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9780735540743

Basic Legal Writing for Paralegals

by ;
  • ISBN13:

    9780735540743

  • ISBN10:

    0735540748

  • Edition: 2nd
  • Format: Nonspecific Binding
  • Copyright: 2004-12-07
  • Publisher: Wolters Kluwer
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List Price: $80.95

Summary

Give your paralegal students a legal writing text that is designed with their specific needs in mind. BASIC LEGAL WRITING FOR PARALEGALS, Second Edition, Is concise, accessible, current, and focused exclusively on legal writing. The authors concentrate on the material paralegal students must master: The entire legal writing process, guiding students through each stage from prewriting strategies to revising, covering the IRAC method, legal memoranda, letters, and more precise focus on essentials iquest; basics of the legal system, overview of style and grammar, case briefing, legal memoranda, persuasive writing, including complaints and answers, The specialized documents paralegals often draft (witness statements, file summaries, deposition summaries, and deposition abstracts), and letters clear and engaging examples throughout the text help students understand how to apply concepts helpful pedagogy, including chapter overviews, chapter summaries, key terms, and exercises Thoroughly revised for its Second Edition, The text offers thoughtful new material: a simpler example of a slip-and-fall case in the legal memorandum chapter, which now offers both a basic and a more advanced example complete sample memoranda included in an appendix rewritten case briefing chapter now provides clearer examples based on real cases e-mail correspondence added To The chapter on Letter Writing practice tips, Net Notes, and Ethics Alerts appear throughout the book more exercises, particularly on grammar and citation citation appendix now includes ALWD as well as the Bluebook redesigned text increases accessibility

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xxiii
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH 1(16)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
1(1)
A. INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING
2(1)
1. The Role of the Paralegal in Legal Research and Writing
2(1)
B. INTRODUCTION TO THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM
3(11)
1. The Organization of the Legal System
3(1)
How Did the Federal and State Systems Originate?
3(1)
2. Components of the Federal System and Governing Law
4(7)
a. The Legislative Branch
4(1)
How Is a Law Created?
4(1)
b. The Executive Branch
5(2)
c. The Judicial Branch
7(4)
Who Can Bring an Action in Federal Court?
8(1)
i. The Trial Courts
8(1)
ii. The Appellate Courts
9(1)
iii. The Supreme Court
9(2)
3. Relationship between Federal and State Governments
11(1)
Can a Federal Court Decide an Issue of State Law?
11(1)
What Effect Does a Federal Decision Have on State Law?
11(1)
Are Federal and State Agencies Part of One Governing Body?
11(1)
4. Organization of State Governments
12(6)
What Are the Duties of the State Courts?
13(1)
Can State Courts Decide Issues of Federal Law?
13(1)
Chapter Summary
14(1)
Key Terms
14(1)
Exercises
14(3)
CHAPTER 2 WHAT LAW GOVERNS 17(14)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
17(1)
A. DETERMINATION OF GOVERNING LAW
18(5)
1. Jurisdiction
18(1)
What Factors Determine Which jurisdiction Governs Your Case?
18(1)
2. Precedent
18(1)
3. Hierarchy of Authorities
19(4)
a. Currency
19(1)
b. Levels of Court
20(1)
c. Conflicting Decisions between Circuits
21(1)
d. State and Federal Decisions Concerning an Issue
22(1)
e. Conflicts in Federal and State Authority
22(1)
f. State Court Decisions
23(1)
4. Dicta
23(1)
B. GOAL OF YOUR RESEARCH
23(4)
1. Primary Authority
23(2)
How Do You Determine Whether a Case Is Mandatory or Binding?
24(1)
2. Secondary Authority
25(1)
3. Finding Tools
26(1)
4. Hybrid Sources of Authority
26(1)
5. Nonlegal Sources
27(1)
In-Class Exercise
27(1)
Chapter Summary
28(1)
Key Terms
28(1)
Exercises
28(3)
CHAPTER 3 GETTING READY TO WRITE 31(8)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
31(1)
A. WRITING GOALS AND HOW TO ACHIEVE THEM
32(1)
How Do You Plan Your Communication and Revise It?
32(1)
B. THE WRITING PROCESS
32(5)
1. Preparing to Write: Purpose and Audience
32(2)
How Do You Complete the Research Process and Make the Transition to Writing?
32(2)
a. Purpose
33(1)
What Is the Purpose of the Document?
33(1)
b. Audience
34(1)
To Whom Are You Speaking?
34(1)
2. Drafting a Detailed Outline
34(1)
How Do You Organize Your Ideas?
34(1)
3. Revision: The Final Part of the Process
34(1)
4. Example of Process Writing Techniques
35(2)
Chapter Summary
37(1)
Key Terms
37(1)
Exercises
37(2)
CHAPTER 4 CLEAR WRITING AND EDITING 39(10)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
39(1)
A. PURPOSE OF EDITING
39(1)
B. PROCESS OF EDITING
40(1)
C. SPECIFIC ITEMS TO REVIEW WHILE EDITING
41(4)
1. Diction
41(2)
What Is Diction?
41(1)
What Are Concrete Verbs?
41(2)
How Do You Avoid Legalese or Legal Speak?
43(1)
2. Voice
43(1)
What Is the Difference between Active Voice and Passive Voice?
43(1)
3. Paragraphs
44(1)
4. Sentences
44(1)
5. Other Key Rules
45(1)
In-Class Exercise
45(1)
Chapter Summary
46(1)
Key Terms
46(1)
Exercises
46(3)
CHAPTER 5 WRITING BASICS 49(10)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
49(1)
A. PUNCTUATION
50(3)
1. Commas
50(1)
2. Special Comma Rules
51(1)
3. Semicolons
51(1)
4. Colons
52(1)
5. Parentheses
52(1)
6. Double Quotation Marks
53(1)
7. Single Quotation Marks
53(1)
B. MODIFIERS
53(1)
C. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
53(1)
D. SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT
54(3)
Chapter Summary
57(1)
Key Terms
57(1)
Exercises
57(2)
CHAPTER 6 CASE BRIEFING AND ANALYSIS 59(42)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
59(1)
A. PURPOSE OF A CASE BRIEF
60(1)
B. DIAGRAM OF A DECISION
60(3)
C. ANATOMY OF A CASE BRIEF
63(31)
1. Citation
63(2)
2. Procedural Facts
65(2)
3. Issues
67(2)
How Do You Determine the Legal Issue or Issues Presented When Examining a Client's Problem?
68(1)
How Do You Draft a Statement of the Issue or Issues?
68(1)
4. Holding
69(2)
How Do You Draft a Holding?
70(1)
5. Facts
71(2)
What Are the Relevant Facts?
71(1)
How Do You Organize Your Facts Statements?
72(1)
6. Rationale
73(2)
7. Dicta
75(1)
8. Disposition
76(18)
D. CASE ANALYSIS
94(2)
Chapter Summary
96(1)
Key Terms
97(1)
Exercises
97(4)
CHAPTER 7 THE LEGAL MEMORANDUM 101(16)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
101(1)
A. THE LEGAL MEMORANDUM
102(1)
What Is an Objective Legal Memorandum?
102(1)
B. AUDIENCE
102(1)
Who Reads a Memorandum?
102(1)
C. COMPONENTS OF A MEMORANDUM
102(11)
What Is Included in a Memorandum?
102(11)
1. Heading
110(1)
2. Questions Presented or Issues
111(1)
3. Conclusion or Brief Answer
111(1)
What Is the Difference between a Conclusion and a Brief Answer?
111(1)
4. Facts
112(1)
5. Discussion
113(1)
D. STEPS IN DRAFTING A MEMORANDUM
113(2)
What Steps Should You Take in Drafting a Memo?
113(4)
1. Memo Drafting Tips
115(1)
Chapter Summary
115(1)
Key Terms
116(1)
Exercises
116(1)
CHAPTER 8 QUESTIONS PRESENTED AND CONCLUSIONS OR BRIEF ANSWERS 117(14)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
117(1)
A. QUESTIONS PRESENTED OR ISSUES
117(4)
Who Reads the Questions Presented Statement?
118(1)
1. First Draft
118(1)
What Are Legally Significant Facts?
119(1)
2. Research the Issue and Revise It
119(1)
3. Specificity and Precision
120(1)
B. BRIEF ANSWERS AND CONCLUSIONS
121(4)
1. Brief Answers
121(1)
2. Conclusions
122(1)
How Is a Conclusion Different from a Brief Answer?
122(1)
3. Drafting Conclusions
122(3)
In-Class Exercise
125(1)
Chapter Summary
126(1)
Key Terms
126(1)
Exercises
126(5)
CHAPTER 9 FACTS 131(20)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
131(1)
A. FACTS STATEMENT
132(3)
1. Defining Fact
132(1)
2. Legally Significant Facts
132(2)
What Facts Should Be Included in the Facts Statement?
132(2)
3. Fact versus a Legal Conclusion
134(1)
4. Source of Information for a Facts Statement
135(1)
B. ORGANIZING THE FACTS STATEMENT
135(5)
What Are the Different Methods of Organizing a Facts Statement?
135(5)
1. Chronological Organization
135(1)
2. Organization by Claim or Defense
136(1)
3. Organization by Party
137(1)
4. Combination of Chronological and Claim or Party Organization
138(2)
C. WRITING THE FACTS STATEMENT
140(4)
1. Prepare a List of Facts and Preliminary Statement
140(1)
2. Research the Issue
141(1)
3. Revise to Include Only Legally Significant Facts
142(1)
4. Organize the Facts
143(1)
5. Rewrite the Facts Statement
143(1)
Chapter Summary
144(1)
Key Terms
144(1)
Exercises
145(6)
CHAPTER 10 THE IRAC METHOD 151(14)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
151(1)
A. PURPOSES OF IRAC
151(1)
What Is IRAC?
151(1)
B. IRAC COMPONENTS
152(6)
What Does an IRAC Paragraph Look Like?
152(1)
1. Issues
153(2)
What Is the Difference between the Question Presented and the Issues in IRAC Paragraphs?
154(1)
2. Rules of Law
155(1)
Why Is Citation Important?
156(1)
3. Application of the Law to the Problem's Facts
156(1)
How Do You Use the Legally Significant Facts?
156(1)
4. Conclusion
157(1)
Chapter Summary
158(1)
Key Terms
158(1)
Exercises
158(7)
CHAPTER 11 SYNTHESIZING CASES AND AUTHORITIES 165(16)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
165(1)
A. SYNTHESIS
165(2)
What Is the Process of Synthesizing Legal Rules?
166(1)
Why Do We Synthesize Legal Authority?
166(1)
B. TYPES OF SYNTHESIS
167(1)
What Are the Four Methods of Synthesizing Authority?
167(1)
C. STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS TO SYNTHESIZING LEGAL RULES
167(1)
D. EXAMPLES OF CASE SYNTHESIS
168(10)
How Do You Synthesize Two Sources of Statutory Authority?
176(2)
Chapter Summary
178(1)
Key Terms
178(1)
Exercises
178(3)
CHAPTER 12 OUTLINING AND ORGANIZING A MEMORANDUM 181(32)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
181(1)
A. PURPOSE OF OUTLINING
182(1)
B. STEPS TO OUTLINING
182(15)
1. Steps in Compiling a List of Legal Authorities
182(10)
2. Organize Issues
192(1)
What Steps Should You Follow in Preparing Your Outline of Each of the Issues?
192(1)
3. Draft a Thesis Paragraph
193(2)
4. Determine Which Element to Discuss First
195(1)
5. List Elements or Subissues
195(1)
6. Add Authority
196(1)
7. Refine Issues
196(1)
8. Arrange the Order of Elements
196(1)
9. Organize into IRAC Paragraph
196(1)
C. EXAMPLE OF OUTLINING
197(2)
D. MULTI-ISSUE MEMORANDUM
199(6)
How Do You Organize a Multi-Issue Memorandum?
200(5)
In-Class Exercise
205(2)
Chapter Summary
207(1)
Key Terms
207(1)
Exercises
207(6)
CHAPTER 13 PERSUASIVE WRITING 213(32)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
213(1)
A. THE NATURE OF PERSUASIVE WRITING
214(1)
What Kinds of Documents Are Persuasive?
214(1)
Which Aspects of Persuasive Writing Do Paralegals Perform?
214(1)
What Is the Difference Between Objective and Persuasive Writing?
215(1)
B. TECHNIQUES
215(4)
Is There a Formula for Persuasive Writing as There Is for Objective Writing?
215(2)
What Are Some Techniques Used in Persuasive Writing?
217(1)
Are There Any Other Tools That Are Helpful for Persuasive Writing?
217(1)
Are There Any General Rules for Writing Persuasively?
218(1)
When Does the Need to Write Persuasively Arise?
219(1)
C. TYPES OF PERSUASIVE WRITING
219(23)
1. Complaints
219(4)
What Is a Complaint?
219(1)
How Do You Know What to Include in a Complaint?
219(4)
2. Answer
223(4)
What Is an Answer and What Is Its Purpose?
223(1)
When Is an Answer Filed?
223(2)
What Are the Components of an Answer?
225(1)
How Do You Draft the Body of an Answer to a Complaint?
225(2)
3. Motions
227(6)
What Is a Motion? 227
What Would a Motion to Dismiss the Grimy Matter Look Like?
227(1)
What Is a Memo in Support of Motion or an Advocacy Memo?
227(5)
How Do You Organize an Argument?
232(1)
4. Trial Briefs
233(1)
What Is a Trial Brief?
233(1)
How Do You Draft a Trial Brief or Memorandum in Support of a Motion?
234(1)
5. Summary Judgment Motions
234(1)
What Is a Summary judgment Motion?
234(1)
What Should Be Included in a Motion for Summary judgment and How Do You Draft One?
234(1)
6. Appellate Briefs
235(6)
Are There Any General Tips for Writing an Appellate Brief?
241(1)
7. Other Forms of Persuasive Writing
241(5)
Are There Any Instances When Persuasive Writing Is Used in a Transaction?
241(1)
Chapter Summary
242(1)
Key Terms
243(1)
Exercises
243(2)
CHAPTER 14 IN-HOUSE AND OBJECTIVE CLIENT DOCUMENTS 245(24)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
245(1)
A. CLIENT OR WITNESS INTERVIEW SUMMARY
246(3)
What Is a Client or Witness Interview Summary?
246(1)
What Questions Should You Ask Yourself Before You Begin to Write?
246(3)
1. Client's Statements
246(1)
2. Witness Statements
247(2)
How Do You Draft a Client or Witness Summary?
247(2)
B. MEETING SUMMARIES
249(2)
What Should Be Included in a Meeting Summary?
249(1)
How Do You Draft a Meeting Summary?
249(2)
C. STATUS MEMOS
251(3)
What Is a Status Memo, and Who Reads It?
251(1)
How Often Should a Status Memo Be Prepared?
251(1)
What Should the Detailed Summary Include?
251(3)
D. DEPOSITION SUMMARIES
254(2)
What Is a Deposition Summary?
254(1)
When and Why Do You Draft a Deposition Summary, and Who Will Read It?
254(1)
How Do You Draft a Deposition Summary?
254(2)
E. DEPOSITION ABSTRACTS
256(3)
What Is the Difference Between a Deposition Summary and a Deposition Abstract?
256(1)
Who Will Read the Deposition Abstract?
256(1)
What Is the Purpose of a Deposition Abstract, and When Is It Drafted?
256(1)
What Format Is Used for a Deposition Abstract?
256(2)
How Do You Draft an Abstract?
258(1)
F. TRANSACTION SUMMARY
259(1)
Chapter Summary
260(1)
Key Terms
261(1)
Exercises
261(8)
CHAPTER 15 LETTER WRITING 269(20)
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
269(1)
A. BASICS OF LETTER WRITING
270(1)
What Formats Are Used?
270(1)
B. COMPONENTS OF A LETTER
270(6)
1. Letterhead and Headers
270(2)
2. Date
272(1)
3. Method of Transmission
272(1)
4. Inside Address
272(1)
5. Reference Line
273(1)
6. Greeting
273(1)
7. Body of Letter
273(1)
8. Closing
274(1)
9. Copies to Others and Enclosures
274(2)
C. TYPES OF LETTERS
276(10)
1. Confirming Letters
276(1)
2. Status Letters and Transaction Summary Letters
276(4)
3. Demand Letter
280(1)
4. Opinion Letters
281(3)
5. E-mail
284(2)
Chapter Summary
286(1)
Key Terms
286(1)
Exercises
286(3)
Appendix A Citation 289(14)
Appendix B Sample Memoranda 303(10)
Index 313

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