Legal research: How to find and understand the law

Abstract

Legal Research does exactly what its title indicates; it explains how to find and understand the law. The book is written in easy to understand language, while imparting a vast amount of information in a comprehensive manner. The book is broken down into sections and subsections which explain all aspects of conducting efficient, effective legal research. For example, readers will find sections on everything from how to properly use a digest or index to the more rudimentary explanations of what a case cite is and what it means. In addition to teaching the reader how to use and understand conventional research materials commonly found in a law library, the book explains in great detail how to find the same information by using electronic resources, like the Internet. In fact, at the end of every section the reader will find both conventional library and Internet exercises designed to test newly acquired research skills. Moreover, Legal Research explains in detail how to focus a particular research question, and explains how to identify what authority will be most important to solving the query. The book also explains why a particular source of authority carries greater precedential value in a given situation. In short, the book teaches the reader in an easy to understand manner what proper legal theory is and how to put it to use. Finally, the book teaches the reader how to prepare a properly formatted legal memorandum and why doing so is important to effective legal research. The book even provides several examples of legal memoranda in the appendix.

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