Legal research can be costly for students and practitioners in two ways: time and money. A SHORT & HAPPY GUIDE TO ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH identifies available free and fee-based legal research options as good, cheap and/or fast. This book can streamline the process of legal research involving any subject matter and during any stage of civil litigation. An overview of the litigation analytics and artificial intelligence features available from Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and Westlaw Edge is also included, in the likely event you graduated from law school before 2019. Ann Walsh Long is the Head of Research & Digital Collections/Assistant Professor of Law at the Lincoln Memorial University School of Law. Ann has also worked at the Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters Library and in four "Big Law" firms. As a former law firm librarian, Ann taught hundreds of summer and new associates how to conduct cost-effective legal research, and advised firms on how best to recover those costs from clients.
The empirical study of law, legal systems and legal institutions is widely viewed as one of the most exciting and important intellectual developments in the modern history of legal research. Motivated by a conviction that legal phenomena can and should be understood not only in normative terms but also as social practices of political, economic and ethical significance, empirical legal researchers have used quantitative and qualitative methods to illuminate many aspects of law's meaning, operation and impact. In the 43 chapters of The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research leading scholars provide accessible and original discussions of the history, aims and methods of empirical research about law, as well as its achievements and potential. The Handbook has three parts. The first deals with the development and institutional context of empirical legal research. The second - and largest - part consists of critical accounts of empirical research on many aspects of the legal world - on criminal law, civil law, public law, regulatory law and international law; on lawyers, judicial institutions, legal procedures and evidence; and on legal pluralism and the public understanding of law. The third part introduces readers to the methods of empirical research, and its place in the law school curriculum.
Highlights of the 5th Edition include: New chapters on researching French law, European Union law and Foreign, Comparative and International law New coverage of e-mail as a form of legal writing New section on researching the law of other commonwealth jurisdictions New snapshots of the features and functionality of major information providers in Canada - LexisNexis, Quicklaw, Westlaw, eCarswell, SOQUIJ, REJB, CanLII and CCH Canadian. Some sample search illustrations are included. There is also a snapshot of the Folioviews software, which is the software of choice of most Canadian legal CD ROM products. New coverage of electronic access to full-text periodicals. New section on electronic judgments - features, elements and Specific Electronic Judgment Sources New coverage of electronic citators A completely rewritten chapter on Researching Quebec law.
Legal Research Demystified offers a real-world approach to legal research for first-year law students. The book guides students through eight steps to research common law issues and ten steps to research statutory issues. It breaks down the research steps and process into "bite-size" pieces for novice researchers, minimizing the frustration often associated with learning new skills. This text also gives students context, explaining why and when a source or finding tool should be used when researching the law. The process of legal research, of course, is not linear. This book constantly reminds students of the recursive nature of legal research, and it identifies specific situations when they may deviate from the research steps. Through the book's step-by-step approach, students will connect seemingly unrelated tools (e.g., citators and the Key Number System) and understand how to leverage them to answer legal questions. Every chapter includes charts, diagrams, and screen captures to illustrate the research steps and finding methods. Each chapter concludes with a "summary of key points" section that reinforces important concepts from the chapter. This book provides students and professors with multiple assessment tools. Each chapter ends with true-false and multiple-choice questions that test students' understanding of chapter content. These questions are replicated on the book's companion website, Core Knowledge. Students may answer these end-of-chapter questions, as well as more advanced questions, on Core Knowledge and receive immediate feedback, including an explanation of why the answer is correct or incorrect. Professors can generate reports to track students' performance. Based on students' performance, professors will know whether to review a topic in more detail or to move to the next topic. (New books contain an access code to Core Knowledge; students purchasing used books can buy an access code separately.) Core Knowledge offers yet another assessment tool: interactive research exercises. These online exercises walk students through the research steps on Westlaw and Lexis Advance, giving professors the option to "flip" the classroom. Through many screen captures and tips, students can navigate both research platforms outside of class, allowing students and professors to dig deeper into the material during class. Each research exercise simulates a real-world research experience and contains self-grading questions. For example, in one exercise, students research on Westlaw to determine whether the client could recover damages against a neighbor for the emotional distress for the death of the client's dog. To answer the client's question, students must complete the research steps, including finding and reviewing secondary sources on Westlaw, using the Key Number System and KeyCite, and performing keyword searches. Professor support materials include a Teacher's Manual, sample syllabi, and sample research exams.
This illuminating Research Handbook analyses the role that emotions play and ought to play in legal reasoning and practice, rejecting the simplistic distinction between reason and emotion.
This comprehensive Research Handbook provides an unparalleled overview of contemporary private law theory. Featuring original contributions by leading experts in the field, its extensive examinations of the core areas of contracts, property and torts are complemented by an exploration of a breadth of topics that cross the divide between private and public law, including labor law and corporate law.
"This book provides an alternative to the excellent, but often lengthy, legal research books that take a bibliographic approach to this dynamic lawyering skill. The goal of the third edition is to explore concisely both the sources of New York state law and the process of conducting research using those sources. New to the third edition is a greater emphasis on online sources and performing online research. The book begins with an overview of the legal research process and an introduction to research techniques using online media. Then the book turns to secondary sources, recognizing these sources as the entry point for most new research projects. Next, New York Legal Research addresses primary authority, with chapters dedicated to case law, enacted law (statutes, constitutions, local law, and court rules), and administrative law. Additional chapters cover legislative history, free and commercial updating tools, legal ethics research, New York City law, and research strategies and organization. An appendix explains legal citation by New York courts following the New York Law Reports Style Manual"--
Newly updated, this Pennsylvania-specific guide for legal-research methods, programs, and resources is a must-have for attorneys, law students, librarians, paralegals, or anyone who conducts legal research in the state of Pennsylvania.
