Stacey Leigh Callaway Associates Capstone in Paralegal Studies – PA 299

A Few Reminders… Seminar: Mondays, 8 p.m. EST Office Hours: Mondays, 6-8 p.m. EST AIM sign-in: CallawayKaplan

ASSOCIATES CAPSTONE IN PARALEGAL STUDIES – Unit V Unit V– Seminar (graded) - This week's Seminar will concern professional issues, such as how to take adequate notes, avoid giving legal advice, and remain impartial about cases and clients. Unit V – Discussion Board Postings (graded) – There are two discussion threads this week, access the drop down box under the Unit IV discussion link to make your comments. Unit V Case brief(graded) – You will be writing a case briefs of one of the cases you found.. It is due at the end of Unit V.

IRAC / FIRAC Facts Issue Rule Application Conclusion

Briefing a Case  Citation  Procedural History  Facts  Issue  Answer/ Holding  Reasoning  Disposition

Differences between a Case Brief and IRAC Case Brief – A summary of a published appellate court opinion broken down in your own words as to the facts, issues, holdings, reasoning’s, decisions, and references. Irac – Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion 6

IRAC THE LEGAL ANALYSIS PROCESS— IRAC

 PRESENT A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OR EXPLANATION OF THE FACTS SET OUT BY THE COURT FACTS

 HISTORY OF THE CASE  FOR CASE BRIEFS, SET OUT THE JUDICIAL HISTORY OF THE CASE. WHAT ACTION DID THE LOWER COURT TAKE? WAS THE CASE HEARD BY THE JUDGE OR A JURY? WAS THE CASE RESOLVED BY TRIAL, MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR SOME OTHER METHOD?  WHAT COURT AUTHORED THE OPINION YOU ARE BRIEFING? PROCEDURAL HISTORY

IDENTIFY THE ISSUE RAISED BY THE FACTS OF THE CASE THERE IS TYPICALLY ONLY ONE LEGAL ISSUE, BUT MORE COMPLEX CASES MAY HAVE MORE THAN ONE PRIMARY LEGAL ISSUE. IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT IS THE LEGAL DISPUTE BETWEEN THE PARTIES? ISSUE

IDENTIFY THE LAW THAT GOVERNS THE ISSUE: STATUTORY LAW CASE LAW ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION RULE

DETERMINE HOW THE LAW APPLIES TO THE ISSUE IDENTIFY ELEMENTS OF LAW APPLY FACTS TO ELEMENTS ANALYSIS/APPLICATION

SUMMARIZE THE RESULTS OF THE LEGAL ANALYSIS WHAT WAS THE FINAL OUTCOME OF THE CASE ON APPEAL? CONCLUSION

IRAC: Another organizing method Issue Rule Application/Analysis Conclusion CASE Example: Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey, Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away. Broad and General Narrow and Specific

IRAC cont. ISSUE: DEFINITION OF NEGLIGENCE: The elements of a negligence claim are familiar: existence of a duty to conform to a standard of conduct to protect others, failure to conform to that standard, proximate cause, and damages. Was there Negligence on the part of the Spider against Little Miss Muffet?

IRAC cont. Rule: To Determine if an Negligence was present 1.Did the Spider owe Miss Muffet a duty? 2.Was there a failure to conform to that duty? 3.Did such failure cause Miss Muffett any harm and damages?

IRAC cont. Rule Application / Analysis 1.What duty was Miss Muffet owed? Test against facts. 2.What failure to conform to that duty existed? Test against facts. (See next slide for example.) 3. What caused the harm and what were the damages? Test against facts.

IRAC cont. Rule Application/Analysis: Sub-Issue - Failure c. Did the negligence cause the harm? Was there a failure to conform ? Fact/case for Yes No a.Were the Spider negligent? b. Was Miss Muffet at fault at all? Yes No

Conclusion YES NO There was negligence There was no Negligence

A Few Tips: Getting Started Make sure you are familiar with your research question, including vocabulary and components Get to know your firm’s library – collection & librarians Know what type of subscriptions your firm has – and use accordingly Create a research log – keep track of each search as you work Know when to stop – recurring themes, cases, etc. indicate you have found all there is Always UPDATE your research – especially before you hand it in Decide whether online or print searching will work best for your query

A Few Tips: Print v. Online Research Print: Analytical and contextual framework Search by rules and concepts Use to provide concepts to use in online searching Statutes, treatises, ordered materials Reading and browsing Online: Broad-based searching Full-text searches Field and segment searching Matching factual situations

What’s Online & Free? Federal Opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals & District Courts (dates of coverage vary widely!) Statutes & Regulations Agency materials State Opinions & Dockets from State Supreme Courts State Statutes & Regulations Agency materials Public Records: Corporate filings, professional licenses Secondary Research Guides

A Great Place to Start: Research Guides! Identify sources of information with evaluative/descriptive annotations Topic-specific Jurisdiction-specific Offer tips for doing research Two good search engines for finding research guides…Cornell & Akron …or, try any law library website!

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Primary Sources

Court Opinions: SCOTUS SCOTUS Full text of all Court opinions issued from 2004-present Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Comprehensive coverage from 1990-present Selective coverage prior to 1990 Selection criteria = significant historical value Search by topic, judicial author, party name, or date FindLaw Full text of Court opinions from 1893-present Search by publication year, official U.S. citation, party name, or keyword Oyez – Northwestern U. Audio recordings of oral arguments – 1995-present Selected audio from Blogs/Current Awareness resources

Court Opinions: U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals Emory’s Federal Courts Finder Search Opinions by party name, keyword, or date of decision Links to the official circuit courts of appeals’ sites Those sites provides access to opinions Villanova’s Federal Court Locator Official Third Circuit Court of Appeals site Portal to other official circuit court sites U.S. Courts Official federal government portal Statistical reports, Code of Conduct, U.S. Judges Search by district, circuit, zip code, area code, county, or state AltLaw.org -- Columbia University & University of Colorado Full text of selected opinions – U.S. Supreme Court, 11 th Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal & D.C. districts Search by keyword or title; may also browse cases LexisOne Decisions from the last 10 years from all federal circuits; 1790-present U.S. Supreme Court Search by keyword or citation

Court Opinions: U.S. District Courts FindLaw Portal access to U.S. district court sites The Federal Judiciary, U.S. Courts Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Portal access to U.S. district court sites, as well as portal access to bankruptcy court sites Chart indicates whether official U.S. district court has information only or information & opinions

Court Opinions: State Supreme Courts LoisLaw Full text of state supreme court decisions 1920s-present (in most cases) Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Portal to all 50 states Judicial Opinions Regulations & Other Agency Info Other State Legal Collections FindLaw Portal to all 50 states

Legislation: Federal Session Laws GPO Access Statutes at Large 2004-present Search by subject, public law number, popular name, statute or U.S. Code citation, or bill number Library of Congress Memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html Index and lists of Public Acts/Private Acts/Treaties of the Statute at Large from

Legislation: Federal Codifications GPO Access Access to U.S. Code from 1994-present Browse by title, search by keyword Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Search by citation, popular name, or by keyword. Can also browse by title. U.S. House of Rep. Office of Law Revision Counsel Uscode.house.gov Search by keyword or citation Entire U.S. Code can be browsed

Legislation: U.S. House & Senate Bills Library of Congress Pending bills & resolutions from 101 st Congress-Present Search by keyword, index, bill’s sponsor, committee, or date Full text, summary & status, and congressional actions Related bills listed Committee Reports from 104 th Congress-Present Search by keyword, committee, or date Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC) Legislative Source Book -- Advice on compiling legislative history Examples of legislative history Center for Democracy & Technology Open Congressional Research Reports -- Congressional Research Reports Not comprehensive – access to report requested by individuals from their representatives

Legislation: State & Local OnlineSunshine Florida legislature Portal to Senate and House sites Search statutes from 1997-present Browse FL Constitution, or search through index Digest of general laws from 2003-present Link to Laws of FL (FL department of state website) WashLaw Portal access to links for official state Internet sites Municode.com Free access to full text of many codes and ordinances for 50 states Hyperlinked map lets researcher to choose state Links to counties’ and cities’ codes within state Search by keyword or table of contents

Regulations & Executive Publications: Federal Regulation Federal Register – GPO Access Search F.R. from 1994-present Browse table of contents Search by keyword, section, issue date, and page number

Regulations & Executive Publications: Decisions of Federal Agencies Code of Federal Regulations – GPO Access Coverage from 1996-present Search the Most Current 50 Titles ( ) Search by keyword or citation Browse University of Virginia Subject-created index Directory of agencies

Regulations & Executive Publications: Executive Orders & Presidential Publications Official White House Site Current administration only Orders and proclamations arranged in reverse chronological order Search by keyword GPO Access Weekly Compilation of Presidential Papers 1993-January 29, 2009 Search Public Papers of the President Coverage from National Archives and Records Administration Archives.gov Clinton Administration

Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources: Research Guides Law Librarians’ Resource Exchange (LLRX) Access to subject research guides – over 35 legal topics Links to court rules and dockets Research assistance for primary sources of law at international, federal, and state levels The Virtual Chase Guides to help locate info about businesses, companies, individuals

Secondary Sources: Dictionaries Merriam-Webster’s Law Dictionary dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/dictionary.html FindLaw website Law.com/Dictionary WEX Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Wiki created site – requires that author be a qualified expert Citations to applicable federal and state statutes & judicial decisions included

Secondary Sources: Law Reviews University Law Review Project Free abstract service Full text search of law journals online List of journals by topic

Secondary Sources: Current Awareness Jurist: Legal News & Research Written & edited by law school staff & students at University of Pittsburgh Continuous legal news from around the world Updated 24 hours/day Search by keyword Google Alerts Researcher selects search terms, can select comprehensive or limited searches Searches ed directly to research Daily, weekly, or monthly

Secondary Sources: Blogs ABA’s Blawg Directory Weekly featured blawg List of most popular blawgs Week, month, all-time Search by subject, author type, region, or law school

Secondary Sources: Working Papers SSRN Can upload working papers to receive commentary Can download working papers Electronic paper collection – search by keyword, title, title abstract, or author

Sites to Remember Important Free Legal Resources

Important Sites: Federal Library of Congress’ THOMAS Federal Legislation Information GPOAccess Service of Government Printing Office Regulations.gov Federal Rulemaking Portal

Important Sites: Free Caselaw LexisONE & FindLaw (ThomsonWest) Limited date/jurisdiction coverage i.e., past 5 years on LexisONE Robust search engine – biggest advantage! Registration (free) is usually required

Important Sites: Municipal Codes Not available on Lexis or Westlaw Use Municode.com Mostly free, some pay content One-stop source for many hard-to-find local laws Unofficial, commercial site, but has solid reputation.

Important Sites: Law Portals Cornell’s Legal Information Institute US primary materials + topical guides User friendly, extensive coverage Law Library of Congress’ Guide to Law Online US primary materials + international guides + topical guides Extensively annotated Justia US primary materials + PACER search engine Innovative search features Florida Law Online (FLO)

Questions

Thank you for joining the seminar tonight! Have a great week.