Stop #1: Augsburg

Here is a brief explanation about the first place I will be this summer...

The first stop is Augsburg, where I will be teaching a class and working in the library of the Juristische Fakultaet at the University of Augsburg.

As a law student, I studied for an entire semester at the University of Augsburg. I have a lot of friends in that city, and am very excited to go back there after 5 years away.

Augsburg is about an hour west of Munich. During my time in Augsburg, I will be teaching a one-day course in the Westlaw electronic database at the Bavarian state library school in Munich.

However, of course the main focus of my time in Augsburg will be on the work I am doing at the university. I will be teaching an 8-hour course for German law students and student research assistants on the American legal system and the basics of American legal research. This class will be in English. I will also give a separate Westlaw training to librarians and others.

All of my Westlaw training sessions will be held in German. My German is a little rusty, and it has been a bit of a struggle to come up with training materials that explain how to use Westlaw in a foreign language. But everything is coming together, and I'm excited about the prospect.

For all of the courses that I'm teaching, I am trying to find interesting cases and topics of discussion. One of my favorite cases is Brown v. Board of Education. I really see that case as a triumph of our legal system over centuries of bigotry and injustice, and I'm proud that our legal system could produce a case like it. It's also relatively short, and the language is not too complicated. I've decided to work it into both my English-language and German-language materials. I hope it leads to some good discussions about how a legal system can evolve to right wrongs, and work toward ensuring justice for the marginalized.