11 Jul When a client, managing attorney, or judge asks a paralegal a question, the paralegal cannot simply hand that individual an outside source. A paralegal can refer to the source, but
Due today @4:30pm EST
Step 3 Reply:
Read other students' posts and respond to at least two of them.
Tips to Successfully Complete the Discussion:
- Use the attached Rubric to determine whether your original post and replies include the necessary detail to successfully complete this assignment.
- Important Note: Be sure to write an original post. Do not copy and paste answers that you locate elsewhere whether in the course materials or on the Internet. If you do want to refer to your lesson materials or Internet sources, you must give credit to that borrowed information and provide basic citations. The goal here isn’t perfect citation, but rather to make sure that you follow the student’s and paralegal’s ethical duties to give credit for information borrowed from other sources. If you want to use exact words and phrases as part of your answer use quotation marks, but your response should still be primarily in your own words. Only then will you demonstrate that you understand the material covered. If you have any questions, please reach out to your instructor.
- Consider this: When a client, managing attorney, or judge asks a paralegal a question, the paralegal cannot simply hand that individual an outside source. A paralegal can refer to the source, but he/she still must answer the question in his/her own words and demonstrate confidence and skill in the topic at hand.
Student response
Jenny Lopez
Explain in your own wordsthe concepts of:
primary sources – consists of four sources: Constitutions; statutes; rules and regulations and case law.
cases – A case enters the court system and proceeds up the hierarchy according to fixed rules
statutes – A written law enacted by a legislative body such as Congress, a State legislature or city council and signed by an executive such as a president, governor or mayor.
Constitutions – it creates a form of governance, defines its power, and defines the rights of its citizens
regulations – Executive departments and agencies provide the rules of regulations
secondary sources of law – It explains legal principles in depth than a particular case or it helps avoid unnecessary research.
Encyclopedias – contain brief summaries of legal topics, and provide introductions to legal topics and explanations of relevant terms of art
Treatises – are book-length expositions on law as it relates to a certain subject.
legal periodicals – a secondary source of law, articles written by professors, doctors, judges, and law students. It can also be journals, newsletters, and magazines
“finding tools” – enable a researcher to find and interpret legal authority. It provides summaries of a particular area of law
Digests – summaries with pager references for quick reference at trial
Citators – an index of legal materials. A researcher can generate a list of materials that cite to a specific source or document.
search engines – can help locate a witness, individuals, businesses, and organizations on the Internet. It can isolate and identify unknown patterns or trends in enormous amounts of data
How has your understanding of these concepts changed after reading the instructional materials in this unit?
My understanding has changed towards the encyclopedias. I had no idea there were encyclopedias focusing only the laws within their own state.
Structure and Precedent – Case Law Research Tutorial – Guides at Georgetown Law Library
What are Statutes and Where to Find Them – Statutory Research Tutorial – Guides at Georgetown Law Library
Home – Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises – Research Guides at Harvard Library
Treatises – Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises – Research Guides at Harvard Library
Legal Periodicals – Secondary Sources Research Guide – Guides at Georgetown Law Library
Legal research | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)
Goldman, T. F., & Hughes, A. H. (2019). Civil Litigation: Process and procedures. Pearson.
Student response
Deniese Buckingham
Primary sources of law include are official declaration that comes from the branches of government to include court decisions, statutes and regulations. Both Federal and State Constitutions and statutes and treaties are considered primary resources.
Primary Sources: Legal Research – Researching the Law in the United States for LLM Students – LibGuides at Stanford Law School
Secondary Legal Sources – Basic Legal Research – LibGuides at Northern Illinois University (niu.edu)
Cases are examples of primary resources that are determined by the judicial
branch based on precedent. It is based on legal principles from earlier case law instead of statutory laws. Case law changes over time as precedents change. Cases determined by Judges also interpret actions and laws to make sure they are legal and can either uphold or overturn decisions.
Case Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.
Legal Research Strategy – Legal Research Strategy – Research Guides at Harvard Library
Statutes (legislation) are examples of primary resources and are laws created by
Congress and state legislatures. When a law is created it outlines general guidelines and then gets passed to specialized agencies to create regulations. Case law helps to interpret those laws. Researching statutes can also help you find other related cases.
Statutes vs. Regulations: What Are They and Why It Matters (currentcompliance.org)
Primary Sources: Legal Research – Researching the Law in the United States for LLM Students – LibGuides at Stanford Law School
Constitutions are examples of primary resources that convey the basic governing
principles for a city, state or nation. It outlines what is right and wrong and the values of that entity. It is a societal outline.
Constitution – Definition, Examples, Cases, Processes (legaldictionary.net)
Regulations are examples of primary resources and are created by agencies.
They must be authorized by a statute and are subordinate to statutes. Even though they are subordinate they still have the same legal force as statutes. They also help shape our society. The agencies that pass regulations are part of the executive branch of state and federal government.
Statutes vs. Regulations: What Are They and Why It Matters (currentcompliance.org)
Primary Sources: Legal Research – Researching the Law in the United States for LLM Students – LibGuides at Stanford Law School
Secondary resources are not actual law, rather they help you find background information
and help you find primary sources. It is suggested to begin your research with secondary sources if you are unsure of the topic matter. It is also suggested to begin looking at the index or table of contents. They often help you get your feet wet in an area of law you may not be familiar.
Primary Sources: Legal Research – Researching the Law in the United States for LLM Students – LibGuides at Stanford Law School
Secondary Legal Sources – Basic Legal Research – LibGuides at Northern Illinois University (niu.edu)
Legal encyclopedias contain legal topics with broad and brief summaries. There
are national legal encyclopedias and state legal encyclopedias. They can assist in finding relevant primary law and help find major law review articles. However, encyclopedias do not help with specific jurisdictions as not all states have legal encyclopedias and also the quality of coverage varies. Also not all encyclopedias are currently updated.
Legal Encyclopedias – Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises – Research Guides at Harvard Library
Treatises are considered a secondary source. It’s a publication that focuses on
the law of a single area of law written by experts in that area as they often provide detailed information. These are used as a starting point in an unfamiliar area of legal research.
Legal Treatises – Secondary Sources Research Guide – Guides at Georgetown Law Library
Legal treatise – Wikipedia
Legal periodicals are considered a secondary source. They contain articles
about newer areas of law and changes to existing laws and written by people in the legal field such as professors, lawyers, judges and law students. They include law reviews, law journals and bar journals.
Legal Periodicals – Secondary Sources Research Guide – Guides at Georgetown Law Library
Finding tools help researches find and understand legal authorities. Legal
encyclopedias, treatises and legal periodicals are examples of “finding tools.” They provide a restatement of the law in more relatable terms. They offer other interpretations of the laws.
Legal research | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)
Digests are helpful especially once you find a case that works for your research
because when using Westlaw and Lexis they offer similar cases based on the case you have already found a like. Digests index published court cases by topic and case names. Ideally, you want to identify your jurisdiction and then look for related terms that you are searching. This will help you locate the topic and from there you will obtain summaries of cases to help you find related cases to support your research.
Using Legal Digests.doc (hawaii.edu)
Citators are considered a “finding tool”. These help aid in finding secondary and
primary sources. It helps to assist by providing a list of documents with primary and secondary sources that will cite documents. These can also be known as KeyCite and Shepard’s. Citators also validate cases when doing your research.
Citators Overview – LRAC Legal Research Class Site – LibGuides at University of Arizona
Primary Sources: Legal Research – Researching the Law in the United States for LLM Students – LibGuides at Stanford Law School
Search engine is a computer program that uses a database to help search a topic based on keywords that a user enters to pull up related sites, articles and information. There are legal search engines such as AnyLawLegal and Dragnet.
I did not use any cites for this answer.
How has your understanding of these concepts changed after reading the instructional materials in this unit?
My understanding did not change very much because I am familiar with most of these terms as I currently work in the legal field. I learned more about treatises as I have never really used them, but I might use them in the future to help understand certain areas of law and narrow down further research. Also I developed a further understanding between the differences of statutes and regulations. Prior to this assignment I didn’t fully understand how they differed.
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