Legal Research Week 11, 12, & 13

Front 1

Are Annotations available for New Mexico Court Rules?

Back 1

Yes, New Mexico Court Rules are published by the New Mexico Compilations Commission in New Mexico Rules Annotated, with both committee commentary and annotations.

Front 2

In which of the following are all New Mexico state court rules published?

Back 2

New Mexico Rules Annotated, New Mexico Administrative Code, New Mexico Law Review

Front 3

Which of the following should you plan to look for when researching court rule?

Back 3

The text of the rule itself, official commentary on the rule, court opinions that apply and interpret the rule, and secondary sources to discover more about how the rule functions. You should plan to look for all these resources when researching court rules.

Front 4

Do all jurisdictions publish their court rules in a separate set of “rules volumes” or “Judicial volumes”?

Back 4

No. Not all jurisdictions publish court rules in a separate set of “rules volumes” or “judicial volumes” Some jurisdictions incorporate court rules into their statue structure.

Front 5

As a practicing attorney, you can rely on the freely available copies of court rules found on the World Wide Web.

Back 5

False. The freely available web copies of court rules contain no annotations or committee commentary; these are essential to have a complete picture of how a court rule operates.

Front 6

Who actually writes court rules?

Back 6

Rules Committees. Rules Committees established by the Courts write court rules.

Front 7

Which of the following should you plan to look for when researching ethics rules?

Back 7

Professional conduct code from the appropriate jurisdiction, court opinions about ethics issues, ethics opinions from the jurisdiction’s bar association. You need all three of these when researching ethics rules.

Front 8

Which of the following is a reliable and authoritative free source for New Mexico Bar ethics opinions?

Back 8

State Bar of New Mexico website. The New Mexico Bar ethics opinions are freely available on the State Bar of New Mexico’s website.

Front 9

What secondary source can you use in combination with the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to get a strong grounding in a specific legal ethics topic?

Back 9

Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers. The Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers can be used in cooperation with the ABA Rules of Professional Conduct to research specific legal ethics topics in depth.

Front 10

The New Mexico rules of professional conduct are identical to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Back 10

False. The New Mexico rules and the ABA model rules are not identical. New Mexico made some modifications when it adopted the ABA model rules.

Front 11

What is one advantage of using the official New Mexico court forms?

Back 11

Annotations

Front 12

Why would you want to use the official New Mexico court forms on New Mexico OneSource of Law rather than on a free site like the New Mexico Supreme Court’s?

Back 12

1) Annotations2) Ability to download editable forms

Front 13

Are New Mexico court filings and briefs easy to find?

Back 13

No! Selected New Mexico court filings and briefs are not impossible to find but it is difficult.

Front 14

Where can you find selected New Mexico Court of Appeals and Supreme Court briefs?

Back 14

In the UNM Law Library print collections & the Supreme Court Law Library

Front 15

Why are jury instructions awesome for legal research?

Back 15

A quality jury instruction is a good source for the basic elements of a cause of action.

Front 16

What questions should you ask yourself about a jury instruction before using it?

Back 16

1) Who wrote it? Can I trust the author?2) What authority does it have? Is it a model/example instruction or something that I’m required to use?

Front 17

Where can you find the New Mexico Uniform Jury Instructions?

Back 17

1) In Print: New Mexico Rules Annotated volumes (usually shelved right after the NMSA volumes)2) New Mexico OneSource of Law3) New Mexico Compilation Commission’s website, in the Public Access Law section-free but unannotated.

Front 18

What does the Institute of Public Law offer that is useful to legal researches?

Back 18

Manuals and other tools tailored to specific areas of New Mexico law written by knowledgeable impartial authors.

Front 19

When out in legal practice, what is one very important place to check for legal forms (or model documents?)

Back 19

In-house. A document management system or in-office collection of forms and/or model documents is always worth asking about. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.

Front 20

Do the following titles contain legal forms for documents to submit to a court? West’s Legal Forms, Am Jur Legal Forms.

Back 20

NO. These titles contain forms to assist with drafting legal documents for non-litigations purpose (such as contracts.)

Front 21

Are the following titles more useful for direct client interaction and services OR trial Practice?-Am Jur Proof of Facts, Causes of Action, Am Jur Trials, Am Jur Pleading & Practice Forms

Back 21

These titles are more useful for trial practice.

Front 22

What does the “Action Guide” included in an entry in Causes of Action do?

Back 22

The “Action Guide” lays out how to establish a prime facie case (what you actually have to prove for a specific cause of action) as well as defenses.

Front 23

What does PACER stand for?

Back 23

Public Access to Court Electronic Records

Front 24

Is it hard to establish your own PACER account?

Back 24

No, Fill in the website form and supply a credit card.

Front 25

As a student, what service should you use to search for federal court dockets and filings?

Back 25

Bloomberg Law. The law school no longer has a separate PACER subscription.

Front 26

Are electronic case filings available for all federal courts for a specific, uniform date range?

Back 26

No. Each court implemented electronic case management on its own schedule, so the earliest date for available electronic filings varies from court to court.

Front 27

What are two commercial sources commonly used by practitioners to locate pattern federal jury instructions?

Back 27

Modern Federal Jury Instructions (Lexis)West’s Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (West)

Front 28

What is the FJC and what does it do?

Back 28

FJC=Federal Judicial CenterThe FJC is the educational arm of the Federal Judiciary and it provides materials and training to judges and court staff on a wide range of legal and court management topics.

Front 29

As a practitioner, why would you bother to visit the FJC’s website?

Back 29

To mine their publication catalog for useful federal practice materials and/or take an inside peak at some of the trial guidance used by federal judges.

Front 30

What does the tile Bender’s Forms of Discovery supply to a legal practitioner?

Back 30

Forms on discovery topics that you can adapt and file with the court, as well as model interrogatori

Front 31

What does the title What’s It Worth? Supply to a legal practitioner?

Back 31

Information about actual jury verdicts and awards to help guide choices about litigation

Front 32

What is the name of the federal act that impacts ethics rules for attorneys practicing before the Securities and Exchange Commission?

Back 32

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Front 33

What are the two principal publishers of municipal ordinances?

Back 33

Municode.com & American Legal Publishing

Front 34

If you want to double-check to see if any really recent changes have been made to a City of Albuquerque ordinance, what should you do?

Back 34

Call the City Clerk and ask: [phone]

Front 35

What is the easiest way to find ordinances for a county or city in another state?

Back 35

Google the county or city to find its website-then mine the website for a link to the ordinances (almost always hosted by Municode.com or American Legal Publishers)

Front 36

What are considered the two most important sources of international law?

Back 36

1) International Conventions (a.k.a. treaties)2) International Customary Law

Front 37

How is customary law established?

Back 37

Customary law is established by evidence of actual state conduct and practices, so long as the conduct and practices are consistent with the rule of law

Front 38

How can you access the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law?

Back 38

You can access this electronic subscription via the Law Library’s website or in-person on a Law Library Computer

Front 39

Is there a Restatement of the Law set that is useful for researching international Law?

Back 39

Yes, Restatement of the Law 3rd of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States

Front 40

What are two journals that might be especially helpful for international law research and would be worth searching directly?

Back 40

American Journal of International Law & International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Front 41

Why would you want to make use of a dictionary specific to international law when undertaking research in that topic area?

Back 41

To understand the specialized terminology in international law (the same reason you would use any specialized dictionary)

Front 42

When researching treaties, what are the four steps you’ll need to complete?

Back 42

1) Locate an authoritative copy of the treaty (a.k.a. convention)2) Find out if the treaty is still in force3) Locate any Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations (RUDs) of the signatories4) Locate interoperation of the treaty provisions in commentaries, treaties, judicial opinions & legislative history (from the ratification process)

Front 43

What does UST stand for?

Back 43

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements

Front 44

What does UST contain?

Back 44

Treaties and Executive Agreements to which the U.S. is a party, since 1950

Front 45

In what way is the research dilemma presented by treaties the same as that presented by case law?They are both initially published chronologically-legal researches need additional tools to locate materials by topic or other useful characteristics. OR The research dilemma presented by treaties is the same as that presented by case law?

Back 45

True

Front 46

What already-familiar research tool will help you locate United States legislative history documents about treaty ratification?

Back 46

ProQuest

Front 47

What does UNTS stand for?

Back 47

United Nations Treaty Series

Front 48

What does UNTS contain?

Back 48

Treaties, including those to which the U.S. is not a party, since 1946

Front 49

What does the Flare Index to Treaties do?

Back 49

It publishes names and dates for over 2,000 multi-lateral treaties as well as cites to print and/or electronic sources for the full treaty text

Front 50

Scholarly commentary and judicial decisions are the standard sources of treaty interpretation.

Back 50

True

Front 51

What type of disputes does the International Court of Justice resolve?

Back 51

Disputes between Nations

Front 52

Where should you look for opinions from courts that came into existence during the 20th century, such as the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and specialized regional tribunals?

Back 52

On the courts own websites

Front 53

What does EISIL stand for and who hosts it?

Back 53

EISIL= Electronic Information System for International Law, and it’s hosted by the American Society of International Law

Front 54

Who is found in EISIL?

Back 54

Selected authenticated primary and secondary materials about international law, organized into 14 topic areas.

Front 55

Either Common Law or Civil Law, knowing which type a country uses is important information to have when researching its laws.

Back 55

True

Front 56

Why are secondary sources especially important when researching foreign law (the domestic law of another country)?

Back 56

Secondary sources are especially important when researching foreign law because the primary legal sources of other countries are often not published in English. Secondary sources (written in English) can give you a solid working knowledge of another country’s laws/legal system if you don’t have the necessary language skills to read the primary sources.

Front 57

What does the Foreign Law Guide do?

Back 57

The Foreign Law Guide discusses each national legal system, its history, major codifications and gazettes, notes sources for legislation and court decisions, and lists codes and laws broken down by specific subject areas.

Front 58

How can you access Foreign Law Guide?

Back 58

While a student= via he Law Library’s websiteIn practice=on the computers in the Law Library