1. INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH, WRITING, AND ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH, WRITING, AND ANALYSIS

2. Legal Research Requires a Comprehensive Analysis of:
Civil Law
Criminal Law
Administrative Law

3. The Legal Research Process
Identification of facts
Identification of issues
Finding appropriate law
Analysis
Relating the law to the issues
Writing
Communicating your findings to the attorney

4. Role of the Research Associate
Provide information to the attorney
Must be accurate
Must be thorough
Paralegals and research assistants may not give legal advice
Unauthorized practice of law
Unethical
Illegal

5. Sources of Law for Research Primary Sources
Constitutions
Cases
Statutes
Administrative Regulations

6. Sources of Law for Research Secondary Sources
Legal Encyclopedias
Law Journals
Digests
Treatises
Form Books
Legal Periodicals
Legal Dictionaries
Legal Thesaurus

7. Sources of Law for Research
Primary and secondary sources are found:
In print form
In electronic form
CD-ROMs
On-line services
LEXIS
Westlaw
Internet sites

8. Citing the Law The Leading Authority is the Uniform System of Citation
Published by the Harvard Law Review Association
a/k/a The Bluebook or The Harvard Bluebook
Other authority
ALWD Citation Manual (Association of Legal Writing Directors)
Local court rules