R&w

Front 1

Research & Writing Exam:

Back 1

1. Types of Authority

2. Four Step Research Process

3. Research Methods

4. Finding: Treatises, Encyclopedias, and Periodicals

5. Locating/Using Michigan Statutes

6. Using Digests

7. American Law Reports and Lawyer's Edition

8. Shepard's

9. Antenuptial Agreements

10. Types of Books

11. Westlaw/Lexis Nexis

12. Grammer Notes

Front 2

Types of Authority:

Back 2

1. Primary Authority
2. Secondary Authority
3. Finding Aids (non-authoritive)

Front 3

Primary Authority:

Back 3

1. What is Primary Authority
2. Types of Primary Authority
3. Examples of Sources from Primary

Front 4

What is Primary Authority?

Back 4

1. Primary authority is term used to describe rules of law. It includes constitutions, statutes, court opinions, and administrative rules.

2. Whether or not primary authority is binding on a court depends on....

Hint 4

the circumstances.

For example, primary authority is mandatory in the jurisdiction where it was created but only persuasive authority in another jurisdiction.

Front 5

Types of primary authority:

Back 5

1. Codified Law
2. Caselaw/Precedent

Front 6

Codified Law:

Back 6

Codified law can either be binding or nothing.

For example, Michigan Law is binding in Michigan, but it means nothing in Ohio.

Types of Codified Law:

Hint 6

Constitution (Federal or State)

Statutes (legislative branch)

Court Rules (judicial branch)

Administrative Rules (executive branch)

Front 7

Caselaw/Precedent

Back 7

Can be Binding or Persuasive:

On point cases from a higher court in your state would be binding, cases from other states/jurisdictions would be persuasive

Types of Case Law/Precedent:

Hint 7

Cases applying common law
Cases applying codified law

Front 8

Examples of Sources for primary authority:

Back 8

1. Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated

2. Official Reporter

3. Unofficial Reporter

Front 9

Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated

Back 9

1. Search Method = by INDEX

2. Updated by:

Hint 9

1. Pocket Part
2. Supplement / Pamphlet (=by Interim Annotation Service)

3. Shepardize case
4. Look for Slip cases

Front 10

Official Reporter:

Back 10

1. Michigan Reports

2. Michigan Appeals Reports

Front 11

Un-official Reporter:

Back 11

West's Northwestern Reporter

Front 12

Secondary Authority:

Back 12

1. What is Secondary authority
2. Purposes of Secondary Authority
3. Types of Secondary Authority

Front 13

What is Secondary Authority:

Back 13

Secondary authority is commentary on the law or analysis of the law but not the "law" itself.

Front 14

Purposes of Secondary:

Back 14

1. Persuasive
2. Finding aid

Front 15

Persuasive --

Back 15

analyzes and synthesizes law so it can background research and as persuasive authority

A. Secondary authority is virtually always...

Hint 15

persuasive authority. Because it is not a legal rule,

a court generally would not be obligated to follow it.

Front 16

Finding aid does what:

Back 16

helps narrow your search and find law.

Front 17

Types of Secondary Authority:

Back 17

1. Encyclopedias
2. Treaties
3. Periodicals
4. ALR Annotations
5. Restatements

Front 18

Encyclopedias:

Back 18

a. provide a general overview of the law on a variety of topics

b. they do not provide analysis or suggest solutions on the law. They only report on the general of the law.

c. They are used to get back ground information on your topic/

d. Examples...

Hint 18

Callaghan's Michigan Civil Jurisprudence

West's Michigan Law and Practice

American Jurisprudence

Corpus Juris Secundum

Front 19

Treatises:

Back 19

a. narrower focus than encyclopedias and generally provide in-depth treatment of a single subject.

b. the difficult aspect of a treatise is finding one on your subject.

c. treatise are given more weight than encyclopedias because they are written by experts in the field.

d. examples...

Hint 19

Prosser on torts.

Front 20

Periodicals:

Back 20

a. Legal periodicals contain articles on various legal topics

b. Articles published in law reviews or journals are thorough, thoughtful treatments of legal issues by law professors, practitioners, judges, and even students. The articles are usually focused fairly narrowly on a specific issue.

c. They will generally include citations to many primary and secondary authorities.

d. They are helpful in getting an overview of an area of law, finding references to primary and secondary authority, and developing ideas for analyzing a question of first impression or resolving a conflict of law.

e. Examples...

Hint 20

Cooley Law Review

Michigan Bar Journal

Front 21

ALR Annotations

Back 21

a. American Law Reports

b. ALR contain summaries of cases to help provide an overview of an area of law.

Front 22

Restatements:

Back 22

a. published by the American Law Institute

b. "restate" the common-law rules on a subject

c. Although a secondary source, restatements have a substantial weight.

d. courts can decide to adopt a restatement's view on an issue, which then makes the comments and illustrations especially persuasive in that jurisdiction.

e. have been published for:

Hint 22

Agency
Conflict of laws
Contracts
Foreign Relations
Judgements
Law Governing Lawyers
Property
Restitution
Security
Suretyship and Guaranty
Torts
Trusts
Unfair Competition

Front 23

ALR Annotations

Back 23

a. American Law Reports

b. ALR contain summaries of cases to help provide an overview of an area of law.

Front 24

Restatements:

Back 24

a. published by the American Law Institute

b. "restate" the common-law rules on a subject

c. Although a secondary source, restatements have a substantial weight.

d. courts can decide to adopt a restatement's view on an issue, which then makes the comments and illustrations especially persuasive in that jurisdiction.

e. have been published for:

Hint 24

Agency
Conflict of laws
Contracts
Foreign Relations
Judgements
Law Governing Lawyers
Property
Restitution
Security
Suretyship and Guaranty
Torts
Trusts
Unfair Competition

Front 25

Finding aids (non-authoritative)

Back 25

a. used to find the law on issues

b. finding aids themselves have no authority but they can lead to primary and secondary

c. Sources...:

Hint 25

1. West's Michigan Digest

2. Callaghan's Michigan Digest

3. Michigan Appellate Digest

4. West's Regional Digests

5. West's Federal Digests

6. West's Decennial and General Digests

7. Shepard's Citations

Front 26

The Four Step Process:

Back 26

a. Preliminary Analysis
b. Check for Codified Law
c. Check for Binding Precedent
d. Check for Persuasive Precedent

e. when you find one case, you can then:

Front 27

Preliminary Analysis:

Back 27

1. Purpose
2. Prelim--Sources

Front 28

Prelim--Analysis's Purpose:

Back 28

1. Broaden Understanding of Law

2. Narrow Legal issue

3. Get leads on research

Front 29

Prelim--Sources:

Back 29

1. State Treaties
2. State Encyclopedias
3. Nation Treaties
4. National Encyclopedias
5. Periodicals

Front 30

Prelim--State Treaties:

Back 30

a. Cameron's Michigan Real Property Law

Front 31

Prelim--State Encyclopedias

Back 31

a. Callaghan's Michigan Civil Jurisprudence

b. West's Michigan Law and Practice

Front 32

Prelim--National Treaties:

Back 32

a. McCormick's Evidence

Front 33

Prelim--National Encyclopedias:

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a. American Jurisprudence

b. Corpus Juris Secundum

Front 34

Prelim--Periodicals:

Back 34

"50/50 shot of finding an article on point for your issue"

Front 35

Check for Codified Law:

Back 35

1. Purpose
2. State/Federal
3. S/F Court Rule
4. S/F Administrative Rule

Front 36

Codified--Purpose:

Back 36

find Statute,
Constitution,
rule, or
regulation that applies to issue

Front 37

Codified--S/F Statute:

Back 37

1. State issue:

MCL (Michigan Compiled Law)

MCLA (Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated)
or MSA (Michigan Statutes Annotated)

2. Federal issue:..

Hint 37

USC (US Code)

USCA (US Code Annotated)
or
USCS (US Code Service)

Front 38

Codified--S/F Court rule:

Back 38

1. Possible Sources:
a. MCR
b. Michigan Rules of Evidences
c. FR Civil Procedure
d. FR Criminal Procedure

2. These are specialized:

Hint 38

check dest book for rules

check Treatise for Commentary

check for cases in annotated sources, rules reporters, digests, Shepard's

Front 39

Codified--S/F Admin Rule

Back 39

1. Possible Sources:

1979 AC

CFR (Code of Federal Regulations)

2. specialized...

Hint 39

a. Check index to code for rule;

b. Check for cases in agency reporter;

c. Looseleaf service;

d. Shepard's (federal only)

Front 40

Check for BINDING Precedent:

Back 40

1. Purpose
2. State Digests
3. West's Federal Digest

Front 41

Binding--Purpose:

Back 41

1. Find Any Case Law that applies to your issue..

Front 42

Binding--State Digests:

Back 42

1.West's Michigan Digest
2. Callaghan's Michigan Digest

Front 43

Check for Persuasive Precedent:

Back 43

1. Purpose
2. Places to Look
3. When to use

Front 44

Persuasive--Purpose:

Back 44

Find Similar issues

defining similar language

when code hasn't been INTERPRETED

or DISAGREEMENT on interpretation.

when no Binding precedent or
when no codified law on issue
(almost like another prelim for broader search)

Front 45

Persuasive--Places to Look:

Back 45

1. ALR Annotations

2. West's DECENNIAL Digest
and General Digest

3. West's Federal Digests

Front 46

Persuasive--When to Use:

Back 46

1. No Binding precedent; or

2. binding is UNSETTLED;

3. Binding is Settled, but you want to Bolster or Change it.

Front 47

Four Step--if you find one case:

Back 47

1. Use Digests
2. Use Shepard's Citations
3. Steps:...

Hint 47

1. Pull the case
2. Check for HEADNOTES
3. TABLE of Cases; or
4. KEY Number; or
5. section number

Front 48

Research Methods:

Back 48

1. Index Method

2. Topic Method

3. TABLE of Cases METHOD

4. WORDS / PHRASES Methods

Front 49

Research Methods--when to use index method:

Back 49

analyze the facts and writes down descriptive words up in the index.

Index's Five Categories:

Hint 49

1. Parties
2. Places (or Things)
3. Action
4. Defenses
5. Relief

Front 50

Index--Parties

Back 50

Who are they; and

What are their Legal Status'

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Index--Places (or Things)

Back 51

What places or things were involved?

Front 52

Index--Action

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What Legal Action is involved; and
What is the LEGAL Theory?

Front 53

Index--Defenses

Back 53

What the defenses are there (for this action)?

Front 54

Index--Relief

Back 54

What does the CLIENT want?