30 leading universities ranked among the top 500 in the Shanghai Ranking list from May to July 2023, covering those institutions that already had publicly available responses to these dimensions in the form of policy documents or guidelines. The paper identifies the central ethical imperative that student assignments must reflect individual knowledge acquired during their education, with human individuals retaining moral and legal responsibility for AI-related wrongdoings. This top-down requirement aligns with a bottom-up approach, allowing instructors flexibility in determining how they utilize generative AI especially large language models in their own courses. Regarding human oversight, the typical response identified by the study involves a blend of preventive measures (e.g., course assessment modifications) and soft, dialogue-based sanctioning procedures. The challenge of transparency induced the good practice of clear communication of AI use in course syllabi in the first university responses examined by this study.

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Introduction.

The competition in generative artificial intelligence (AI) ignited by the arrival of ChatGPT, the conversational platform based on a large language model (LLM) in late November 2022 (OpenAI, 2022 ) had a shocking effect even on those who are not involved in the industry (Rudolph et al. 2023 ). Within four months, on 22 March 2023, an open letter was signed by several hundred IT professionals, corporate stakeholders, and academics calling on all AI labs to immediately pause the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 (i.e., those that may trick a human being into believing it is conversing with a peer rather than a machine) for at least six months (Future of Life Institute, 2023 ).

Despite these concerns, competition in generative AI and LLMs does not seem to lose momentum, forcing various social systems to overcome the existential distress they might feel about the changes and the uncertainty of what the future may bring (Roose, 2023 ). Organisations and individuals from different sectors of the economy and various industries are looking for adaptive strategies to accommodate the emerging new normal. This includes lawmakers, international organisations, employers, and employees, as well as academic and higher education institutions (Ray, 2023 ; Wach et al. 2023 ). This fierce competition generates gaps in real-time in everyday and academic life, the latter of which is also trying to make sense of the rapid technological advancement and its effects on university-level education (Perkins, 2023 ). Naturally, these gaps can only be filled, and relevant questions answered much slower by academia, making AI-related research topics timely.

This article aims to reduce the magnitude of these gaps and is intended to help leaders, administrators, teachers, and students better understand the ramifications of AI tools on higher education institutions. It will do so by providing a non-exhaustive snapshot of how various universities around the world responded to generative AI-induced ethical challenges in their everyday academic lives within six-eights months after the arrival of ChatGPT. Thus, the research had asked what expectations and guidelines the first policies introduced into existing academic structures to ensure the informed, transparent, responsible and ethical use of the new tools of generative AI (henceforth GAI) by students and teachers. Through reviewing and evaluating first responses and related difficulties the paper helps institutional decision-makers to create better policies to address AI issues specific to academia. The research reported here thus addressed actual answers to the question of what happened at the institutional (policy) level as opposed to what should happen with the use of AI in classrooms. Based on such a descriptive overview, one may contemplate normative recommendations and their realistic implementability.

Given the global nature of the study’s subject matter, the paper presents examples from various continents. Even though it was not yet a widespread practice to adopt separate, AI-related guidelines, the research focused on universities that had already done so quite early. Furthermore, as best practices most often accrue from the highest-ranking universities, the analysis only considered higher education institutions that were represented among the top 500 universities in the Shanghai Ranking list (containing 3041 Universities at the time), a commonly used source to rank academic excellence. Footnote 1 The main sources of this content analysis are internal documents (such as Codes of Ethics, Academic Regulations, Codes of Practice and Procedure, Guidelines for Students and Teachers or similar policy documents) from those institutions whose response to the GAI challenge was publicly accessible.

The investigation is organised around AI-related ethical dilemmas as concluded from relevant international documents, such as the instruments published by the UN, the EU, and the OECD (often considered soft law material). Through these sources, the study inductively identifies the primary aspects that these AI guidelines mention and can be connected to higher education. Thus it only contains concise references to the main ethical implications of the manifold pedagogical practices in which AI tools can be utilised in the classroom. The paper starts with a review of the challenges posed by AI technology to higher education with special focus on ethical dilemmas. Section 3 covers the research objective and the methodology followed. Section 4 presents the analysis of the selected international documents and establishes a list of key ethical principles relevant in HE contexts and in parallel presents the analysis of the examples distilled from the institutional policy documents and guidelines along that dimension. The paper closes with drawing key conclusions as well as listing limitations and ideas for future research.

Generative AI and higher education: Developments in the literature

General ai-related challenges in the classroom from a historical perspective.

Jacque Ellul fatalistically wrote already in 1954 that the “infusion of some more or less vague sentiment of human welfare” cannot fundamentally alter technology’s “rigorous autonomy”, bringing him to the conclusion that “technology never observes the distinction between moral and immoral use” (Ellul, 1964 , p. 97). Footnote 2 Jumping ahead nearly six decades, the above quote comes to the fore, among others, when evaluating the moral and ethical aspects of the services offered by specific software programs, like ChatGPT. While they might be trained to give ethical answers, these moral barriers can be circumvented by prompt injection (Blalock, 2022 ), or manipulated with tricks (Alberti, 2022 ), so generative AI platforms can hardly be held accountable for the inaccuracy of their responses Footnote 3 or how the physical user who inserted a prompt will make use of the output. Indeed, the AI chatbot is now considered to be a potentially disruptive technology in higher education practices (Farazouli et al. 2024 ).

Educators and educational institution leaders have from the beginning sought solutions on how “to use a variety of the strategies and technologies of the day to help their institutions adapt to dramatically changing social needs” (Miller, 2023 , p. 3). Education in the past had always had high hopes for applying the latest technological advances (Reiser, 2001 ; Howard and Mozejko, 2015 ), including the promise of providing personalised learning or using the latest tools to create and manage courses (Crompton and Burke, 2023 ).

The most basic (and original) educational settings include three components: the blackboard with chalk, the instructor, and textbooks as elementary “educational technologies” at any level (Reiser, 2001 ). Beyond these, one may talk about “educational media” which, once digital technology had entered the picture, have progressed from Computer Based Learning to Learning Management Systems to the use of the Internet, and lately to online shared learning environments with various stages in between including intelligent tutoring system, Dialogue-based Tutoring System, and Exploratory Learning Environment and Artificial Intelligence (Paek and Kim, 2021 ). And now the latest craze is about the generative form of AI often called conversational chatbot (Rudolph et al. 2023 ).

The above-mentioned promises appear to be no different in the case of using generative AI tools in education (Baskara, 2023a ; Mhlanga, 2023 ; Yan et al. 2023 ). The general claim is that GAI chatbots have transformative potential in HE (Mollick and Mollick, 2022 ; Ilieva et al. 2023 ). It is further alleged, that feedback mechanisms supposedly provided by GAI can be used to provide personalised guidance to students (Baskara, 2023b ). Some argue, that “AI education should be expanded and improved, especially by presenting realistic use cases and the real limitations of the technology, so that students are able to use AI confidently and responsibly in their professional future” (Almaraz-López et al. 2023 , p. 1). It is still debated whether the hype is justified, yet the question still remains, how to address the issues arising in the wake of the educational application of GAI tools (Ivanov, 2023 ; Memarian and Doleck, 2023 ).

Generative AI tools, such as their most-known representative, ChatGPT impact several areas of learning and teaching. From the point of view of students, chatbots may help with so-called Self-Regulated or Self-Determined Learning (Nicol and Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006 ; Baskara, 2023b ), where students either dialogue with chatbots or AI help with reviewing student work, even correcting it and giving feedback (Uchiyama et al. 2023 ). There are innovative ideas on how to use AI to support peer feedback (Bauer et al. 2023 ). Some consider that GAI can provide adaptive and personalised environments (Qadir, 2023 ) and may offer personalised tutoring (see, for example, Limo et al. ( 2023 ) on ChatGPT as a virtual tutor for personalized learning experiences). Furthermore, Yan et al. ( 2023 ) lists nine different categories of educational tasks that prior studies have attempted to automate using LLMs: Profiling and labelling (various educational or related content), Detection, Assessment and grading, Teaching support (in various educational and communication activities), Prediction, Knowledge representation, Feedback, Content generation (outline, questions, cases, etc.), Recommendation.

From the lecturers’ point of view, one of the most argued impacts is that assessment practices need to be revisited (Chaudhry et al. 2023 ; Gamage et al. 2023 ; Lim et al. 2023 ). For example, ChatGPT-written responses to exam questions may not be distinguished from student-written answers (Rudolph et al. 2023 ; Farazouli et al. 2024 ). Furthermore, essay-type works are facing special challenges (Sweeney, 2023 ). On the other hand, AI may be utilised to automate a range of educational tasks, such as test question generation, including open-ended questions, test correction, or even essay grading, feedback provision, analysing student feedback surveys, and so on (Mollick and Mollick, 2022 ; Rasul et al. 2023 ; Gimpel et al. 2023 ).

There is no convincing evidence, however, that either lecturers or dedicated tools are able to distinguish AI-written and student-written text with high enough accuracy that can be used to prove unethical behaviour in all cases (Akram, 2023 ). This led to concerns regarding the practicality and ethicality of such innovations (Yan et al. 2023 ). Indeed, the appearance of ChatGPT in higher education has reignited the (inconclusive) debate on the potential and risks associated with AI technologies (Ray, 2023 ; Rudolph et al. 2023 ).

When new technologies appear in or are considered for higher education, debates about their claimed advantages and potential drawbacks heat up as they are expected to disrupt traditional practices and require teachers to adapt to their potential benefits and drawbacks (as collected by Farrokhnia et al. 2023 ). One key area of such debates is the ethical issues raised by the growing accessibility of generative AI and discursive chatbots.

Key ethical challenges posed by AI in higher education

Yan et al. ( 2023 ), while investigating the practicality of AI in education in general, also consider ethicality in the context of educational technology and point out that related debates over the last decade (pre-ChatGPT, so to say), mostly focused on algorithmic ethics, i.e. concerns related to data mining and using AI in learning analytics. At the same time, the use of AI by teachers or, especially, by students has received less attention (or only under the scope or traditional human ethics). However, with the arrival of generative AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT), the number of publications about their use in higher education grew rapidly (Rasul et al. 2023 ; Yan et al. 2023 ).

The study by Chan ( 2023 ) offers a (general) policy framework for higher education institutions, although it focuses on one location and is based on the perceptions of students and teachers. While there are studies that collect factors to be considered for the ethical use of AI in HE, they appear to be restricted to ChatGPT (see, for example, Mhlanga ( 2023 )). Mhlanga ( 2023 ) presents six factors: respect for privacy, fairness, and non-discrimination, transparency in the use of ChatGPT, responsible use of AI (including clarifying its limitations), ChatGPT is not a substitute for human teachers, and accuracy of information. The framework by Chan ( 2023 ) is aimed at creating policies to teach students about GAI and considers three dimensions: pedagogical, governance, and operational. Within those dimensions, ten key areas identified covering ethical concerns such as academic integrity versus academic misconduct and related ethical dilemmas (e.g. cheating or plagiarism), data privacy, transparency, accountability and security, equity in access to AI technologies, critical AI literacy, over-reliance on AI technologies (not directly ethical), responsible use of AI (in general), competencies impeded by AI (such as leadership and teamwork). Baskara ( 2023b ), while also looking at ChatGPT only, considers the following likely danger areas: privacy, algorithmic bias issues, data security, and the potential negative impact of ChatGPT on learners’ autonomy and agency, The paper also questions the possible negative impact of GAI on social interaction and collaboration among learners. Although Yan et al. ( 2023 ) considers education in general (not HE in particular) during its review of 118 papers published since 2017 on the topic of AI ethics in education, its list of areas to look at is still relevant: transparency (of the models used), privacy (related to data collection and use by AI tools), equality (such as availability of AI tools in different languages), and beneficence (e.g. avoiding bias and avoiding biased and toxic knowledge from training data). While systematically reviewing recent publications about AI’s “morality footprint” in higher education, Memarian and Doleck ( 2023 ) consider the Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) approach as their framework of analyses. They note that “Ethics” appears to be the most used term as it serves as a general descriptor, while the other terms are typically only used in their descriptive sense, and their operationalisation is often lacking in related literature.

Regarding education-related data analytics, Khosravi et al. ( 2022 ) argue that educational technology that involves AI should consider accountability, explainability, fairness, interpretability and safety as key ethical concerns. Ferguson et al. ( 2016 ) also looked at learning analytics solutions using AI and warned of potential issues related to privacy, beneficence, and equality. M.A. Chaudhry et al. ( 2022 ) emphasise that enhancing the comprehension of stakeholders of a new educational AI system is the most important task, which requires making all information and decision processes available to those affected, therefore the key concern is related to transparency according to their arguments.

As such debates continue, it is difficult to identify an established definition of ethical AI in HE. It is clear, however, that the focus should not be on detecting academic misconduct (Rudolph et al. 2023 ). Instead, practical recommendations are required. This is especially true as even the latest studies focus mostly on issues related to assessment practices (Chan, 2023 ; Farazouli et al. 2024 ) and often limit their scope to ChatGPT (Cotton et al. 2024 ) (this specific tool still dominates discourses of LLMs despite the availability of many other solutions since its arrival). At the same time, the list of issues addressed appears to be arbitrary, and most publications do not look at actual practices on a global scale. Indeed, reviews of actual current practices of higher education institutions are rare, and this aspect is not yet the focus of recent HE AI ethics research reports.

As follows from the growing literature and the debate shaping up about the implications of using GAI tools in HE, there was a clear need for a systematic review of how first responses in actual academic policies and guidelines in practice have represented and addressed known ethical principles.

Research objective and methodology

In order to contribute to the debate on the impact of GAI on HE, this study aimed to review how leading institutions had reacted to the arrival of generative AI (such as ChatGPT) and what policies or institutional guidelines they have put in place shortly after. The research intended to understand whether key ethical principles were reflected in the first policy responses of HE institutions and, if yes, how they were handled.

As potential principles can diverge and could be numerous, as well as early guidelines may cover wide areas, the investigation is intended to be based on a few broad categories instead of trying to manage a large set of ideals and goals. To achieve this objective, the research was executed in three steps:

It was started with identifying and collecting general ethical ideals, which were then translated and structured for the context of higher education. A thorough content analysis was performed with the intention to put emphasis on positive values instead of simply focusing on issues or risks and their mitigation.

Given those positive ideals, this research collected actual examples of university policies and guidelines already available: this step was executed from May to July 2023 to find early responses addressing such norms and principles developed by leading HE institutions.

The documents identified were then analysed to understand how such norms and principles had been addressed by leading HE institutions.

As a result, this research managed to highlight and contrast differing practical views, and the findings raise awareness about the difficulties of creating relevant institutional policies. The research considered the ethics of using GAI and not expectations towards their development. The next two sections provide details of the two steps.

Establishing ethical principles for higher education

While the review of relevant ethical and HE literature (as presented above) was not fully conclusive, it highlighted the importance and need for some ideals specific to HE. Therefore, as a first step, this study sought to find highly respected sources of such ethical dimensions by executing a directed content analysis of relevant international regulatory and policy recommendations.

In order to establish what key values and ideas drive the formation of future AI regulations in general, Corrêa et al. ( 2023 ) investigated 200 publications discussing governance policies and ethical guidelines for using AI as proposed by various organisations (including national governments and institutions, civil society and academic organisations, private companies, as well as international bodies). The authors were also interested in whether there are common patterns or missing ideals and norms in this extensive set of proposals and recommendations. As the research was looking for key principles and normative attributes that could form a common ground for the comparison of HE policies, this vast set of documents was used to identify internationally recognised bodies that have potential real influence in this arena and decided to consider the guidelines and recommendations they have put forward for the ethical governance of AI. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, the following sources were selected (some organisations, such as the EU were represented by several bodies):

European Commission ( 2021 ): Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and Amending Certain Union Legislative Acts (2021/0106 (COD)) . Footnote 4

European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education ( 2021 ): Report on artificial intelligence in education, culture and the audiovisual sector (2020/2017(INI)) . Footnote 5

High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (EUHLEX) ( 2019 ): Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI . Footnote 6

UNESCO ( 2022 ): Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (SHS/BIO/PI/2021/1) . Footnote 7

OECD ( 2019 ): Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence (OECD/LEGAL/0449) . Footnote 8

The ethical dilemmas established by these international documents (most of which is considered soft law material) were then used to inductively identify the primary aspects around which the investigation of educational AI principles may be organised.

Among the above documents, the EUHLEX material is the salient one as it contains a Glossary that defines and explains, among others, the two primary concepts that will be used in this paper: “artificial intelligence” and “ethics”. As this paper is, to a large extent, based on the deducted categorisation embedded in these international documents, it will follow suit in using the above terms as EUHLEX did, supporting it with the definitions contained in the other four referenced international documents. Consequently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are referred to in this paper as software and hardware systems designed by humans that “act in the physical or digital dimension by perceiving their environment through data acquisition, interpreting the collected structured or unstructured data, reasoning on the knowledge, or processing the information, derived from this data and deciding the best action(s) to take to achieve the given goal” (EUHLEX, 2019 ). With regards to ethics, the EUHLEX group defines this term, in general as an academic discipline which is a subfield of philosophy, dealing with questions like “What is a good action?”, “What is the value of a human life?”, “What is justice?”, or “What is the good life?”. It also mentions that academia distinguishes four major fields: (i) Meta-ethics, (ii) normative ethics, (iii) descriptive ethics, and (iv) applied ethics ” (EUHLEX, 2019 , p. 37). Within these, AI ethics belongs to the latter group of applied ethics that focuses on the practical issues raised by the design, development, implementation, and use of AI systems. By extension, the application of AI systems in higher education also falls under the domain of applied ethics.

The selection of sample universities

The collection of cases started with the AI guidelines compiled by the authors as members of the AI Committee at their university from May to July 2023. The AI Committee consisted of 12 members and investigated over 150 cases to gauge international best practices of GAI use in higher education when formulating a policy recommendation for their own university leadership. Given the global nature of the subject matter, examples from various continents were collected. From this initial pool authors narrowed the scope to the Top 500 higher education institutions of the Shanghai Ranking list for this study, as best practices most often accrue from the highest-ranking universities. Finally, only those institutions were included which, at the time of data collection, have indeed had publicly available policy documents or guidelines with clearly identifiable ethical considerations (such as relevant internal documents, Codes of Ethics, Academic Regulations, Codes of Practice and Procedure, or Guidelines for Students and Teachers). By the end of this selection process, 30 samples proved to be substantiated enough to be included in this study (presented in Table 1 ).

All documents were contextually analysed and annotated by both authors individually looking for references or mentions of ideas, actions or recommendations related to the ethical principles identified during the first step of the research. These comments were then compared and commonalities analysed regarding the nature and goal of the ethical recommendation.

Principles and practices of responsible use of AI in higher education

Ai-related ethical codes forming the base of this investigation.

A common feature of the selected AI ethics documents issued by international organisations is that they enumerate a set of ethical principles based on fundamental human values. The referenced international documents have different geographical- and policy scopes, yet they overlap in their categorisation of the ethical dimensions relevant to this research, even though they might use discrepant language to describe the same phenomenon (a factor we took into account when establishing key categories). For example, what EUHLEX dubs as “Human agency and oversight” is addressed by UNESCO under the section called “Human oversight and determination”, yet they essentially cover the same issues and recommended requirements. Among the many principles enshrined in these documents, the research focuses on those that can be directly linked to the everyday education practices of universities in relation to AI tools, omitting those that, within this context, are less situation-dependent and should normally form the overarching basis of the functioning of universities at all times, such as: respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, refraining from all forms of discrimination, the right to privacy and data protection, or being aware of environmental concerns and responsibilities regarding sustainable development. As pointed out by Nikolinakos ( 2023 ), such principles and values provide essential guidance not only for development but also during the deployment and use of AI systems. Synthesising the common ethical codes in these instruments has led to the following cluster of ethical principles that are directly linked to AI-related higher education practices:

Accountability and responsibility;

Human agency and oversight;

Transparency and explainability

Inclusiveness and diversity.

The following subsections will give a comprehensive definition of these ethical areas and relate them to higher education expectations. Each subsection will first explain the corresponding ethical cluster, then present the specific university examples, concluding with a summary of the identified best practice under that particular cluster.

Accountability and responsibility

Definition in ethical codes and relevance.

The most fundamental requirements, appearing in almost all relevant documents, bring forward the necessity that mechanisms should be implemented to ensure responsibility and accountability for AI systems and their outcomes. These cover expectations both before and after their deployment, including development and use. They entail the basic requirements of auditability (i.e. the enablement of the assessment of algorithms), clear roles in the management of data and design processes (as a means for contributing to the trustworthiness of AI technology), the minimalisation and reporting of negative impacts (focusing on the possibility of identifying, assessing, documenting and reporting on the potential negative impacts of AI systems), as well as the ability of redress (understood as the capability to utilise mechanisms that offer legal and practical remedy when unjust adverse impact occurs) (EUHLEX, 2019 , pp. 19–20).

Additionally, Points 35–36 of the UNESCO recommendations remind us that it is imperative to “attribute ethical and legal responsibility for any stage of the life cycle of AI systems, as well as in cases of remedy related to AI systems, to physical persons or to existing legal entities. AI system can never replace ultimate human responsibility and accountability” (UNESCO, 2022 , p. 22).

The fulfilment of this fundamental principle is also expected from academic authors, as per the announcements of some of the largest publishing houses in the world. Accordingly, AI is not an author or co-author, Footnote 9 and AI-assisted technologies should not be cited as authors either, Footnote 10 given that AI-generated content cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction from human authors. The ethical guidelines of Wiley ( 2023 ) stated that ”[AI tools] also cannot be accountable for a published work or for research design, which is a generally held requirement of authorship, nor do they have legal standing or the ability to hold or assign copyright.” Footnote 11 This research angle carries over to teaching as well since students are also expected to produce outputs that are the results of their own work. Furthermore, they also often do their own research (such as literature search and review) in support of their projects, homework, thesis, and other forms of performance evaluation.

Accountability and responsibility in university first responses

The rapidly changing nature of the subject matter poses a significant challenge for scholars to assess the state of play of human responsibility. This is well exemplified by the reversal of hearts by some Australian universities (see Rudolph et al. ( 2023 ) quoting newspaper articles) who first disallowed the use of AI by students while doing assignments, just to reverse that decision a few months later and replace it by a requirement of disclosing the use of AI in homeworks. Similarly, Indian governments have been oscillating between a non-regulatory approach to foster an “innovation-friendly environment” for their universities in the summer of 2023 (Liu, 2023 ), only to roll back on this pledge a few months later (Dhaor, 2023 ).

Beyond this regulatory entropy, a fundamental principle enshrined in university codes of ethics across the globe is that students need to meet existing rules of scientific referencing and authorship. Footnote 12 In other words, they should refrain from any form of plagiarism in all their written work (including essays, theses, term papers, or in-class presentations). Submitting any work and assessments created by someone or something else (including AI-generated content) as if it was their own usually amounts to either a violation of scientific referencing, plagiarism or is considered to be a form of cheating (or a combination of these), depending on the terminology used by the respective higher education institution.

As a course description of Johns Hopkins puts it, “academic honesty is required in all work you submit to be graded …., you must solve all homework and programming assignments without the help of outside sources (e.g., GAI tools)” (Johns Hopkins University, 2023 ).

The Tokyo Institute of Technology applies a more flexible approach, as they “trust the independence of the students and expect the best use” of AI systems from them based on good sense and ethical standards. They add, however, that submitting reports that rely almost entirely on the output of GenAI is “highly improper, and its continued use is equivalent to one’s enslavement to the technology” (Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2023 ).

In the case of York University, the Senate’s Academic Standards, Curriculum, and Pedagogy Committee clarified in February 2023 that students are not authorised to use “text-, image-, code-, or video-generating AI tools when completing their academic work unless explicitly permitted by a specific instructor in a particular course” (York University Senate, 2023 ).

In the same time frame (6 February 2023), the University of Oxford stated in a guidance material for staff members that “the unauthorised use of AI tools in exams and other assessed work is a serious disciplinary offence” not permitted for students (University of Oxford, 2023b ).

Main message and best practice: honesty and mutual trust

In essence, students are not allowed to present AI-generated content as their own, Footnote 13 and they should have full responsibility and accountability for their own papers. Footnote 14 This is in line with the most ubiquitous principle enshrined in almost all university guidelines, irrespective of AI, that students are expected to complete their tasks based on their own knowledge and skills obtained throughout their education.

Given that the main challenge here is unauthorised use and overreliance on GAI platforms, the best practice answer is for students to adhere to academic honesty and integrity, scientific referencing standards, existing anti-plagiarism rules, and complete university assignments without fully relying on GAI tools, using, first and foremost, their own skills. The only exception is when instructed otherwise by their professors. By extension, preventing overuse and unauthorised use of AI assists students in avoiding undermining their own academic capacity-building efforts.

Human agency and oversight

AI systems have the potential to manipulate and influence human behaviour in ways that are not easily detectable. AI systems must, therefore, follow human-centric design principles and leave meaningful opportunities for human choice and intervention. Such systems should not be able to unjustifiably subordinate, coerce, deceive, manipulate, condition or herd humans (EUHLEX, 2019 , p. 16).

Human oversight thus refers to the capability for human intervention in every decision cycle of the AI system and the ability of users to make informed, autonomous decisions regarding AI systems. This encompasses the ability to choose not to use an AI system in a particular situation or to halt AI-related operations via a “stop” button or a comparable procedure in case the user detects anomalies, dysfunctions and unexpected performance from AI tools (European Commission, 2021 , Art. 14).

The sheer capability of active oversight and intervention vis-á-vis GAI systems is strongly linked to ethical responsibility and legal accountability. As Liao puts it, “the sufficient condition for human beings being rightsholders is that they have a physical basis for moral agency.” (Liao, 2020 , pp. 496–497). Wagner complemented this with the essential point that entity status for non-human actors would help to shield other parties from liability, i.e., primarily manufacturers and users (Wagner, 2018 ). This, in turn, would result in risk externalisation, which serves to minimise or relativise a person’s moral accountability and legal liability associated with wrongful or unethical acts.

Users, in our case, are primarily students who, at times, might be tempted to make use of AI tools in an unethical way, hoping to fulfil their university tasks faster and more efficiently than they could without these.

Human agency and oversight in university first responses

The crucial aspect of this ethical issue is the presence of a “stop” button or a similar regulatory procedure to streamline the operation of GAI tools. Existing university guidelines in this question point clearly in the direction of soft sanctions, if any, given the fact that there is a lack of evidence that AI detection platforms are effective and reliable tools to tell apart human work from AI-generated ones. Additionally, these tools raise some significant implications for privacy and data security issues, which is why university guidelines are particularly cautious when referring to these. Accordingly, the National Taiwan University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, the University of Miami, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Yale, among others, do not recommend the use of AI detection platforms in university assessments. The University of Zürich further added the moral perspective in a guidance note from 13 July 2023, that “forbidding the use of undetectable tools on unsupervised assignments or demanding some sort of honour code likely ends up punishing the honest students” (University of Zürich, 2023 ). Apart from unreliability, the University of Cape Town also drew attention in its guide for staff that AI detection tools may “disproportionately flag text written by non-first language speakers as AI-generated” (University of Cape Town, 2023 , p. 8).

Macquarie University took a slightly more ambiguous stance when they informed their staff that, while it is not “proof” for anything, an AI writing detection feature was launched within Turnitin as of 5 April 2023 (Hillier, 2023 ), claiming that the software has a 97% detection rate with a 1% false positive rate in the tests that they had conducted (Turnitin, 2023 ). Apart from these, Boston University is among the few examples that recommend employing AI detection tools, but only in a restricted manner to ”evaluate the degree to which AI tools have likely been employed” and not as a source for any punitive measures against students (University of Boston, 2023 ). Remarkably, they complement the above with suggestions for a merit-based scoring system, whereby instructors shall treat work by students who declare no use of AI tools as the baseline for grading. A lower baseline is suggested for students who declare the use of AI tools (depending on how extensive the usage was), and for the bottom of this spectrum, the university suggests imposing a significant penalty for low-energy or unreflective reuse of material generated by AI tools and assigning zero points for merely reproducing the output from AI platforms.

A discrepant approach was adopted at the University of Toronto. Here, if an instructor indicates that the use of AI tools is not permitted on an assessment, and a student is later found to have used such a tool nevertheless, then the instructor should consider meeting with the student as the first step of a dialogue-based process under the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters (the same Code, which categorises the use of ChatGPT and other such tools as “unauthorised aid” or as “any other form of cheating” in case, an instructor specified that no outside assistance was permitted on an assignment) (University of Toronto, 2019 ).

More specifically, Imperial College London’s Guidance on the Use of Generative AI tools envisages the possibility of inviting a random selection of students to a so-called “authenticity interview” on their submitted assignments (Imperial College London, 2023b ). This entails requiring students to attend an oral examination of their submitted work to ensure its authenticity, which includes questions about the subject or how they approached their assignment.

As a rare exception, the University of Helsinki represents one of the more rigorous examples. The “Guidelines for the Use of AI in Teaching at the University of Helsinki” does not lay down any specific procedures for AI-related ethical offences. On the contrary, as para. 7 stipulates the unauthorised use of GAI in any course examination “constitutes cheating and will be treated in the same way as other cases of cheating” (University of Helsinki, 2023 ). Footnote 15

Those teachers who are reluctant to make AI tools a big part of their courses should rather aim to develop course assessment methods that can plausibly prevent the use of AI tools instead of attempting to filter these afterwards. Footnote 16 For example, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin instructs that, if possible, oral or practical examinations or written examinations performed on-site are recommended as alternatives to “classical” written home assignments (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2023a ).

Monash University also mentions some examples in this regard (Monash University, 2023a ), such as: asking students to create oral presentations, videos, and multimedia resources; asking them to incorporate more personal reflections tied to the concepts studied; implementing programmatic assessment that focuses on assessing broader attributes of students, using multiple methods rather than focusing on assessing individual kinds of knowledge or skills using a single assessment method (e.g., writing an essay).

Similarly, the University of Toronto suggest instructors to: ask students to respond to a specific reading that is very new and thus has a limited online footprint; assign group work to be completed in class, with each member contributing; or ask students to create a first draft of an assignment by hand, which could be complemented by a call to explain or justify certain elements of their work (University of Toronto, 2023 ).

Main message and best practice: Avoiding overreaction

In summary, the best practice that can be identified under this ethical dilemma is to secure human oversight through a blend of preventive measures (e.g. a shift in assessment methods) and soft sanctions. Given that AI detectors are unreliable and can cause a series of data privacy issues, the sanctioning of unauthorised AI use should happen on a “soft basis”, as part of a dialogue with the student concerned. Additionally, universities need to be aware and pay due attention to potentially unwanted rebound effects of bona fide measures, such as the merit-based scoring system of the University of Boston. In that case, using different scoring baselines based on the self-declared use of AI could, in practice, generate incentives for not declaring any use of AI at all, thereby producing counter-effective results.

While explainability refers to providing intelligible insight into the functioning of AI tools with a special focus on the interplay between the user’s input and the received output, transparency alludes to the requirement of providing unambiguous communication in the framework of system use.

As the European Commission’s Regulation proposal ( 2021 ) puts it under subchapter 5.2.4., transparency obligations should apply for systems that „(i) interact with humans, (ii) are used to detect emotions or determine association with (social) categories based on biometric data, or (iii) generate or manipulate content (‘deep fakes’). When persons interact with an AI system or their emotions or characteristics are recognised through automated means, people must be informed of that circumstance. If an AI system is used to generate or manipulate image, audio or video content that appreciably resembles authentic content, there should be an obligation to disclose that the content is generated through automated means, subject to exceptions for legitimate purposes (law enforcement, freedom of expression). This allows persons to make informed choices or step back from a given situation.”

People (in our case, university students and teachers) should, therefore, be fully informed when a decision is influenced by or relies on AI algorithms. In such instances, individuals should be able to ask for further explanation from the decision-maker using AI (e.g., a university body). Furthermore, individuals should be afforded the choice to present their case to a dedicated representative of the organisation in question who should have the power to reviset the decision and make corrections if necessary (UNESCO, 2022 , p. 22). Therefore, in the context of courses and other related education events, teachers should be clear about their utilisation of AI during the preparation of the material. Furthermore, instructors must unambiguously clarify ethical AI use in the classroom. Clear communication is essential about whether students have permission to utilise AI tools during assignments and how to report actual use.

As both UN and EU sources point out, raising awareness about and promoting basic AI literacy should be fostered as a means to empower people and reduce the digital divides and digital access inequalities resulting from the broad adoption of AI systems (EUHLEX, 2019 , p. 23; UNESCO, 2022 , p. 34).

Transparency and explainability in university first responses

The implementation of this principle seems to revolve around the challenge of decentralisation of university work, including the respect for teachers’ autonomy.

Teachers’ autonomy entails that teachers can decide if and to what extent they will allow their students to use AI platforms as part of their respective courses. This, however, comes with the essential corollary, that they must clearly communicate their decision to both students and university management in the course syllabus. To support transparency in this respect, many universities decided to establish 3-level- or 4-level admissibility frameworks (and even those who did not establish such multi-level systems, e.g., the University of Toronto, urge instructors to explicitly indicate in the course syllabus the expected use of AI) (University of Toronto, 2023 ).

The University of Auckland is among the universities that apply a fully laissez passer laissez-faire approach in this respect, meaning that there is a lack of centralised guidance or recommendations on this subject. They rather confer all practical decision-making of GAI use on course directors, adding that it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to correctly acknowledge the use of Gen-AI software (University of Auckland, 2023 ). Similarly, the University of Helsinki gives as much manoeuvring space to their staff as to allow them to change the course of action during the semester. As para 1 of their earlier quoted Guidelines stipulates, teachers are responsible for deciding how GAI can be used on a given course and are free to fully prohibit their use if they think it impedes the achievement of the learning objectives.

Colorado State University, for example, provides its teachers with 3 types of syllabus statement options (Colorado State University, 2023 ): (a) the prohibitive statement: whereby any work created, or inspired by AI agents is considered plagiarism and will not be tolerated; (b) the use-with-permission statement: whereby generative AI can be used but only as an exception and in line with the teachers further instruction, and (c) the abdication statement: where the teacher acknowledges that the course grade will also be a reflection of the students ability to harness AI technologies as part of their preparation for their future in a workforce that will increasingly require AI-literacy.

Macquarie University applies a similar system and provides it’s professors with an Assessment Checklist in which AI use can be either “Not permitted” or “Some use permitted” (meaning that the scope of use is limited while the majority of the work should be written or made by the student.), or “Full use permitted (with attribution)”, alluding to the adaptive use of AI tools, where the generated content is edited, mixed, adapted and integrated into the student’s final submission – with attribution of the source (Macquarie University, 2023 ).

The same approach is used at Monash University where generative AI tools can be: (a) used for all assessments in a specific unit; (b) cannot be used for any assessments; (c) some AI tools may be used selectively (Monash University, 2023b ).

The University of Cape Town (UCT) applies a 3-tier system not just in terms of the overall approach to the use or banning of GAI, but also with regard to specific assessment approaches recommended to teachers. As far as the former is concerned, they differentiate between the strategies of: (a) Avoiding (reverting to in-person assessment, where the use of AI isn’t possible); (b) Outrunning (devising an assessment that AI cannot produce); and (c) Embracing (discussing the appropriate use of AI with students and its ethical use to create the circumstances for authentic assessment outputs). The assessment possibilities, in turn, are categorised into easy, medium, and hard levels. Easy tasks include, e.g., generic short written assignments. Medium level might include examples such as personalised or context-based assessments (e.g. asking students to write to a particular audience whose knowledge and values must be considered or asking questions that would require them to give a response that draws from concepts that were learnt in class, in a lab, field trip…etc). In contrast, hard assessments include projects involving real-world applications, synchronous oral assessments, or panel assessments (University of Cape Town, 2023 ).

4-tier-systems are analogues. The only difference is that they break down the “middle ground”. Accordingly, the Chinese University of Hong Kong clarifies that Approach 1 (by default) means the prohibition of all use of AI tools; Approach 2 entails using AI tools only with prior permission; Approach 3 means using AI tools only with explicit acknowledgement; and Approach 4 is reserved for courses in which the use of AI tools is freely permitted with no acknowledgement needed (Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2023 ).

Similarly, the University of Delaware provides course syllabus statement examples for teachers including: (1) Prohibiting all use of AI tools; (2) Allowing their use only with prior permission; (3) Allow their use only with explicit acknowledgement; (4) Freely allow their use (University of Delaware, 2023 ).

The Technical University of Berlin also proposes a 4-tier system but uses a very different logic based on the practical knowledge one can obtain by using GAI. Accordingly, they divide AI tools as used to: (a) acquire professional competence; (b) learn to write scientifically; (c) be able to assess AI tools and compare them with scientific methods; d) professional use of AI tools in scientific work. Their corresponding guideline even quotes Art. 5 of the German Constitution referencing the freedom of teaching ( Freiheit der Lehre ), entailing that teachers should have the ability to decide for themselves which teaching aids they allow or prohibit. Footnote 17

This detailed approach, however, is rather the exception. According to the compilation on 6 May 2023 by Solis ( 2023 ), among the 100 largest German universities, 2% applied a general prohibition on the use of ChatGPT, 23% granted partial permission, 12% generally permitted its use, while 63% of the universities had none or only vague guidelines in this respect.

Main message and best practice: raising awareness

Overall, the best practice answer to the dilemma of transparency is the internal decentralisation of university work and the application of a “bottom-up” approach that respects the autonomy of university professors. Notwithstanding the potential existence of regulatory frameworks that set out binding rules for all citizens of an HE institution, this means providing university instructors with proper manoeuvring space to decide on their own how they would like to make AI use permissible in their courses, insofar as they communicate their decision openly.

Inclusiveness and diversity

Para. 34 of the Report by the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education ( 2021 ) highlights that inclusive education can only be reached with the proactive presence of teachers and stresses that “AI technologies cannot be used to the detriment or at the expense of in-person education, as teachers must not be replaced by any AI or AI-related technologies”. Additionally, para. 20 of the same document highlights the need to create diverse teams of developers and engineers to work alongside the main actors in the educational, cultural, and audiovisual sectors in order to prevent gender or social bias from being inadvertently included in AI algorithms, systems, and applications.

This approach also underlines the need to consider the variety of different theories through which AI has been developed as a precursor to ensuring the application of the principle of diversity (UNESCO, 2022 , pp. 33–35), and it also recognises that a nuanced answer to AI-related challenges is only possible if affected stakeholders have an equal say in regulatory and design processes. An idea closely linked to the principle of fairness and the pledge to leave no one behind who might be affected by the outcome of using AI systems (EUHLEX, 2019 , pp. 18–19).

Therefore, in the context of higher education, the principle of inclusiveness aims to ensure that an institution provides the same opportunities to access the benefits of AI technologies for all its students, irrespective of their background, while also considering the particular needs of various vulnerable groups potentially marginalised based on age, gender, culture, religion, language, or disabilities. Footnote 18 Inclusiveness also alludes to stakeholder participation in internal university dialogues on the use and impact of AI systems (including students, teachers, administration and leadership) as well as in the constant evaluation of how these systems evolve. On a broader scale, it implies communication with policymakers on how higher education should accommodate itself to this rapidly changing environment (EUHLEX, 2019 , p. 23; UNESCO, 2022 , p. 35).

Inclusiveness and diversity in university first responses

Universities appear to be aware of the potential disadvantages for students who are either unfamiliar with GAI or who choose not to use it or use it in an unethical manner. As a result, many universities thought that the best way to foster inclusive GAI use was to offer specific examples of how teachers could constructively incorporate these tools into their courses.

The University of Waterloo, for example, recommends various methods that instructors can apply on sight, with the same set of tools for all students during their courses, which in itself mitigates the effects of any discrepancies in varying student backgrounds (University of Waterloo, 2023 ): (a) Give students a prompt during class, and the resulting text and ask them to critique and improve it using track changes; (b) Create two distinct texts and have students explain the flaws of each or combine them in some way using track changes; (c) Test code and documentation accuracy with a peer; or (d) Use ChatGPT to provide a preliminary summary of an issue as a jumping-off point for further research and discussion.

The University of Pittsburgh ( 2023 ) and Monash added similar recommendations to their AI guidelines (Monash University, 2023c ).

The University of Cambridge mentions under its AI-deas initiative a series of projects aimed to develop new AI methods to understand and address sensory, neural or linguistic challenges such as hearing loss, brain injury or language barriers to support people who find communicating a daily challenge in order to improve equity and inclusion. As they put it, “with AI we can assess and diagnose common language and communication conditions at scale, and develop technologies such as intelligent hearing aids, real-time machine translation, or other language aids to support affected individuals at home, work or school.” (University of Cambridge, 2023 ).

The homepage of the Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) displays ample and diverse materials, including videos Footnote 19 and other documents, as a source of inspiration for teachers on how to provide an equitable share of AI knowledge for their students (Glathe et al. 2023 ). More progressively, the university’s Institute of Psychology offers a learning modul called “Inclusive Digitalisation”, available for students enrolled in various degree programmes to understand inclusion and exclusion mechanisms in digitalisation. This modul touches upon topics such as barrier-free software design, mechanisms and reasons for digitalised discrimination or biases in corporate practices (their homepage specifically alludes to the fact that input and output devices, such as VR glasses, have exclusively undergone testing with male test subjects and that the development of digital products and services is predominantly carried out by men. The practical ramifications of such a bias result in input and output devices that are less appropriate for women and children) (Technische Universität Berlin, 2023 ).

Columbia recommends the practice of “scaffolding”, which is the process of breaking down a larger assignment into subtasks (Columbia University, 2023 ). In their understanding, this method facilitates regular check-ins and enables students to receive timely feedback throughout the learning process. Simultaneously, the implementation of scaffolding helps instructors become more familiar with students and their work as the semester progresses, allowing them to take additional steps in the case of students who might need more attention due to their vulnerable backgrounds or disabilities to complete the same tasks.

The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in its Recommendations, clearly links the permission of GAI use with the requirement of equal accessibility. They remind that if examiners require students to use AI for an examination, “students must be provided with access to these technologies free of charge and in compliance with data protection regulations” (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2023b ).

Concurringly, the University of Cape Town also links inclusivity to accessibility. As they put it, “there is a risk that those with poorer access to connectivity, devices, data and literacies will get unequal access to the opportunities being provided by AI”, leading to the conclusion that the planning of the admissible use of GAI on campus should be cognizant of access inequalities (University of Cape Town, 2023 ). They also draw their staff’s attention to a UNESCO guide material containing useful methods to incorporate ChatGPT into the course, including methods such as the “Socratic opponent” (AI acts as an opponent to develop an argument), the “study buddy” (AI helps the student reflect on learning material) or the “dynamic assessor” (AI provides educators with a profile of each student’s current knowledge based on their interactions with ChatGPT) (UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023 ).

Finally, the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Recommendations suggest using GAI tools, among others, for the purposes of community development. They suggest that such community-building activities, whether online or in live groups, kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, they assist individuals in keeping their knowledge up to date with a topic that is constantly evolving, while it offers people from various backgrounds the opportunity to become part of communities in the process where they can share their experiences and build new relations (National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2023 ).

Main message and best practice: Proactive central support and the pledge to leave no one behind

To conclude, AI-related inclusivity for students is best fostered if the university does not leave its professors solely to their own resources to come up with diverging initiatives. The best practice example for this dilemma thus lies in a proactive approach that results in the elaboration of concrete teaching materials (e.g., subscriptions to AI tools to ensure equal accessibility for all students, templates, video tutorials, open-access answers to FAQs…etc.), specific ideas, recommendations and to support specialised programmes and collaborations with an inclusion-generating edge. With centrally offered resources and tools institutions seem to be able to ensure accessability irrespective of students’ background and financial abilities.

Discussion of the First Responses

While artificial intelligence and even its generative form has been around for a while, the arrival of application-ready LLMs – most notably ChatGPT has changed the game when it comes to grammatically correct large-scale and content-specific text generation. This has invoked an immediate reaction from the higher education community as the question arose as to how it may affect various forms of student performance evaluation (such as essay and thesis writing) (Chaudhry et al. 2023 ; Yu, 2023 ; Farazouli et al. 2024 ).

Often the very first reaction (a few months after the announcement of the availability of ChatGPT) was a ban on these tools and a potential return to hand-written evaluation and oral exams. In the institutions investigated under this research, notable examples may be most Australian universities (such as Monash) or even Oxford. On the other hand, even leading institutions have immediately embraced this new tool as a great potential helper of lecturers – the top name here being Harvard. Very early responses thus ranged widely – and have changed fast over the first six-eight months “post-ChatGPT”.

Over time responses from the institutions investigated started to put out clear guidelines and even created dedicated policies or modified existing ones to ensure a framework of acceptable use. The inspiration leading these early regulatory efforts was influenced by the international ethics documents reviewed in this paper. Institutions were aware of and relied on those guidelines. The main goal of this research was to shed light on the questions of how much and in what ways they took them on board regarding first responses. Most first reactions were based on “traditional” AI ethics and understanding of AI before LLMs and the generative revolution. First responses by institutions were not based on scientific literature or arguments from journal publications. Instead, as our results demonstrated it was based on publicly available ethical norms and guidelines published by well-known international organizations and professional bodies.

Conclusions, limitations and future research

Ethical dilemmas discussed in this paper were based on the conceptualisation embedded in relevant documents of various international fora. Each ethical dimension, while multifaceted in itself, forms a complex set of challenges that are inextricably intertwined with one another. Browsing university materials, the overall impression is that Universities primarily aim to explore and harness the potential benefits of generative AI but not with an uncritical mindset. They are focusing on the opportunities while simultaneously trying to address the emerging challenges in the field.

Accordingly, the main ethical imperative is that students must complete university assignments based on the knowledge and skills they acquired during their university education unless their instructors determine otherwise. Moral and legal responsibility in this regard always rests with human individuals. AI agents possess neither the legal standing nor the physical basis for moral agency, which makes them incapable of assuming such responsibilities. This “top-down” requirement is most often complemented by the “bottom-up” approach of providing instructors with proper maneuvering space to decide how they would like to make AI use permissible in their courses.

Good practice in human oversight could thus be achieved through a combination of preventive measures and soft, dialogue-based procedures. This latter category includes the simple act of teachers providing clear, written communications in their syllabi and engaging in a dialogue with their students to provide unambiguous and transparent instructions on the use of generative AI tools within their courses. Additionally, to prevent the unauthorised use of AI tools, changing course assessment methods by default is more effective than engaging in post-assessment review due to the unreliability of AI detection tools.

Among the many ethical dilemmas that generative AI tools pose to social systems, this paper focused on those pertaining to the pedagogical aspects of higher education. Due to this limitation, related fields, such as university research, were excluded from the scope of the analysis. However, research-related activities are certainly ripe for scientific scrutiny along the lines indicated in this study. Furthermore, only a limited set of institutions could be investigated, those who were the ”first respondents” to the set of issues covered by this study. Hereby, this paper hopes to inspire further research on the impact of AI tools on higher education. Such research could cover more institutions, but it would also be interesting to revisit the same institutions again to see how their stance and approach might have changed over time considering how fast this technology evolves and how much we learn about its capabilities and shortcomings.

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study. All documents referenced in this study are publicly available on the corresponding websites provided in the Bibliography or in the footnotes. No code has been developed as part of this research.

For the methodology behind the Shanghai Rankings see: https://www.shanghairanking.com/methodology/arwu/2022 . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

While the original French version was published in 1954, the first English translation is dated 1964.

As the evaluation by Bang et al. ( 2023 ) found, ChatGPT is only 63.41% accurate on average in ten different reasoning categories under logical reasoning, non-textual reasoning, and common-sense reasoning, making it an unreliable reasoner.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/proposal-regulation-laying-down-harmonised-rules-artificial-intelligence . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

Source https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0127_EN.html . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

Source: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381137 . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

Source: https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0449#mainText . Accessed: 14 November 2023.

The editors-in-chief of Nature and Science stated that ChatGPT does not meet the standard for authorship: „ An attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs…. We would not allow AI to be listed as an author on a paper we published, and use of AI-generated text without proper citation could be considered plagiarism,” (Stokel-Walker, 2023 ). See also (Nature, 2023 ).

While there was an initial mistake that credited ChatGPT as an author of an academic paper, Elsevier issued a Corrigendum on the subject in February 2023 (O’Connor, 2023 ). Elsevier then clarified in its “Use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing for Elsevier” announcement, issued in March 2023, that “Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author”. See https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/the-use-of-generative-ai-and-ai-assisted-technologies-in-writing-for-elsevier . Accessed 23 Nov 2023.

The ethical guidelines of Wiley was updated on 28 February 2023 to clarify the publishing house’s stance on AI-generated content.

See e.g.: Section 2.4 of Princeton University’s Academic Regulations (Princeton University, 2023 ); the Code of Practice and Procedure regarding Misconduct in Research of the University of Oxford (University of Oxford, 2023a ); Section 2.1.1 of the Senate Guidelines on Academic Honesty of York University, enumerating cases of cheating (York University, 2011 ); Imperial College London’s Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedures document (Imperial College London, 2023a ); the Guidelines for seminar and term papers of the University of Vienna (Universität Wien, 2016 ); Para 4. § (1) - (4) of the Anti-plagiarism Regulation of the Corvinus University of Budapest (Corvinus University of Budapest, 2018 ), to name a few.

15 Art. 2 (c)(v) of the early Terms of Use of OpenAI Products (including ChatGPT) dated 14 March 2023 clarified the restrictions of the use of their products. Accordingly, users may not represent the output from their services as human-generated when it was not ( https://openai.com/policies/mar-2023-terms/ . Accessed 14 Nov 2023). Higher education institutions tend to follow suit with this policy. For example, the List of Student Responsibilities enumerated under the “Policies and Regulations” of the Harvard Summer School from 2023 reminds students that their “academic integrity policy forbids students to represent work as their own that they did not write, code, or create” (Harvard University, 2023 ).

A similar view was communicated by Taylor & Francis in a press release issued on 17 February 2023, in which they clarified that: “Authors are accountable for the originality, validity and integrity of the content of their submissions. In choosing to use AI tools, authors are expected to do so responsibly and in accordance with our editorial policies on authorship and principles of publishing ethics” (Taylor and Francis, 2023 ).

This is one of the rare examples where the guideline was adopted by the university’s senior management, in this case, the Academic Affairs Council.

It should be noted that abundant sources recommend harnessing AI tools’ opportunities to improve education instead of attempting to ban them. Heaven, among others, advocated on the pages of the MIT Technology Review the use of advanced chatbots such as ChatGPT as these could be used as “powerful classroom aids that make lessons more interactive, teach students media literacy, generate personalised lesson plans, save teachers time on admin” (Heaven, 2023 ).

This university based its policies on the recommendations of the German Association for University Didactics (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hochschuldidaktik). Consequently, they draw their students’ attention to the corresponding material, see: (Glathe et al. 2023 ).

For a detailed review of such groups affected by AI see the Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values Index by the Center for AI and Digital Policy at https://www.caidp.org/reports/aidv-2023/ . Accessed 20 Nov 2023.

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Dabis, A., Csáki, C. AI and ethics: Investigating the first policy responses of higher education institutions to the challenge of generative AI. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 1006 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03526-z

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Pore-scale modeling of gas–oil two-phase flow based on the phase-field method—a case study of glutenite reservoirs in china.

1. Introduction

2. methodology, 2.1. governing equations, 2.2. numerical implementation and details, 3. results and discussion, 3.1. distribution of pore pressure and flow velocity, 3.2. the analysis of influencing factors, 4. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Tian, Y.; Yang, L.; Chen, Y.; Bai, Z.; Yang, Y.; Wu, J.; Wang, S. Pore-Scale Modeling of Gas–Oil Two-Phase Flow Based on the Phase-Field Method—A Case Study of Glutenite Reservoirs in China. Processes 2024 , 12 , 1670. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12081670

Tian Y, Yang L, Chen Y, Bai Z, Yang Y, Wu J, Wang S. Pore-Scale Modeling of Gas–Oil Two-Phase Flow Based on the Phase-Field Method—A Case Study of Glutenite Reservoirs in China. Processes . 2024; 12(8):1670. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12081670

Tian, Ya, Li Yang, Yi Chen, Zhongkai Bai, Youxing Yang, Jianwei Wu, and Suling Wang. 2024. "Pore-Scale Modeling of Gas–Oil Two-Phase Flow Based on the Phase-Field Method—A Case Study of Glutenite Reservoirs in China" Processes 12, no. 8: 1670. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12081670

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