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Terry Bingham has been a paralegal for nine years, with extensive experience in the private practice law office setting. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Postsecondary Technical Education with a specialty in curriculum development and instructional training from the University of Akron, as well as a Paralegal Studies Post-degree Professional Certificate from an ABA approved program. Bingham co-developed a first-run, college-level Introduction to Legal Writing course for paralegals for an ABA accredited paralegal program, incorporating her background in curriculum development to construct the course and her paralegal degree and experience for the subject matter.
Susan Majka has been an attorney in the state of Ohio since 1995. She has worked in private practice, as well as for the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court, the Common Pleas Court, and the Court of Appeals. She is currently an attorney for the Federal Government and co-developer of the Legal Writing for Paralegals course for Cuyahoga Community College, where she taught the course for many years. Prior to becoming an attorney, Majka worked as a nurse/paralegal/law clerk at a medical malpractice firm while in law school. Also while in law school, Majka worked in the operating room as a Registered Nurse.
Chapter 1
Outlining 3
Legal Outlining 3
Content of the Outline 4
Sequencing 14
Informal and Formal Outlining 17
Formatting Outlines 21
General Format 22
Parallelism in Outlining 24
Summary 27
Assignments 27
Chapter 2
Paragraphs and Functions 31
Paragraphs 31
Functions 31
Patterns 32
Unity 37
Coherence 41
Summary 47
Assignments 48
Chapter 3
Organization of Material 51
Steps to Writing 51
Prewriting and Organization of the Material 51
Writing the Rough Draft 52
Post Writing and Proofreading for a Finished Document 52
Writing Checklist 54
Upside-Down Outlining 56
Final Document Writing 61
Chapter 4
Letters to Clients 67
Correspondence 67
Letters 67
Electronic Communications 68
Determine the Purpose 68
Identify the Audience 84
Maintain Professional Tone 89
Summary 90
Assignments 91
Chapter 5
Persuasive Writing 95
Formal Writing Guidance 95
Persuasive Writing 95
Spoken Language Versus Written Language 105
No Contractions 105
Colloquial and Slang Words 107
Confusing/Misused Word Pairs 111
Correct Form of Numbers 118
Acronyms 119
Ethical and Accurate Writing 119
Plagiarism 119
Spell and Grammar Check 120
Summary 125
Assignments 126
Chapter 6
Citations 129
Case Law Citations 131
Public Domain Format 135
Statutory Citations 136
Summary 136
Assignments 137
Chapter 7
IRAC - Issue 141
IRAC Formatting 141
Defining IRAC 141
I = Issue 142
What Are the Characteristics of the Issue? 144
Landlord-Tenant 145
Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) 146
Real Estate 148
Medical Malpractice (Med Mal) 149
Contract Breach 151
Product Liability 152
Summary 153
Assignments 153
Chapter 8
IRAC - Rule 157
Define IRAC 157
Sources 158
Primary Sources 158
Secondary Sources 162
Review-Issue 162
R = Rule 162
What Are the Characteristics of the Rule? 163
Direct Quote 163
Weaving 163
Paraphrasing 163
Jurisdictional Variations in Law 164
Landlord–Tenant 164
Ohio Statutory Law 165
Florida Statutory Law 166
Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) 172
Ohio Statutory Law 172
Ohio Case Law 174
Realtor’s Liability 175
Ohio Statutory Law 175
California Statutory Law 176
Ohio Regulatory Law 181
California Case Law 183
Medical Malpractice (Med Mal) 185
Ohio Case Law 186
Ohio Statutory Law 189
Contract Breach 190
Ohio Statutory Law 190
Virginia Statutory Law 194
Ohio Case Law 196
Virginia Case Law 200
Product Liability 204
Texas Statutory Law 205
Summary 212
Assignments 213
Chapter 9
IRAC - Analysis 221
Define IRAC 221
Apply-Issue 221
Apply-Rule 221
A = Analysis 222
What Are the Characteristics of the Analysis? 223
Analysis 224
The IRAC Analysis Formula 229
Landlord-Tenant 243
Ohio Statutory Law 243
Analysis of Law 244
Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) 245
Ohio Law 245
Analysis of Law 246
Real Estate 247
Ohio Law 247
Analysis with Ohio Law 248
Analysis with California Law 250
Medical Malpractice (Med Mal) 252
Ohio Law 252
Analysis of the Law 253
Contract Breach 255
Ohio Law 255
Analysis of the Law 256
Contract Breach Continued 257
Virginia Law 257
Analysis of the Law 258
Product Liability 259
Texas Law 260
Ohio Law 260
Michigan Law 260
Analysis of the Law 261
Summary 261
Assignment 261
Chapter 10
IRAC - Conclusion 269
Define IRAC 269
Apply-Issue 269
Apply-Rule 269
Apply-Analysis 269
C = Conclusion 270
What Are the Characteristics of the Conclusion? 270
Landlord-Tenant 271
I = Issue 142
What Are the Characteristics of the Issue? 144
Landlord-Tenant 145
Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) 146
Real Estate 148
Medical Malpractice (Med Mal) 149
Contract Breach 151
Product Liability 152
Summary 153
Assignments 153
Chapter 11
IRAC as a Whole 283
Strategies for Writing IRAC 283
The IRAC Structure 283
Steps to Writing With IRAC 285
What are the Characteristics of the IRAC Structure? 285
Benefits of IRAC 286
Traffic Violation 287
Residential Construction Contract 288
Restraint of Shoplifter 292
Landlord-Tenant 293
Food Poisoning 296
Animal Owner’s Liability 297
Negligent Entrustment 298
Summary 300
Assignments 301
Chapter 12
IRAC - Multiple Issues 307
Other IRAC Formats 307
Multiple Issues Format of IRAC 307
Mirroring 308
Summary 327
Assignment 327
Chapter 13
Components of a Document 335
Elements of a Legal Document 335
The Caption 336
The Body 338
The Signature Block 338
The Service Page 339
Boilerplate 341
Boilerplate Forms 341
Boilerplate Documents 347
Summary 350
Assignment 350
Chapter 14
Interoffice Memorandum 353
Why Use an Interoffice Memorandum 353
When to Use an Interoffice Memorandum 353
Where To Use an Interoffice Memorandum 353
How to Format an Interoffice Memorandum 355
Interoffice Emails 362
Summary 364
Assignment 364
Chapter 15
The Complaint and Answer 367
Pleadings 367
The Complaint 367
The Caption 368
The Allegations/Body 369
The Prayer for Relief 370
The Jury Demand 370
The Signature Block 370
The Service Page 371
Analyzing Facts for a Complaint 375
Writing the Complaint 376
The Answer 377
Analyzing Complaint Questions to Draft an Answer 379
Writing an Answer 379
Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims 380
Summary 382
Assignment 383
Chapter 16
Discovery 385
Discovery 385 Interrogatories 387
Requests for Production of Documents 391
Request for Admissions 393
Affidavits 396
Subpoenas 398
Medical Authorizations 401
Summary 402
Assignment 403
Chapter 17
Motions 411
Motion to Dismiss 411
Motion for Summary Judgment 422
Motion to Compel 440
Summary 445
Assignment 445
Chapter 18
Proofreading and Editing 451
Proofreading 451
Editing 454
Reminders and Additional Tips for Both Editing and Proofreading 458
Summary 460
Assignments 460
Chapter 19
Effective Writing 465
Drafting Effective Documents an Avoiding Pitfalls 465
Passive Voice 465
Grammatically Correct and Well Organized 466
Concise 466
Honest Yet Persuasive 468
Clear 469
Counterproductive or Annoying Writing Tactics 470
Irritating, or Worse, Inadvertently Amusing 470
Carefully Proofread 472
Compliant with the Rules 472
Respectful 473
Ethics 477
Summary 481
Assignments 482
Online chapters
Unit 1
Legal Writing Handbook Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs 3
Nouns 3
Proper Nouns 4
Compound Nouns 5
Irregular Nouns 6
Pronouns 7
Demonstrative Pronouns 10
Indefinite Pronouns 10
Interrogative Pronouns 10
Personal Pronouns 10
Possessive Pronouns 11
Reflexive Pronouns 11
Relative Pronouns 12
First Person, Second Person, Third Person Pronouns 13
Vague Pronoun References 16
Adjectives 23
Adverbs 24
Summary 25
Assignments 25
Unit 2
Verbs 29
Action Verbs 29
Linking Verbs 30
Helping Verbs 33
Verb Tense 37
Conditional Tense Verbs 43
Irregular Verbs 45
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 48
Verbals 49
Verb Review 52
Summary 52
Assignments 53
Unit 3
Subject-Verb Agreement Articles, Prepositions, and Conjunctions 57
Subject Verb Agreement 57
Rule 1 57
Rule 2 59
Rule 3 61
Rule 4 62
The Remaining Parts of Speech 64
Articles 64
Prepositions 65
Conjunctions 69
Summary 70
Assignments 71
Unit 4
Phrases and Clauses 75
Phrases 75
Prepositional Phrases 75
Restrictive Phrases or Clauses 76
Nonrestrictive Phrases or Clauses 77
Appositive Phrases 78
Clauses 79
Independent Clauses 79
Dependent or Subordinate Clauses 82
Summary 84
Assignments 84
Unit 5
Sentence Fragments 89
Fused Sentences 92
Comma Splices 92
Run-On Sentences 94
Sentence Structures 97
Summary 98
Assignments 99
Unit 6
Diagramming Sentences 103
Nouns and Verbs 104
Direct Objects 106
Indirect Objects 106
Modifiers 107
Linking Verbs 112
Compound Sentences 114
Summary 116
Assignments 116
Unit 7
Punctuation 119
Periods 120
Question Marks 121
Exclamation Marks/Points 121
Colons 122
Semicolons 123
Commas 125
Apostrophes 134
Parentheses 137
Quotation Marks 138
Ellipses 142
Brackets 144
[sic] 148
Summary 149
Assignments 149
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.