Legal reasoning, research, and writing for international graduate students /
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| Author / Creator: | Nedzel, Nadia E., 1954- |
|---|---|
| Imprint: | New York : Aspen Publishers, c2004. |
| Description: | xxiii, 353 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Legal research -- United States. Law -- United States -- Methodology. Legal composition. Law -- Methodology. Legal composition. Legal research. United States. |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/5368904 |
Table of Contents:
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1. United States Common Law
- I.. The Nature of U.S. Common Law, as Compared to Other Legal Systems
- A.. U.S. Common Law Contrasted with Civilian Jurisdictions
- B.. Background Norms of United States Law
- 1.. United States Law as Compared to Islamic Law
- 2.. United States Law as Compared to Asian Legal Traditions
- 3.. United States Legal Philosophy as Compared to Marxist/Leninist Theories
- II.. Comparative Development of Western Legal Systems
- A.. The Civil Law Tradition
- B.. The Anglo-American Development of Common Law
- 1.. The Founding of Circuit Courts, Separation of Law and Religion, and Stare Decisis
- 2.. The Role of Scholars
- 3.. The Jury System
- 4.. Common Law Civil Procedure: Writ Pleading, the Distinction between Law and Equity, and its Effect on the Jury System
- 5.. Legal Education
- III.. The Study of Law in the United States: The Case Method
- IV.. Briefing Cases
- A.. Components of a Case Brief
- Discussion Notes
- Exercise
- Supplementary Exercise
- Bibliography
- Chapter 2. Introduction to American Legal Research and the Federal System
- I.. United States Legal Resources
- A.. Types of Legal Resources
- B.. Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Research Media
- II.. Research Techniques and Interpretive Skills
- III.. The First Research Skill: Locating a Given Legal Authority
- A.. Primary Authority and Citation Forms
- 1.. Constitutions
- 2.. Statutes
- 3.. Regulations
- 4.. Case Law
- B.. Secondary Sources
- IV.. The First Interpretive Skill: Ranking or Weight of Authority
- A.. Three-Tier Court System
- B.. Mandatory versus Persuasive Authority
- C.. Federalism, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and the Preemption Doctrine
- D.. Timeliness
- Discussion Notes
- Exercise
- Exercise Hints for Various Media
- Chapter 3. Legal Reasoning and Objective Legal Writing
- I.. Deductive Reasoning and the Syllogism
- II.. IRAC and CRAC Reasoning
- A.. I: Identification of an Issue
- B.. R: Analysis of a Legal Rule
- 1.. Types of Legal Rules
- 2.. Difficulties in Stating Common Law Rules
- 3.. Incorporating Case Law into the Rule Analysis
- 4.. Incorporating Policy Concerns
- 5.. Considering Relative Weight of Authority
- C.. A and C: Application and Conclusion
- III.. Example of IRAC Analysis: The Gun-in-the-Boot Problem
- A.. Facts and Basic Rule Analysis
- B.. Case Law
- C.. Issue Identification
- D.. Example of a Case Law Chart
- E.. Factual Comparisons to the Harris Problem
- F.. Policy Analysis
- G.. Summary
- IV.. The Interoffice Memo
- A.. The Assignment: Interviewing the Employer
- B.. Interoffice Memo Form
- C.. Discussion Section
- 1.. Two-Issue Discussion Sections
- 2.. Concluding Sentence
- D.. Other Information about the Interoffice Memo
- 1.. Tone and Style
- 2.. Citations
- 3.. Revising
- 4.. Plagiarism
- V.. Sample Interoffice Memo
- VI.. The Open Research Memo
- A.. Definition of an Open Research Memo
- B.. Similarities and Differences between Closed and Open Memos
- C.. Checklist: Researching and Writing the Open Memo
- Discussion Notes
- Exercise
- Chapter 4. The Research Process
- I.. Ethical and Practical Demands
- II.. The Research Process
- III.. Research Advice
- A.. Media Choices
- 1.. Comparison of Fee-Based Computer Databases
- 2.. Noncommercial Computer Databases
- 3.. CD-ROM and Microforms
- B.. Finding Tools
- C.. Keeping on Track
- D.. Preserving Research Results
- E.. Reading for Research
- F.. Planning Project Time
- G.. Determining when Research Is Complete
- IV.. Stage 1: Background Research and Preparation
- A.. Facts: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How
- B.. Jurisdiction, Area of Law, and Issue or Search Terms
- C.. Choice Research Media
- D.. Initial Research Plan
- E.. Secondary Sources
- 1.. Get an Overview of Area of Law and Underlying Policy Considerations
- 2.. Identify Probable Source or Sources of Law
- 3.. Revise List of Search Terms or Issue Statement
- 4.. Locate Applicable Legal Principles
- 5.. Scavenge Secondary Sources for Citations to Mandatory Authority
- F.. Issue Statement Refinement
- G.. Research Plan Refinement
- H.. Sample Research Log
- V.. The Purpose and Importance of Secondary Research
- A.. Secondary Sources: Hard Copy or Online?
- B.. Types of Secondary Sources
- 1.. Restatements
- 2.. Treatises and Hornbooks
- 3.. Legal Periodicals
- 4.. American Law Reports
- 5.. Legal Encyclopedias
- 6.. Digests
- Discussion Notes
- Exercise
- Chapter 5. Researching and Updating Case Law
- I.. Finding and Verifying Case Law
- A.. Scavenging from Secondary Sources
- B.. Using Citators to Verify, Update, and Broaden Research
- 1.. Scavenging Cases from Citations Given in a Case
- 2.. Citators
- 3.. Using Citators to Verify Case law
- 4.. Using Citators to Locate Case Law and Secondary Authority
- 5.. The Importance of Citators
- C.. Locating Case Law Using Subject Indexes
- D.. Term and Full-Sentence Searches on Internet Databases
- 1.. Choosing the Appropriate Database
- 2.. Choosing between Boolean and Full-Sentence Searches
- 3.. Avoid Boolean and Full-Sentence Searches Until You Have Used Other Methods
- 4.. Tailoring Boolean Searches for Accuracy
- II.. Citing Cases
- A.. The Case Name
- 1.. Short-Form Case Names
- B.. Reporter Information, Volume and Page Numbers
- 1.. Parallel Citations
- 2.. Pinpoint Citations
- C.. Court and Year
- D.. Subsequent History
- E.. Short Citation Forms
- Exercises: Finding and Citing Case Law
- Chapter 6. Researching and Interpreting Constitutions, Statutes, and International Law
- I.. Statute, Regulation, or Case Law: Which Is It?
- II.. Researching Constitutions
- III.. Researching Statutes
- A.. Locating Statutes
- 1.. Scavenge from Secondary Sources
- 2.. Use Subject Indexes to Locate Controlling Statute
- 3.. Analyze Associated Statutes
- 4.. Locate and Analyze Noted Cases in Annotations
- 5.. Use Citators to Update and Broaden Case Research
- 6.. Use Term and Sentence-Form Searches
- 7.. Research Legislative History if Needed
- B.. Congressional Powers and the Legislative Process
- 1.. Structure and Functions of Congress
- 2.. How a Bill Becomes Law
- 3.. Researching New Statutes
- IV.. Researching and Updating Administrative Regulations
- V.. Interpreting Statutes
- A.. Plain Language
- B.. Textualist Approach
- C.. Purposive Interpretation
- 1.. Documents Generated During the Legislative Process
- 2.. Weight of Authority in Legislative History
- 3.. How to find Legislative History Documents
- 4.. Controversies Surrounding Legislative History
- 5.. Interpretations Based on Public Policy
- VI.. International Law and Treaties
- A.. Researching International Law Online
- B.. U.S. Interpretations of International Law
- Exercises
- Bibliography
- Chapter 7. Rewriting and Style
- I.. United States Legal Writing Rhetoric
- A.. The Ideal
- B.. The Reality
- II.. Rewriting
- III.. Reorganization
- A.. The Macro-Organization of an Objective Memo
- B.. Reorganization of the Discussion
- C.. Small-Scale Organization of the Rule Section
- 1.. Use of Case Law and Avoidance of Laundry Lists
- 2.. More Than One Problematic Component
- 3.. Sequence of Cases
- 4.. Paragraphs Discussing Cases
- 5.. Incorporating Secondary Authority
- D.. Small-Scale Organization of an Application Section
- 1.. Structure of the Application Section
- 2.. Fact-to-Fact Analogy
- E.. Reorganization of the Facts
- F.. Reorganization of the Conclusion
- G.. Picturing How Sections of a Law Firm Memo Work Together
- IV.. Editing
- A.. Paragraphs
- 1.. Paragraph Structure
- 2.. Topic Sentences
- 3.. Transitions
- B.. Editing Sentences
- 1.. Sentence Length
- 2.. Sentence Structure
- 3.. Paraphrasing and Using Language Consistently
- C.. Editing Details
- 1.. Paragraph and Sentence Format
- 2.. Word Choice
- 3.. Grammar
- V.. Proofreading
- Exercises
- Chapter 8. Advanced Objective Writing
- I.. Types of Scholarly Articles
- A.. Seminar Papers and Thesis Papers
- B.. Law Review Articles
- II.. Subject Choice and Development
- A.. Identifying a Particular Issue or Narrow Area
- B.. Approaches to Articles
- C.. Unanticipated Research Problems
- III.. The Contents of a Scholarly Article
- A.. Thesis Statement
- B.. Basic Organization of a Scholarly Paper
- C.. Footnotes
- 1.. String Citations
- 2.. Discursive Citations
- D.. Plagiarism Warning
- IV.. Time Management and Research Strategies
- A.. Avoiding Procrastination
- B.. Research Strategy
- C.. Storing and Organizing Research for Larger Projects
- D.. Reorganizing Research: Pre-prewriting
- V.. The Writing Process
- A.. The Natural Writing Process
- B.. Prewriting
- 1.. Notecards and Preliminary Notes
- 2.. Outlining
- 3.. Free-Form Outlining
- 4.. Dump Drafts
- 5.. Summary of the Optimal Prewriting Process
- C.. Writing
- 1.. Problematic Sections
- 2.. Translation Problems with Comparative Topics
- 3.. Keeping Track of Citations
- D.. Rewriting
- 1.. Organization
- 2.. Content and Scope
- E.. Editing
- 1.. Signposts and Transitions
- 2.. Paragraph and Sentence Structure
- 3.. Style and Tone
- F.. Introductions and Conclusions
- G.. Polishing and Proofreading
- H.. Final Thoughts
- Exercise
- Bibliography
- Chapter 9. Nonfee Internet Legal Research
- I.. Research Strategies
- A.. Stage 1 Research
- B.. Stage 2 Research
- 1.. Researching Statutes
- 2.. Researching Regulations
- 3.. Researching Case Law
- C.. Stage 3 Research
- II.. Research Methodology: Boolean Searches
- A.. The and Connector
- B.. The or Connector
- C.. Problems with the Meaning of a Space between Words
- D.. Parentheses: Using and and or in the Same Search
- E.. Proximity Connectors
- F.. Quotations, Pluralization, and Wild Cards
- G.. Getting the Most from a Search
- III.. Nonfee Legal Research Web Sites
- A.. Legal Research Web Crawlers
- B.. Law School and other Nonprofit Organization Sites
- C.. Government Sites
- 1.. Broad-Scoped Databases and Search Engines
- 2.. Specific U.S. Government Databases
- D.. Generic Search Engines and Web Crawlers
- Exercise
- Chapter 10. Persuasive Writing
- I.. Trial Sequence and Accompanying Documents
- A.. Pretrial Procedure and Documents
- 1.. Preliminary Documents
- 2.. Discovery
- B.. The Trial
- II.. Drafting Persuasive Documents
- A.. Issues of Form
- B.. Descriptions of Filings
- 1.. The Complaint
- 2.. The Answer
- 3.. Motions to Dismiss
- 4.. Notice of Appeal and the Appellate Brief
- C.. Drafting Memoranda in Support or Appellate Briefs
- 1.. Prewriting
- 2.. Format
- 3.. Drafting Sequence
- 4.. The Introduction and Question Presented
- 5.. The Statement of the Case or Statement of Facts
- 6.. Statement of Jurisdiction
- 7.. Standard of Review or Decisional Standard
- 8.. The Argument
- III.. A Cautionary Note: Ethical Rules and Writing Standards Applicable to Advocacy
- Discussion Notes
- Exercise
- Appendix to Chapter 10: Sample Filings
- Chapter 11. Drafting Contracts
- I.. The Nature of Contract Drafting
- II.. Background and Preparation
- A.. The Initial Client Interview
- B.. The Outline
- C.. The Term Sheet or Draft Contract
- 1.. Term Sheet
- 2.. The Letter of Intent
- D.. The Contract
- 1.. Pattern or Form Books and Other Resources
- 2.. The Form of a Contract
- III.. Drafting the Contract
- A.. Title
- B.. Date
- C.. Introduction
- D.. Recitals
- E.. Definitions
- F.. Substantive Provisions (Terms)
- 1.. Operating Clauses
- 2.. Termination Clauses
- 3.. Contingency Clauses
- 4.. Damages and Remedies
- 5.. Miscellaneous
- G.. Signatures and Dates
- H.. Notarization and Witnesses
- Exercise
- Bibliography
- Appendix. Preparing for and Taking Examinations
- I.. Outlining and Studying
- A.. Preparing an Outline
- B.. Studying and Practicing with Hypothetical Problems
- C.. Sample Outline
- II.. Taking U.S. Law School Examinations
- A.. The Plan of Attack
- 1.. Read the General Directions
- 2.. Scan the Exam and Allocate Your Time
- 3.. Apportion One-Third of Your Time for Reading and Outlining Essay Questions
- 4.. Read Each Essay Question Twice
- 5.. Highlight Clues and Note Key Concepts
- 6.. Outline Your Answer
- 7.. Write Your Essay Answer with an Eye on the Clock
- B.. Writing the Exam: IRAC and CRAC
- C.. Common Errors
- 1.. Taking Sides
- 2.. Failing to Explicitly State Controlling Law
- 3.. Failing to Note the Relationship between Legal Issues
- 4.. Mixing Legal Categories
- 5.. Discussing Irrelevant Legal Principles
- D.. Sample Torts Question and Answers
- Exercise
- Comparing the Two Answers
- Bibliography
- Index