Free Law School Outline - Advocacy

Legal Research and Writing 1st semester From Wiki Jump to: navigation, search Contents                     1 Legal Research 2 Case analysis 3 Reporters and digests 4 A.L.R. annotations 5 Shepard’s and citation forms 6 Texas legislation 7 Texas legislative history, municipal codes, and citation form 8 Form books and encyclopedias 9 Federal constitutions 10 Federal statutes 11 Shepard’s Federal citations and Federal legislative history 12 Federal administrative law 13 Texas administrative law 14 Legal periodicals 15 Legal Writing 16 Introduction 17 Office memoranda 18 Opinion letters 19 Performance skills 20 Advocacy These are the things you should remember from LRW St. Mary’s Legal Research & Writing Program Topics Presented in Lectures Prepared by Mike Forrest, Co-Director Legal Research & Writing 2006-07 [edit] Legal Research   Introduction to legal institutions and process importance of legal research as foundational course that underpins all others        lawyers’ basic tools for finding answers to clients’ problems are words, both written and oral emphasis on paying attention to details introduction to case law structure case law as access point to other legal sources hierarchy of authority, primary mandatory, primary persuasive, secondary Federal court structure constitutional and statutory authority; statutes as primary mandatory authority; secondary authority [edit] Case analysis          how to update case after appeal or adverse treatment by another case introduction to head notes, topics, and key numbers breakdown of what information is in the citation; introduction to writ/petition history introduction of bound volumes and advance sheets style of the case official and unofficial reporters parallel cites organization of the opinion, summary of facts, standard of review, and analysis Westlaw and Lexis access to cases [edit] Reporters and digests                review of tripartite court structure stare decisis how to find case law three stages of publication: slip opinion, advance sheets, and bound reporters official and unofficial reporters Bluebook basic cites parallel cites pinpoint cites Bluebook table 1 National Reporter System West reporters and court structure loose leaf services Internet sources: U.S. Supreme Court website, findlaw.com, Texas judiciary online digests head notes in cases and digests [edit] A.L.R. annotations   A.L.R. annotations Bluebook on annotations [edit] Shepard’s and citation forms          Shepard’s as a citator service bound volumes and supplements what your library should contain treatment and history notations Shepard’s online KeyCite on West. Bluebook rules on case names and state tables Texas Rules of Form for Texas law writ and petition history [edit] Texas legislation            overview of Vernon’s Annotated Texas Statutes session laws codification statutory revision of statutes to codes notes of decision derivation and disposition tables access points of index and table of contents supplements and pocket parts Shepard’s Texas Citations Texas Subsequent History Table online access to Statutes Plus [edit] Texas legislative history, municipal codes, and citation form         tracing pending Texas legislation legislative intent; Texas Legislature Online legislative reference library municode.com Texas Rules of Form: typeface conventions basic citation form petition and writ history Bluebook basics on importance of citation form, quick reference, index, typeface conventions, Rule 10 on case names, style and running head in reporters as starting place for citation form, case name abbreviations in textual and citation sentences. [edit] Form books and encyclopedias   legal encyclopedias Matthew Bender and Dorsaneo form books    Texas Practice Guide Bluebook basics on parallel citations and short cites Bluebook Tables 1 and 6 [edit] Federal constitutions              Texas research resources Introduction to Federal legislation research resources Constitutions: forms and limitations on government control on scope of legislation mandatory in jurisdiction location in code text of Constitution amendments interpretation by courts notes of decision A.L.R. Fed. law review articles hornbooks [edit] Federal statutes                        slip laws, session laws, advance session laws positive law (pre-codification) chronological non-indexed collection of multi-subject legislation two year congressional terms public and private laws U.S. Statutes at Large lengthy delay in publication U.S.C.C.A.N. U.S.CS. Advance U.S.C., six-year publication schedule and annual supplementation codification titles/chapters/sections indexing historical notes limited research aids GPO Access U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S. enhancements in commercially published codes notes of decision supplementation tables codes on Westlaw and Lexis loose leaf services for specialized areas of the code [edit] Shepard’s Federal citations and Federal legislative history                         bound volumes and supplements treatment of general and specific cites treatment and history notations Shepard’s Acts and Cases by Popular Name Shepard’s online and KeyCite legislative history defined reasons to use legislative history legislative process bills bill numbering thomas.loc.gov GPO Access CIS Congressional Universe commercial databases Serial Set American State Papers hierarchy of authority committee reports U.S.C.C.A.N. debates Congressional Record hearings House and Senate websites Congressional Staff Directory. [edit] Federal administrative law                history of executive’s lawmaking role forms of administrative law three waves of agency growth next wave of agency growth agency jurisdiction U.S. Government Manual Federal Register three functions: new rules, notice and comment, preambles Reader’s Aids cumulative list of parts affected heinonline.org GPO Access CFR title, chapter, part section authority note       source note replacement on rotating cycle index and finding aids updating by LSA, list of sections affected Shepard’s Code of Federal Regulations Westlaw Regulations Plus [edit] Texas administrative law     arrangement of TAC by non-consecutive titles access points in TAC quarterly and annual index of the Texas Register Texas Secretary of State website [edit] Legal periodicals      legal periodicals Index to Legal Periodicals Current Law Index databases on Westlaw and Lexis heinonline.org [edit] Legal Writing [edit] Introduction        duty of competence duty to the client duty to the system of justice audience, purpose and tone the three stages of writing precision in legal writing plain language [edit] Office memoranda        purpose of an interoffice memorandum memo format questions presented IRAC integration of research into the analysis legal analysis; application of law to facts use of uniform citation [edit] Opinion letters      duty to keep client informed plain English candor and keeping confidences form and content tone and style [edit] Performance skills (as tested by the bar on the Multi-state Performance Test)    organization of the file time management demonstration of skills [edit] Advocacy            audience, purpose and tone commencement of the action and pleadings discovery through depositions, interrogatories, document requests motion practice motion for summary judgment trial briefs appellate briefs brief formatting point headings and organization of the argument finalizing the brief oral arguments Retrieved from "http://stmarytx.org/index.php?title=Legal_Research_and_Writing_1st_semester" Views     Article Discussion Edit History Personal tools  Log in / create account Navigation   Search Main Page Recent changes Go Search Toolbox            What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link This page was last modified 14:11, 26 March 2007. 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