A Concise Guide To Legal Research And Writing

Featuring Deborah E. Bouchoux’s highly regarded assignments, examples, and building-block approach, Concise Guide to Legal Research and Writing, Fourth Edition continues to provide timely coverage of the essential research and writing skills used by today’s paralegals. Designed specifically for paralegal students, this is the ideal text for shorter legal research and writing courses. New to the Fourth Edition: New “Sidebar” feature in all research chapters provides quick tips showing how the material in that chapter applies to computer-assisted legal research systems, such as Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law. Discussion of GovInfo, which provides free public access to official and authenticated publications from all three branches of the federal government. Coverage of new tools used for cite-checking, including EVA and Bestlaw. Discussion of Westlaw Edge, Westlaw’s new research platform. Extensive new coverage of the increasing use of artificial intelligence in legal research and writing. Discussion of new sources that provide free public access to the law, including Harvard’s Caselaw Access Project, CourtListener, and RECAP Project. New sections on preparing email letters and email memoranda, including assignments. All new Research Questions and Internet Legal Research Assignments have been included for each chapter. Professors and students will benefit from: Concise, well-organized text, divided into six main sections: Section I discusses primary authorities Section II covers secondary sources Section III focuses on computer-assisted legal research using Lexis Advance, Westlaw, and the Internet Section IV covers citation form and how to ensure that these sources are still “good law” Section V provides an overview of the legal research process Section VI covers legal writing Pedagogy designed to enhance the accessibility of the material, including helpful charts and diagrams that synthesize complex topics, updated Practice Tips offering realistic and helpful suggestions for workplace success, and Ethics Alerts in every chapter. Targeted and ample exercises help students learn how to use a wide range of research sources. Tips on how to effectively use electronic resources are included throughout the text. Conscientious revision ensures that the book has the most up-to-date material, presented in a readable and accessible format.

"Textbook for paralegal courses on legal research and writing"--

A clear, well-organized text for the introductory legal research and writing course, designed specifically for paralegal students, Concise Guide to Legal Research and Writing Second Edition covers legal research and legal writing in a concise and pragmatic manner and is ideal for introductory, abbreviated, or online courses.

Unlike conventional legal research books that limit their focus to teaching students how to find and use the various sources of law, this book stresses a systematic, practice-oriented approach to acquiring legal-research skills. It presents a simple yet highly effective research strategy that helps students efficiently solve the types of complex legal-research problems they can expect to encounter in the workplace. In addition, the book includes a section on the various primary and secondary sources of law, and how best to find and use them, as well as a section containing tips for summer interns and associates, and a Trouble-Shooting Guide to help students overcome the occasional obstacles that may crop up in their research projects. The book also includes a detailed Research Checklist for students to use before turning in their work. For these reasons, the book makes an ideal stand-alone text for the first-year legal-research class, as well as an excellent supplementary text for advanced legal-research classes.

"Legal Research and Writing, Third Edition" seeks to explain the practical skills needed for print and online legal research and for legal writing. It provides a current and comprehensive look at the topic, consolidating information on legal research and writing into one handy, easy-to-use resource. The book is written for both seasoned practitioners, seeking to add the latest sources and techniques to their research arsenals, and for beginning law students who face a bewildering array of information. It includes chapters on legal research malpractice, the acquisition of research resources, and knowledge management. In addition, it covers searching the new platforms of the major proprietary online legal databases, the increasing digitization of legal materials, and the Web 2.0. "Legal Research and Writing" is the most up-to-date book of its kind available in Canada today.

Basic Legal Writing for Paralegals, Sixth Edition, teaches students the skills they need to effectively work with cases, legal authorities, documents, and professional correspondence. Samborn and Yelin guide students through the writing process, using the objective memo as a teaching tool. At every stage of a well-defined writing process, the authors provide lucid explanations, visual aids, and plenty of examples. With practice exercises throughout the book, students can develop the skills that will become indispensable to their careers as paralegals. New to the Sixth Edition: New and refreshed exercises Streamlined presentation, making the material even more accessible and teachable Updated website resources Revised and updated chapter on Case Briefing and Analysis Expanded coverage of email and e-memos Professors and students will benefit from: Thorough and readable coverage of case briefs, legal memoranda, correspondence, and persuasive writing A practical approach that emphasizes the role of the paralegal, and how different types of legal writing are used in practice Step-by-step instruction that guides students through every stage of the writing process, from pre-writing planning to drafting and revising An overview of the legal system that shows how different forms of legal writing are used in different contexts Synthesizing and presenting legal authorities How to use the IRAC method of legal analysis Examples, exhibits, writing tips, exercises, ethics alerts, practice pointers, and web resources Additional student resources in its appendices on citation rules and writing strategies