Provides an overview to types and sources for legal research. Has list of legal abbreviations and index.

Researching and tracing information is an essential skill that students need to master if they want to succeed both in their legal studies and in their future careers. A practical guide to effective legal research, this new edition presents the information in a step-by-step format leading students through the world of legal research from using a law library to searching online

With clear explanations, examples, and visual aids, The Legal Research and Writing Handbook, Eighth Edition by Andrea Yelin and Hope Viner Samborn offers complete coverage of a complex subject in a student-friendly, accessible text. In this thoroughly updated new edition, the authors continue to keep pace with legal research, citation, and technology in today’s law firms. This practical text focuses on efficient research processes and techniques for both traditional and electronic sources, along with step-by-step instruction through each stage of the legal writing process, from prewriting strategies, to revising. The text is enhanced with examples and visual aids, expert writing and practice tips, hands-on exercises, ethics alerts, up-to-date web resources, and easy-to-navigate page design. Excellent exercises are provided to reinforce student learning. Key Features: Updated and expanded coverage of electronic resources reflecting how paralegals do research today Detailed discussion of how to use legal authorities in legal communications and how to synthesize them and present them to attorneys Examples, exhibits, practical tips, updated exercises, and web resources in every chapter Expanded discussion of e-mail and e-memos In-depth coverage of the IRAC method, as well as how to write legal memoranda and legal correspondence

This best-selling coursebook on legal research is known for its clear, step-by-step instruction in the basics. Using a building-block approach, Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies, Revised Eighth Edition breaks material into discrete, readily comprehensible parts. Ideal as a course book or reference, this text emphasizes online research, with targeted coverage of print materials. Its comprehensive coverage and self-contained chapters offer flexibility to fit a variety of course structures. Useful pedagogy throughout the text includes end-of-chapter checklists, clear examples, and summary charts. Helpful sample pages and examples of research sources guide students through the presentation, and an accompanying workbook provides exercises to test comprehension and to apply legal research tools and strategies. New to the Revised Eighth Edition: New coverage of Westlaw Precision Coverage of the latest Shepard’s and KeyCite features New material on use of generative AI for legal research Benefits for instructors and students: Clear, step-by-step instruction covering the basics of legal research A building-block approach that breaks the material into discrete and comprehensible parts Self-contained chapters on research sources that make the book adaptable to any type of legal research course End-of-chapter checklists, numerous examples, and summary charts that aid in understanding, retention, and review

Until quite recently questions about methodology in legal research have been largely confined to understanding the role of doctrinal research as a scholarly discipline. In turn this has involved asking questions not only about coverage but, fundamentally, questions about the identity of the discipline. Is it (mainly) descriptive, hermeneutical, or normative? Should it also be explanatory? Legal scholarship has been torn between, on the one hand, grasping the expanding reality of law and its context, and, on the other, reducing this complex whole to manageable proportions. The purely internal analysis of a legal system, isolated from any societal context, remains an option, and is still seen in the approach of the French academy, but as law aims at ordering society and influencing human behaviour, this approach is felt by many scholars to be insufficient. Consequently many attempts have been made to conceive legal research differently. Social scientific and comparative approaches have proven fruitful. However, does the introduction of other approaches leave merely a residue of 'legal doctrine', to which pockets of social sciences can be added, or should legal doctrine be merged with the social sciences? What would such a broad interdisciplinary field look like and what would its methods be? This book is an attempt to answer some of these questions.

Legal research is a fundamental skill for all law students and attorneys. Regardless of practice area or work venue, knowledge of the sources and processes of legal research underpins the legal professional’s work. Academic law librarians, as research experts, are uniquely qualified to teach legal research. Whether participating in the mandatory, first-year law school curriculum or offering advanced or specialized legal research instruction, law librarians have the up-to-date knowledge, the broad view of the field, and the expertise to provide the best legal research instruction possible. This collection offers both theoretical and practical guidance on legal research education from the perspectives of the law librarian. Containing well-reasoned, analytical articles on the topic, the volume explains and supports the law librarian’s role in legal research instruction. The contributors to this book, all experts in teaching legal research, challenge academic law librarians to seize their instructional role in the legal academy. This book was based on a special issue of Legal Reference Services Quarterly.

Teaching Legal Research and Providing Access to Electronic Resources is an essential guidebook to teaching lawyers and legal researchers how to find the information they need. Law librarians and reference librarians will welcome its timely, effective, and innovative techniques for facilitating their patrons’legal research. According to the MacCrate Report, legal research is one of the ten essential skills for practicing law, and educating users in research skills is a crucial part of the law librarian’s job. Teaching Legal Research and Providing Access to Electronic Resources provides you with techniques for training your patrons in effective search strategies. This comprehensive volume will help you offer much more than a list of information on where the data is located. This helpful volume covers the full range of both users and resources, from helping first-year law students find cases in print to helping attorneys learn to use new Web sites and search engines. Its range includes academic, company, and public law libraries. Teaching Legal Research and Providing Access to Electronic Resources discusses formal ways to teach the skills of research, such as scheduled workshops, one-on-one tutorials, for-credit courses in law schools, and CLE-credit courses in law firms. In addition, it offers hints for seizing the teaching moment when a patron needs help doing research. Teaching Legal Research and Providing Access to Electronic Resources presents practical advice for all aspects of patron education, including: the rival merits of process-oriented versus results-oriented learning strategies; coordinating library education programs with courses in legal writing; teaching foreign and international legal research; using learning style theory for more effective classes; helping patrons overcome computer anxiety; lower-cost alternatives to Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw; using technology to deliver reference services.

Featuring Deborah E. Bouchoux's highly regarded assignments, examples, and building-block approach, Concise Guide to Legal Research and Writing, Fifth Edition continues to provide timely coverage of the essential research and writing skills used by today's legal professionals. Designed to be accessible and practical, this is the ideal text for shorter legal research and writing courses. New to the Fifth Edition: Significant focus on newer technologies available to legal researchers such as Lexis+ Brief Analysis, Westlaw Edge's Quick Check, and more. Coverage of the use of analytics tools now used by legal professionals, such as Lexis+ Context. An entirely new section in Chapter 8 on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal research. Expanded section on techniques to achieve gender-inclusive language. A new section in Chapter 14 on using tech tools such as ProWritingAid, BriefCatch, WordRake, NoRedInk, and Cooley GO to improve writing. A new section on texting and confidentiality issues in Chapter 15. A completely revamped and expanded discussion on e-memos in Chapter 16. Revised throughout with new ethics alerts and updated figures. All new Research Questions and Internet Legal Research Assignments included in each chapter. Professors and students will benefit from: Concise, well-organized text, divided into six main sections: Section I discusses primary authorities Section II covers secondary sources Section III focuses on computer-assisted legal research using Lexis, Westlaw, and the Internet Section IV covers citation form and how to ensure that primary sources are still "good law" Section V provides an overview of the legal research process Section VI covers legal writing Pedagogy designed to enhance the accessibility of the material, including helpful charts and diagrams that synthesize complex topics, updated Practice Tips offering realistic and helpful suggestions for workplace success, and Ethics Alerts in every chapter. Targeted and ample exercises help students learn how to use a wide range of research sources. Tips on how to effectively use electronic resources are included throughout the text.