for
Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing
Sixth Edition
Joanne B. Hames
De Anza College
Yvonne Ekern
Santa Clara University Law School
Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco
Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
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, ISBN-13: 978-0-13-455984-1
ISBN-10: 0-13-455984-3
Table of Contents
To the Instructor iv
Syllabi ix
Chapter 1: Introduction to Legal Research, Writing and Analysis 1
Chapter 2: The Starting Point: Analyzing Facts and Identifying Legal Issues 7
Chapter 3: Finding and Analyzing Case Law 12
Chapter 4: How to Read and Summarize a Case Law Decision 20
Chapter 5: Constitutions, Statutes, and Administrative Regulations 27
Chapter 6: Statutory and Constitutional Analysis 40
Chapter 7: Secondary Sources 48
Chapter 8: Digests 58
Chapter 9: Validating Your Research: Using Shepards, Keycite and other Citators 65
Chapter 10: Introduction to Lexis Advance, Westlaw, & Bloomberg Law 75
Chapter 11: Computer-Assisted Legal Research (CALR): The Freely Accessible Internet 81
Chapter 12: Basic Legal Writing Tools 86
Chapter 13: The Memorandum of Law: Predictive Legal Writing 90
Chapter 14: Writing to the Court: Persuasive Writing 95
Chapter 15: Motion Practice: Research and Writing Issues 100
Chapter 16: Legal Correspondence 104
Testbank 123
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, To the Instructor
The Sixth Edition of Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing
When we first wrote Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing, we were convinced that students
needed a text that integrated research, analysis, and writing skills. We remain convinced of that;
therefore, our basic approach to the subject matter has not changed. However, legal research
materials and the methods of doing legal research have changed considerably over the past several
years. The availability of legal resources through the Internet has tremendous influence on the way
research is conducted. No longer are researchers confined to a law library. The widespread use of
all forms of computer assisted legal research requires that legal researchers develop new skills.
However, the law has not abandoned the written word and, as any experienced researcher knows,
books are often preferred. The new skills that researchers must develop, therefore, cannot supplant
traditional research skills, but must complement them. As a result, most chapters now contain a
section incorporating the availability of legal research materials on the free Internet. We continue
to have a chapter introducing Westtlaw, Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law, as well as an
overview chapter on Internet research. We have also refined the use of sample pages from print
resources. Since legal writing continues to be a source of concern, we have added a section to each
chapter providng a short writing exercise with suggested sample answers found in an Appendix to
the text.
Practical Approach
This text assists the instructor in presenting material in a practical and relevant way.
Each chapter opens with a short memorandum From the Desk of W. J.
Bryan, Esq., that contains a hypothetical factual situation to be researched and
analyzed by a fictional research associate. The memorandum approach helps to
introduce the topic of the chapter and to engage the student’s imagination. Each
chapter contains figures with sample pages from print resources, screen shots
from online sources, or examples of legal writing so as to illustrate text material.
One feature at the end of the chapter, Can You Figure It Out?, requires students to
answer questions related to these figures. Furthermore, because learning to do legal
research requires hands-on experience, at the end of each chapter are research,
analysis, citation, and writing exercises. Research assignments can be performed
in a library or, in many cases, online. (Answers to most of these exercises are
found in an Instructor’s Manual.) So that students can build confidence prior to
using a library or online resource, exercises are found in a chapter end feature,
Test Yourself. Answers to selected research problems are found in Appendix G to
the text.
Each chapter also addresses important writing issues in end-of-chapter
features. Test Yourself also contains a section entitled “Write It Right.” Here
students find a writing assignment preceded by an explanation and example. Suggested
answers to the writing assignment are generally provided in Appendix G.
This feature covers a variety of legal writing issues.
All chapters also include a Chapter Summary, Terms to Remember,
Citation Matters, and Questions for Review, as well as a Case Project. This
section allows students and instructors to select one hypothetical case (many
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, ofvwhichvarevfoundvinvAppendicesvAvandvB)vandvtovperformvsomevresearch,vanalysi
s,vorvwritingvprojectvinvchapters.vInvthisvway,vstudentsvseevhowvthevmaterialvcovered
vinvthevdifferentvchaptersvisvintegrated.vQuestionsvandvproblemsvfor
groupvwork,veithervinvclassvorvonlinevthroughvthevusevofvdiscussionvboards,vhavevbe
envadded.
Features
Avvarietyvofvfeaturesvhelpsvstudentsvandvinstructors.
• Legalvvocabularyvisvidentifiedvinvboldfacevtype.vThevkeyvtermsvarevdefine
dvinvthevmarginsvofvthevtextvwherevthevtermsvappear.vAvcomprehensivevGloss
aryvisvalsovincludedvatvthevendvofvthevbook.
• SkillvObjectivesvarevlistedvatvthevbeginningvofveachvchapter,vhelpingv
studentsvrecognizevthevmainvpointsvofvthevchapter.
• FindingvItvOnlinevoffersvstudentsvthevopportunityvtovexplorevonlinevlegalv
researchvresources.
• CitationvMatters,vavfeaturevthatvappearsvinveachvchapter,visvavbriefvoverviewv
ofvmajorvcitationvrulesvaffectingvlegalvwriting.
• ThevWriter’svCorner,vavfeaturevinveachvchapter,vfocusesvonvanvimportantv
legalvwritingvissue.
• Asvpreviouslyvstated,vanvinterofficevmemorandumvcalledvFromvthevDeskv
ofvW.vJ.vBryan,vEsq.,vopensvthevtextvofveachvchapter.vThisvmemorandumvse
rvesvasvanvintroductionvtovthevsubjectvmatter,vencouragingvthevstudentvtovthi
nkvaboutvthevsubjectvmattervinvavpracticalvsetting.
• Researchvchecklistsvarevfoundvinvseveralvchapters,vprovidingvavquick,v
easy-to-readvsummaryvofvthevmaterialvfoundvinvthevtext.
• Samplevpagesvfromvanvassortmentvofvlawvbooksvarevincludedvinvthevresea
rchvchapters.vPracticalvexercises,vfoundvinvthevsectionvCanvYouvFigurevItv
Out?vatvthevendvofvthevchapters,vgivevstudentsvthevopportunityvtovpracticevre
searchvskillsvbeforevgoingvtovthevlibrary.
• Examplesvofvactualvresearchvmemorandavappearvinvappropriatevchapters.
• AvChaptervSummaryvisvincludedvinveveryvchapter;vitvprovidesvavshortv
overviewvofvthevmajorvconceptsvcoveredvinvthevchapter.
• BasicvQuestionsvforvReviewvfollowvthevchaptervsummary.vThesevquestionsv
arevdesignedvtovfocusvthevstudentvonvthevmostvimportantvconcepts
presentedvinvthevchapter.
• Assignments,vActivities,vandvExercisesvarevincludedvatvthevendvofveachvcha
pter.vThesevfeaturesvincludevlibraryvresearchvproblems,vanalysisvexercises,vand
vwritingvassignments.
• CitationvExercisesvarevincludedvatvthevendvofveachvchapter.
• QuestionsvFromvthevWriter’svCornervlocatedvatvthevendvofvthevchapterv
reinforcevthevmaterialvcoveredvinvthevchapter.
• MostvchaptersvincludevavfeaturevcalledvAvPointvtovRemember.vThisvpracticalv
informationvisvfashionedvtovhelpvstudentsvfocusvonvthevskillsvandvconcepts
thatvwillvhelpvthemvinvdoingvlegalvresearch,vwriting,vandvanalysis.
• TestvYourself,vincludingvWritevItvRight,vallowsvstudentsvtovtestvtheirvo
wnvresearchvandvwritingvskillsvbyvprovidingvanswersvtovthevquestionsvinvA
ppendixvG.
• AppendixvBvincludesvseveralvresearchvproblemsvthatvmayvbevusedvasvav
basisvforvassignmentsvforvallvchapters,vgivingvstudentsvthevopportunityvto
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