- My name is Mitzi Dease Paige and I am your instructor. I want you to know I am committed to assisting you in making this a great learning experience.

Kaplan seminars must be conducted in a moderated mode That simply means not everyone’s posts in class will be visible to all.

Seminars. They are very important. But if you can’t make it, the syllabus and a separate covered how to make up a miss by way of the ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT (basically sending me a two page essay on the week’s seminar summarizing the seminar.

The Socratic method Questions first…..you answer….then I give you my answer Relax…I don’t call on just one person…call on class as a whole

C ITATIONS Lets start with what a citation is? Well….in its simplest terms…it is an address To understand, you have to remember the “address” was invented in the age of musty old law books..offical reporters… Smith v Jones, 1 Mich 296 (2008) FYI…Bluebook Rule 10 covers how cases should be cited in legal documents.

Statute MCL (1958) In a brief, “The Michigan Workers Compensation Act, MCL et seq. State abbreviation Michigan Workers Compensation Act Code abbreviation Michigan Complied Laws Section number chaper/section Year on volume spine(1958)

Who Sets Citation Norms There is no national citation standard issuing authority, and despite the tendency of citation manuals to attach the word "rule" to specific citation practices, their authoritative reach is, at best, limited to a specific sector

Major guides 1. The Bluebook governs the citation practices of the majority of U.S. student-edited law journals and has, through its successive editions, shaped the citation education and resulting citation habits of most U.S. lawyers.

ALWD Citation Manual ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation (3d ed. 2006) has quickly gained a wide following in U.S. law schools, and since it aims to reflect current usage, it is highly consistent with The Bluebook.

"Maroon Book” An earlier competing academic project, The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation, which called itself the "Maroon Book," offered a distinctly different and less rigid set of rules. First published in 1989, it failed to win a significant following or affect professional practice

Local Rules Each jurisdiction may…and often does…set its own rules Generally they use the bluebook as a base Michigan example

Federal Statute 17 U.S.C. § 1201 (2000) Title number 17 Code abbreviation U.S.C. Section number § 1201 Year on volume spine (2000)

Parallel cites simply a “second cite” to a separate group of reporters in case you don’t have the first set of book….second is non official say nw So Smith v Jones, 1 Mich 296,122 NW 2d 342, (2008) No longer required

The Law What is the law?

There are four main sources of law Constitutions Statutes Court opinions (also called cases) Administrative regulations and opinions

How do they work together? A state’s Constitution may grant greater rights than those secured by the federal constitution, but because a state constitution is subordinate to the federal constitution, it cannot provide lesser rights than the federal constitution does. All of a state’s legal rules must comport with both the state and federal constitutions.

What are the three sources of government? The Legislative Branch The judicial Branch The Executive Branch

Legislative Branch Creates Statutes which must be approved by the executive branch in order to go into effect…this is an example of the “checks and balances” so often referred to in your high school history class. Who must sign the bill in the Federal Government and State government?

The Executive Branch Federal – Headed by the President Administrative Regulations – created by the administrative agencies pursuant to statutory authority.

The Judicial Branch Court opinions – also called Cases Courts interpret rules created by the legislative and executive branches of government. What happens if a court decides a rule does not meet constitutional requirements? What if the legislature doesn’t like a rule created by the court?

Primary or Secondary? Some types of legal authority are more authoritative than others to be able to understand how legal authority is categorized, you must be able to differentiate “primary” authority from “Secondary”…and “mandatory” from “persuasive”.

Primary Primary authority = rules of law = Constitutions, cases, statutes and administrative regulations.

Secondary Authority Secondary authority = commentary on the law but not the law itself. Example = An opinion from the U.S. Supreme court is ____________ authority…while an article written about that opinion is ________ authority.

Mandatory or Persuasive? These are the terms used by courts to categorize the different sources of law they use in making their decisions. Mandatory Authority contains the rules you must apply to determine the correct answer to the issue. Persuasive Authority is nonbinding on the court but the court MAY choose to follow it. Persuasive authority does not dictate an answer to an issue, but it might help you figure an answer out.

Mandatory or Persuasive The degree to which an authority controls the answer to a legal question is called the weight of the authority. What determines the weight of an authority? Primary or secondary Mandatory or persuasive

Secondary Authority Secondary authority is ALWAYS persuasive and therefore NONBINDING

Primary Authority Primary Authority can be mandatory authority but it can also be persuasive. Factors affecting authority of primary sources Statutes= Jurisdiction Cases = Jurisdiction and level of the court

Determining Authority of Court Decisions Trial Courts are at the bottom of the judicial hierarchy. (In Federal Courts trial courts are District Courts…In state Courts trial courts are Circuit Courts.) Intermediate level courts are appellate courts. (Federal = Circuit Court State = District) Court of Last Resort – Supreme Court

Trial Court Opinions Trial Court opinions, including Federal Trial Court opinions are NEVER mandatory authority. The parties in the actual lawsuit are bound by the result but other courts are not bound to follow the argument or decision in NEW cases. Trial Court opinions are __________ authority

Appellate Court Opinions Appellate Court opinions bind the courts below them. Appellate decisions are mandatory for the trial courts subordinate to them in the court structure. Appellate Court decisions are not mandatory authority to other appellate court cases because Appellate courts can choose to overrule themselves. Appellate Court opinions are persuasive authority on Supreme Court cases.

Supreme Court Opinions The Supreme Court may follow opinions of lower courts, but is never obligated to do so. However, opinions of the Supreme Court are MANDATORY authority for both intermediate appellate courts and trial courts subordinate to it in structure. The Supreme court is not bound by its prior decisions but is deferential to them.

Jurisdiction and its effect on Authority Rules stated within a court opinion are only mandatory authority within the court’s jurisdiction. A Texas Supreme Court decision is not mandatory in Illinois but is mandatory in a Texas trial or appellate court.