Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing

by Myers, Kathryn E.

• ISBN13: 9780135077139
• ISBN10: 0135077133
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-07-25
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This comprehensive guide to modern legal research and writing offers a unique balance of traditional print research techniques with newer online methods. Throughout, LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING helps students fully understand the issues they are researching, so they can apply analytical thinking to achieve superior results. Students discover how laws are made, how to decide which law is applicable, how to read the law, how to search legal databases, and how to apply the law in a client's unique situation. The text offers insights for overcoming research obstacles, and provides many examples, figures, and reference checklists. It also offers deep insight into effective writing, including extensive coverage of case briefs, memoranda of law, external briefs, correspondence, and pleadings. A concise review of the writing process addresses everything from pre-writing to grammar and word usage. Extensive pedagogical features include opening scenarios, lists of key terms, case excerpts, media and web resources, and many forms of practice, from Quick Check quizzes to detailed Research Assignments.

Author Biography

         Kathryn L. Krocza Myers is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Paralegal Studies at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC), a small, Catholic, liberal arts college for women in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. She has been involved in paralegal education since 1982 when she helped create the college’s paralegal program.

         She has been active in the American Association for Paralegal Educators (AAfPE) since 1989. She has served on numerous committees, was editor of The Paralegal Educator, and served as President of AAFPE in 2001–2002. She has chaired and served on the national conference committee since 2002. She has been a frequent speaker at regional and annual AAfPE conferences, often covering research and writing.

         She is actively involved in paralegal organizations and frequently creates continuing education sessions on legal research and writing, as well as other top¿ics, for programs sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indianapolis Bar Association, and Indiana Paralegal Association. She has been a speaker for the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), Illinois Paralegal Association, American Alliance of Paralegals, Inc. (AAPI), Navy Legalmen, and others. She has served NALA on its certifying board, served on NFPA’s Board of Directors, and is on the creden¿tialing board for AAPI. She reviews, publishes, and lectures on various areas of paralegal education such as research and writing, grant writing, litigation, career development, communication, internships, and substantive law topics.

         In 2010, Indiana Governor Mitchell Daniels named her an Outstanding Hoosier. The award, presented during the AAfPE conference, was presented by her long-time friend and supporter, The Honorable John G. Baker, Chief Judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals. After several visits to the SMWC Law Day, a program she organized at the Woods that brings the Indiana Court of Appeals to campus to present an actual case to area middle and high school students, Judge Baker decided that they should “take the show on the road,” and today the Indiana Court of Appeals travels to various cities in Indiana meeting with students at the high school and college levels. The SMWC Law Day program was named the ABA “Outstanding Law Day Program for 1998.”

Locally, she has been Vice President in Children’s Theatre of Terre Haute and a Girl Scout leader. She is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), on the CASAKids board after serving two years as its president, and is a Mother’s March of Dimes volunteer. She also holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Introduction to Legal Research

Chapter 2 The Structure of Government and the Court System

Chapter 3 Understanding the Origins and Organizations of the Law

Chapter 4 Types of Law

Chapter 5 Legal Citation Form

Chapter 6 Citing Sources:  The Bluebook and ALWD

Chapter 7 Tools for Manual and Online Research  

Chapter 8 Main Secondary Authorities

Chapter 9 Finding Aids, Drafting Aids, and Miscellaneous Secondary Authorities

Chapter 10 Researching Enacted Law and Related Materials

Chapter 11 Researching the Common Law (Case Lasw)

Chapter 12 The Administrative Agencies and Special Laws 

Chapter 13 Updating and Validating Research

Chapter 14 The Foundation of Writing

Chapter 15 The Case Brief

Chapter 16 Writing an Internal Memorandum of Law

Chapter 17 Writing External Briefs

Chapter 18 Correspondence 

Chapter 19 Drafting Pleadings and Other Legal Document

 

Appendices

Appendix 1 Form documents, briefs, memoranda

Appendix 2

Appendix 3 Internet resources