Legal Research Chapter 1 Legal Research and Syllabus

Legal Research Chapter 1 Legal Research and Syllabus Review

This Lecture Read pages 1 -11 Mostly follow the lecture See attachments on My. Courses on Legal Research See there also for examples Briefly review the syllabus (now)

The bluebook This is my copy of the Bluebook from when I was in law school It is how nearly every court will require any legal document to be cited The different editions will not vary that much One can find it online, but one might find a paper copy helpful, especially in law school

How to properly cite a case You can find how to properly cite any case or document within the bluebook Different courts will require either for a case to be italicized or underlined Case citations follow this order: Moving party v. responding party Followed always by a comma The location in the reporting book (the first page of which the opinion starts) The key is to be consistent in a document Also to read the rules for which one to use Followed by a comma if it is a pinpoint cite In parenthesis- the Court and year of the decision When referring to a specific Court with only using the word “Court”, it should be capitalized The Supreme Court is different in that one never has to list it for a case, so only use the year- this is the only Court that only lists a year This may also be followed by other things we will also cover

More on citing a case Let’s start with the U. S. Supreme Court Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533 (1964). Since 1875, all cases have been published in the United States Reports Before that there were other Reports See your Bluebook for these Also, since 1882, all these cases are also published in the Supreme Court Reporter However, it is preferable to cite to the U. S. Reports if possible Here is an example of a case citation: However, it takes cases a few years to be published in a report Generally, they will be available in the Supreme Court Reporter first When they are available in the Supreme Court Reporter, but not the U. S. Reports, you can use the Supreme Court Reporter But sometimes, neither will have a formal page number assigned, so use this format: Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U. S. ___ (2013).

Even more on citations When the Supreme Court announces decisions, they are posted on the Court’s website immediately www. supremecourt. gov These are known as slip opinions There will be a number at the top of the page, which will be the same as what I mentioned earlier as the way to cite: Green v. Brennan, 578 U. S. ____ (2016). Your pinpoint cite will be Green v. Brennan, 578 U. S. ____, 5 (2016). If you are citing to anything other than the majority opinion, that should be noted after the citation So, a concurring or dissenting opinion should be noted if that is what you are citing Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U. S. 109, 144 (1986), (Burger, J. concurring). Shaw v. Reno, 509 U. S. 630, 660 (1993), (White, J. dissenting).

Citations, again Some opinions are unsigned They are known as per curiam opinions Other Federal Courts Found in Federal Reporter (currently in 3 rd edition) That should be noted in your citation as well The circuit comes before the date in parenthesis Bush v. Gore, 531 U. S. 98 (2000) (per curiam). However, there were dissents in that case as well Bush v. Gore, 531 U. S. 98, 130 (2000), (Souter, J. dissenting). Circuit Courts 432 F. 3 d. 382 (2 nd Cir. 2005) District Courts Found in Federal Supplement (currently in 2 nd edition) The bluebook will tell how to cite the district 219 F. 2 d 821 (S. D. N. Y. 2012).

State courts All states have a highest court of last resort In most states it is called the Supreme Court In New York, it is the Court of Appeals States appellate cases are found in different reporters These are Atlantic (A. 2 d), Northeastern (N. E. 2 d), Northwestern (N. W. 2 d), Pacific (P. 2 d), Southern (So. 2 d), Southeastern (S. E. 2 d), Southwestern (S. W. 2 d) These are for the 2 nd editions. currently in the 2 nd editions When you are using the highest appellate court in the state, simply use the state’s abbreviation in the bluebook (N. Y. 2016) (Mass. 2015) (Mich. 2014) For intermediate appeals courts, look to the bluebook Generally (but not always!), they will be something like this (Tenn. Ct. App. 2013) 2012) Most are (Wash. Ct. App. In states with different appeals districts, if found in these reports, it is not necessary to use the districts However, some courts have different names, so check the bluebook! (Okla. Crim. App. 2011) 2010) (Pa. Super. Ct.

statutes Federal statutes are known as the U. S. Code Title U. S. C. § Section (year). 18 U. S. C. § 1983 (2009). States vary pretty widely in how they are cited. You will have to check the bluebook for these Also, if you use an annotated statute book, the citations will be different Ind. Code § 35 -42 -1 -1 (2008). Ind. Code Ann. § 35 -42 -1 -1 (West 2007).

Miscellaneous Some words in a case should be abbreviated These can be found in Section T. 6 in the bluebook Pretty much any other type of citation style can also be found in the Bluebook.

How to brief a case One of the more of basic things that one might have to do in law school is to brief a case that you might be required to read Procedural History: What path did this case take to get to the Supreme Court? Facts: What are the facts of the case? Here are the parts of a short brief that I would ask of you in this class. Issue: What was the question that the Court was considering? Remember, that a brief involving putting interpretation of case in your own words, not copying and pasting parts of a case. Holding: /Judgment How did the Court rule? Reasoning: Why did the Court rule the way that they did (this will be the larger part of your assignment)? What prior cases and precedent did they use to come to their decision Doing so without proper attribution is plagiarism Also, describe the reasoning for any concurrences or dissents as well. Why did they concur or dissent? Policy: What are the future policy or legal implications of further cases that might reach the Court?

LEGAL WRITING Generally, you will have two types of writing Analytical Generally, these type of questions will involve something to start such as “you are a junior partner in a law firm” or “you are a clerk for a judge” The goal here is to analyze the question to present arguments and the law for both sides You are not taking sides, you are looking at what the state of the law is You may be asked in the conclusion to state what you think the correct answer is based on the law Persuasive This is more likely to be a person drafting a legal argument either in favor or in opposition of a position You have to find the law most persuasive to the position of your client You cannot ignore precedent that goes against you But you can try to distinguish why it may not apply to your case Remember that in the real world when you are writing a legal brief to be filed in a court, it is for a client who has retained your services- your goal is to win the case

Citing cases (sorry- again) There are some points on how to cite your cases within a legal document Whenever you directly quote specific language within a case, you need a pinpoint citation to where you cited it Whenever you may be indirectly quoting a part of a case, you may have a pinpoint cite that spans a few pages, rather than just one. Citations will generally be at the end of a quote However, sometimes when you are speaking directly about the case, they may go in the sentence or split In Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 530 (1964), the Court stated that state legislative districts must be of equal size. In Reynolds v. Sims, the Court stated that state legislative districts must be of equal size. 377 U. S. 530 (1964). After you have cited a case once, there are some shortcuts to use later. If you are quoting from the case you have just cited, you can use the word Id. This is only for citing the same case you previously cited So Id. at 121. If you have previously quoted the case and you have cited other cases in between, the shortened version would look like this: Reynolds, 377 U. S. at 546. Unless a citation is in the center or beginning of a sentence, citations should end with a period, as if a sentence. Whether you choose to italicize or underline a case, be sure NOT to do the same with the rest of the citation.

Legal writing organization- Memo Any legal memorandum should include a TO, FROM, DATE, RE at the top Then a title of some kind It should generally include the following: Facts of the case Question presented Discussion This is the critical part of any memo This is finding the law and applying it to the facts of the case This should be a few sentences that spell out the question to which you are seeking to answer within your memo Short answer (helpful, but not required- generally) This is a one paragraph summation of the answer to the question presented Lay out the facts of the case in the way that most accurately describes them Conclusion Briefly in a paragraph state how you think the Court would rule and why

IRAC For your discussion, a suggested way of organization for each point of law is IRAC This is the law that you have found If there are multiple questions you seek to answer, you may want to put them in different sections Issue Rule Don’t say “the rule is”, but state what the cases on point to the question say Application Apply the law that you found to the You should have covered this before facts of the question before you You may want to address any counter arguments here as well But when writing a memo, you address both sides This is more for an argument Conclusion How does the application of the law to the facts answer the question

Writing a legal argument This is where you are attempting to persuade Generally, you are wanting to persuade the trial court or an appellate court You want to make your point and potentially refute arguments against your position You are not being even handed! You want the judge(s) to rule in your favor But a critical difference for your sections between a memo and an argument A memo should be a question III. Does the Texas Voter ID law violate Section 2 of Voting Rights Act? the An argument should be an affirmative statement III. The Texas Voter ID law violates Section 2 of the Rights Act. Voting

Finding legal cases More recent Supreme Court cases can be found at their website: www. supremecourt. gov Most state courts also post recent decisions For others Google Scholar Lexis Your BU Library account can be of great use as well We have access to West Law

Resources for legal writing CUNY Law School Writing: http: //www. law. cuny. edu/legalwriting/students. html You can also search google for examples Wiki. How http: //www. wikihow. com/Write-a. Legal-Brief Many law schools provide examples of these Don’t fret too much. I am not grading you as if you would be taking a first year Con Law class in law school But I do expect you to try your best

Next Lecture We will talk about the Court system Read pages 11 -22