Designed primarily for the international lawyer and international law student, this one-of-a-kind text introduces readers to legal analysis and communications used in the U.S. With customized exercises, examples, and illustrations, the authors, who together have more than seven decades of experience teaching legal writing, provide detailed instruction on the types of legal writing that international lawyers are most likely to engage in with U.S. lawyers. Organized for optimizing skills-building, the text begins with a contextual overview of the court system and the civil litigation process in the U.S., and then moves to structuring and communicating an objective analysis, briefing a case, and doing statutory analysis. The text delivers practical guidance on writing client letters, demand letters, office memos, and electronic correspondence. The authors emphasize structure, planning, and ethics in educating about the legal writing process. New to the Third Edition: New co-author Katrina Lee, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of LL.M. Legal Writing, Director of Program on Dispute Resolution, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law; and former President of the Association of Legal Writing Directors Reorganized and streamlined chapters for a stronger and more concise presentation Expanded coverage of legal writing skills related to how to structure and formulate an objective legal analysis; how to write a formal office memo, client letters, and demand letters; and how to write professional emails and e-memos New mini TOCs at the start of each chapter that provide a handy “roadmap” of topics covered Updated material throughout Professors and students will benefit from: Detailed and summary table of contents, plus chapter roadmaps Glossary of terms for international readers Overviews of the U.S. government and court system, the common law system, and the civil litigation process Clear exposition supported by numerous exercises that cover the types of legal writing international lawyers are most likely to use Emphasis on an ethical, thorough, and structured writing process

Designed for Legal Research & Writing courses, this book introduces the reader to the study of law and legal analysis. Part I examines why we have law and our responsibilities as lawyers. Part II discusses the law school experience, including how to study, how to learn, how to prepare for and take exams, and how to manage stress. Part III guides law students through the steps of legal analysis, including the sources of law, the analysis of enacted law and case law, the synthesis of multiple sources of law, and the application of law to facts. Topics include tools to help students grasp the analytical skills needed to perform well in law school, as well as many examples and opportunities to apply the information learned. Part IV discusses how best to communicate that analysis in law office memos and client letters, emphasizing good organization, clear writing, and accurate citation. Part V reviews the research process, including how to develop a research plan, when to use online and print resources, and where to find the materials needed.

Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication is designed to help novices navigate the often difficult task of learning new ways of thinking and communicating. Law schools employ methodologies and pedagogical paradigms that law students find mystifying and hard to comprehend. This book aims to explain how these methodologies and paradigms function, why they are used, and what they are meant to accomplish. The topics covered range from the basic concepts of understanding what law is and what "thinking like a lawyer" means, to making sense out of the structural paradigms of legal writing and rhetoric. Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication will serve as a useful guide for students as they undertake their studies in both their casebook and practical skills courses. In fact, the themes discussed and explanations offered will help students better see that the analytical and communication skills utilized in all their classes fall upon the same continuum of professional competence. As such, this book is a vital reference work for students as they try to make sense of their law school studies in a more comprehensive and connected way. Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication is designed to help novices navigate the often difficult task of learning new ways of thinking and communicating. Law schools employ methodologies and pedagogical paradigms that law students find mystifying and hard to comprehend. This book aims to explain how these methodologies and paradigms function, why they are used, and what they are meant to accomplish. The topics covered range from the basic concepts of understanding what law is and what "thinking like a lawyer" means, to making sense out of the structural paradigms of legal writing and rhetoric. Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication will serve as a useful guide for students as they undertake their studies in both their casebook and practical skills courses. In fact, the themes discussed and explanations offered will help students better see that the analytical and communication skills utilized in all their classes fall upon the same continuum of professional competence. As such, this book is a vital reference work for students as they try to make sense of their law school studies in a more comprehensive and connected way.

This volume brings together scholars from law and communication to discuss the theoretical and methodological approaches used in studying the First Amendment and general communication law issues. For scholars and students in mass communication and law.

Like an atlas, the LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student's Guide to U.S. Law School Programs provides a series of andquot;roadmapsandquot; to guide prospective LL.M. students through every step of their journey. From assessing your reasons to acquire an LL.M., to choosing an American law school, meeting financial and immigration challenges, and succeeding in law school and a career in law, the LL.M. Roadmap provides straightforward guidance, along with plenty of checklists and reference sources. In ten parts and 33 chapters, this valuable text offers a careful examination of every consideration and contingency for making important life decisions. An indispensable guide for prospective LL.M. candidates, the LL.M. Roadmap features: information and analysis to help readers answer their most pressing questions, such as Should I worry about an LL.M. program's ranking and reputation? How do I get admitted to a U.S. LL.M. Program? What questions should I ask before accepting a U.S. law school's offer of admission? What kind of financial assistance is available? Can I work part-time during my LL.M. program? What will it take to succeed in a U.S. LL.M. program? practical guidance for navigating through the entire LL.M. experience degree and English-language proficiency requirements how U.S. law professors teach legal writing, research, and communication techniques determining whether extracurricular activities will help common immigration and student visa challenges and requirements employment and career advice numerous checklists and lists of resources

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.

This revised edition of Legal Research and Law Library Management retains the best elements of the previous edition while covering the latest in law library management.

Legal research examines subject matter enshrouded in social circumstances in order to conceptualize theories and prepare a future course of action. This dynamic, inter-disciplinary, and labyrinthine character of legal research requires researchers to be fluid, eclectic, and analytical in their approach. Idea and Methods of Legal Research unearths how the thinking process is to be streamlined in research, how a theme is built on the basis of comprehensive and intensive study, and the paths through which notions of objectivity, feminism, ethics, and purposive character of knowledge are to be understood. The book first explains the meaning, evolution, and scope of legal research, and discusses objectivity and ethics in legal research. It engages with the requirements, advantages, and limits of various doctrinal and non-doctrinal methods and tools, and the points to be considered in selecting a suitable method or combination of methods. It highlights analytical, historical, philosophical, comparative, qualitative, and quantitative methods of legal research. The book then goes on to discuss the use of multi-method legal research, policy research, action research, and feminist legal research and finally, reflects on research-based critical legal writing, as opposed to client-related legal writing. This book, thus, is a comprehensive answer to key questions one faces in legal research.

Integrating research methods from Linguistics with contemporary Legal Argumentation Theory, this book highlights the complexities of legal justification by focusing on the role of value-laden language in argument construction and use. The combination of linguistic analysis and the pragma-dialectic approach to legal argumentation yields a new way of perceiving and understanding the phenomenon of evaluation, one that offers theoretical and practical gains. Analyzing a vast corpus of judicial opinions from the United States Supreme Court and Poland’s Constitutional Court, the book paints a clear picture of complex linguistic choices made by judges to assess and support arguments in the justifications of their decisions. The book will be of interest to scholars in Law, Linguistics and Rhetoric, as well as to judges and practicing lawyers engaged in the art of argumentation.