1. Stacey Leigh Callaway Associates Capstone in Paralegal Studies – PA 299

2. A Few Reminders… Seminar: Mondays, 8 p.m. EST Office Hours: Mondays, 6-8 p.m. EST AIM sign-in: CallawayKaplan Email: SCallaway@kaplan.edu

3. 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.

4. IRAC / FIRAC Facts Issue Rule Application Conclusion

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

6. 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

7. IRAC THE LEGAL ANALYSIS PROCESS— IRAC

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

9.  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

10. 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

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

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

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

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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?

17. 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.

18. 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

19. Conclusion YES NO There was negligence There was no Negligence

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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!

24. http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeDo/ResearchGuides/CLL-Legal-Research- Engine.cfm

25. http://lawscout.uakron.edu/

26. Primary Sources

27. Court Opinions: SCOTUS SCOTUS www.supremecourtus.gov Full text of all Court opinions issued from 2004-present Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu/supct/supremes.htm 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 www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html Full text of Court opinions from 1893-present Search by publication year, official U.S. citation, party name, or keyword Oyez – Northwestern U. www.oyez.org Audio recordings of oral arguments – 1995-present Selected audio from 1955-1995 Blogs/Current Awareness resources

29. Court Opinions: U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals Emory’s Federal Courts Finder www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS 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 www.law.villanova.edu/library/researchandstudyguides/federalcourtlocator.asp Official Third Circuit Court of Appeals site Portal to other official circuit court sites U.S. Courts www.uscourts.gov 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 www.altlaw.org 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 www.lexisone.com/legalresearch.index.html Decisions from the last 10 years from all federal circuits; 1790-present U.S. Supreme Court Search by keyword or citation

32. Court Opinions: U.S. District Courts FindLaw www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/district_courts.html Portal access to U.S. district court sites The Federal Judiciary, U.S. Courts www.uscourts.gov Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu/federal/districtbystate.html 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

34. Court Opinions: State Supreme Courts LoisLaw www.loislaw.com/product/information/state.htm Full text of state supreme court decisions 1920s-present (in most cases) Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu/opinions.html Portal to all 50 states Judicial Opinions Regulations & Other Agency Info Other State Legal Collections FindLaw www.findlaw.com/casecode/statelaw Portal to all 50 states

35. Legislation: Federal Session Laws GPO Access www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html 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 1789-1875

36. Legislation: Federal Codifications GPO Access www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html Access to U.S. Code from 1994-present Browse by title, search by keyword Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu/uscode 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

38. Legislation: U.S. House & Senate Bills Library of Congress www.thomas.loc.gov 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 -- www.llsdc.org/sourcebookwww.llsdc.org/sourcebook Advice on compiling legislative history Examples of legislative history Center for Democracy & Technology Open Congressional Research Reports -- www.opencrs.comwww.opencrs.com Congressional Research Reports Not comprehensive – access to report requested by individuals from their representatives

39. Legislation: State & Local OnlineSunshine www.leg.state.fl.us 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 www.washlaw.edu 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

41. Regulations & Executive Publications: Federal Regulation Federal Register – GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html Search F.R. from 1994-present Browse table of contents Search by keyword, section, issue date, and page number

42. Regulations & Executive Publications: Decisions of Federal Agencies Code of Federal Regulations – GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html Coverage from 1996-present Search the Most Current 50 Titles (2007-2008) Search by keyword or citation Browse University of Virginia www.lib.virginia.edu/govdocs/fed_decisions_subject.html Subject-created index Directory of agencies

43. Regulations & Executive Publications: Executive Orders & Presidential Publications Official White House Site www.whitehouse.gov Current administration only Orders and proclamations arranged in reverse chronological order Search by keyword GPO Access www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/search.html Weekly Compilation of Presidential Papers 1993-January 29, 2009 Search Public Papers of the President Coverage from 1991-2004 National Archives and Records Administration Archives.gov Clinton Administration

44. Secondary Sources

45. Secondary Sources: Research Guides Law Librarians’ Resource Exchange (LLRX) www.llrx.com 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 www.virtualchase.com Guides to help locate info about businesses, companies, individuals

46. Secondary Sources: Dictionaries Merriam-Webster’s Law Dictionary dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/dictionary.html FindLaw website Law.com/Dictionary WEX http://topics.law.cornell.edu/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

47. Secondary Sources: Law Reviews University Law Review Project http://www.lawreview.org/ Free abstract e-mail service Full text search of law journals online List of journals by topic

48. Secondary Sources: Current Awareness Jurist: Legal News & Research http://jurist.org/ 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 http://www.google.com/alerts Researcher selects search terms, can select comprehensive or limited searches Searches emailed directly to research Daily, weekly, or monthly

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

50. Secondary Sources: Working Papers SSRN http://www.ssrn.com/ Can upload working papers to receive commentary Can download working papers Electronic paper collection – search by keyword, title, title abstract, or author

51. Sites to Remember Important Free Legal Resources

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

53. http://thomas.loc.gov/

54. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

55. http://www.regulations.gov/

56. 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

57. http://www.lexisone.com/

58. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casesummary/index.html

59. http://www.fastcase.com/

60. 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.

62. 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)

63. http://www.law.cornell.edu/

64. http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.html

66. http://www.justia.com

67. Questions

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