Practical Resources for Drafting Legal Documents FORMS: University of Michigan Law Library Urban Communities Clinic Ann Chase January 10, 2008

Ann Chase, Foreign & Comparative Law Librarian – Room S-171 – – UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Overview How to find books in the law library – Searching the catalog – Finding books in the stacks (where are they?) How to find FORM BOOKS in the law library – Focused searching with examples Online resources for forms 3 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Forms and Legal Drafting Why do you want forms? Find examples to adapt Examples/forms may not be perfectly tailored to your purpose 4 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Variety of Sources for Forms Commercially published form books Forms prepared by courts, conforming to rules of specific jurisdiction Institutional in-house databank, archive of forms 5 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

How to find books in the Law Library 6 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online Catalog Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) Subject searching (e.g. Real Property— Michigan—Forms) Note Call Number, Location and Status 7 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Keyword Searching 8 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Keyword Searching – Results 9 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Keyword Searching – Full Record 10 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online Catalog Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) Subject searching (e.g. Real Property— Michigan—Forms) Note Call Number, Location and Status 11 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching 12 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching – Results 13 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching – Full Record 14 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching 15 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online Catalog Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) Subject searching (e.g. Real Property— Michigan—Forms) Note Call Number, Location and Status 16 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Finding Books in the Law Library BEFORE you go to the shelves, consult the handouts at the reference desk to find out where in the library you can find the book – e.g. Call numbers beginning with “JX2” are located in Sub-3 North Call Number Locator Book Locator Map 17 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Call Number Locator 18 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Book Locator 19 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Map 20 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Finding FORM BOOKS in the Law Library 21 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Form Books Contain sample legal forms Multi-volume sets, arranged by topic – Accessed by index and/or table of contents Usually include multiple versions of forms, optional clauses to add in or remove 22 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

General Forms Variety of legal topics, from “Abandoned Property” to “Zoning” Not jurisdiction-specific E.g., AmJur Legal Forms, West’s Legal Forms (related to business issues) – Title search in online catalog: 23 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Title Search – West’s Legal Forms 24 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject-Specific Forms Forms related to a specific subject Keyword search in the catalog ( [business] and formshttp://umil.iii.com/ – Examples, Legal forms for starting & running a small business Fletcher Corporation Forms, Annotated 25 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Jurisdiction-Specific Forms Forms related to a specific jurisdiction, either federal or state Bender’s Federal Practice Forms; West’s Federal Forms To find in the catalog ( Keyword search: [Michigan] and formshttp://umil.iii.com/ – Michigan Real Estate Practice and Forms 26 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Jurisdiction-Specific Forms, Advanced Keyword Search Conduct Advanced Keyword search with author: Michigan and forms and author: Institute of Continuing Legal Education – Michigan Business Formbook 27 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Advanced Keyword Search 28 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Advanced Searching with Author 29 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online resources for forms 30 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Michigan Forms Online – ICLE Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) – “Partnership” Section – Business – Real Property 31 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE Website 32 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE FormBank 33 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE How-to Kits 34 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE SCAO (State Court Administrative Offices) Forms 35 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE SCAO Forms, MI Court Forms 36 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Forms Online - Generally Lexis and Westlaw (screenshots in subsequent slides) ‘Lectric Law Library – FedForms – Findlaw Forms – 37 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Westlaw, Michigan Forms 38 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Westlaw, All Forms 39 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Lexis, Michigan Forms 40 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Lexis, All Forms 41 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Reference Assistance Come to the reference desk in person, staffed 9AM to midnight 7 days a week Ask a Law Librarian – Reference Ask a Law Librarian Call the reference desk: Schedule an individual research consultation with a professional librarian Self-help: Online Tutorials and Audio Tours 42 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Questions? 43 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY