|
Official Course
Description: MCCCD Approval: 11-24-2009 |
|
|
PAR222 2010
Spring – 2012 Spring |
LEC 3.0 Credit(s) 3.0 Period(s) 3.0 Load Occ |
|
Paralegal Research |
|
|
Role of the paralegal in the legal research process. Includes various types of and sources for legal research. Also covers components and use of case law and briefs in addition to use of secondary sources and digests. Prerequisites: PAR106 and formal admission to the Paralegal program. |
|
|
|
|
Go to Competencies Go to Outline
|
MCCCD Official Course Competencies: |
|
|
|
|
|
PAR222 2010 Spring – 2012 Spring |
Paralegal Research |
|
1. Describe
the role of the paralegal in the research process. (I) 2. List types
of materials found in law libraries. (I) 3. Describe the
sources of U.S. law. (I) 4. Explain the
purpose of case law. (II) 5. Compare and
contrast types of case law publications. (II) 6. List and
define the components of a case. (II) 7. Explain the
purpose of a case brief. (II) 8. Locate and
interpret state and federal statutes. (II) 9. Review state
and federal cases. (II) 10. Use
secondary sources to complete legal research. (III) 11. Explain
components of digests. (IV) 12. Use
various types of digests. (IV) 13. Explain
procedures used to shepardize a case. (V) 14. Describe
different types of computer-assisted legal research. (VI) 15. Complete
computer-assisted legal research. (VI) |
Go to Description Go to top of Competencies
|
MCCCD Official Course Outline: |
|
|
|
|
|
PAR222 2010 Spring – 2012 Spring |
Paralegal Research |
I. Legal Research
A. Role of the Paralegal
B. Publications
C. Law Library
1. Types
2. Materials
D. Law Books
E. Federalism
F. Sources of U.S. Law
1. Constitutional
2. Statutory
3. Administrative Regulations
4. Case Law
G. Citation: Blue Book
II. Primary Sources
A. Constitutions
1. Types
2. Use
B. Statutory Law
1. Federal
2. State
C. Administrative Regulations
1. Federal Register
2. Use
D. Case Law
1. Stare Decisis
2. Purpose
3. Elements
4. Publications
5. Reporters
6. Case Components
7. Case Brief
III. Secondary Sources
A. Types
1. Legal Encyclopedia
2. American Law Reports
3. Treatises
4. Periodicals
5. Looseleaf Service
6. Restatement of Law
7. Pattern Jury Instructions
8. Form Books
B. Features
1. Descriptive Word Index
2. Table of Contents
3. Table of Statutes Cited
4. Table of Cases Cited
5. Table of Abbreviations
6. Preface
7. Parallel Reference Tables
8. Pocket Part Supplemental
IV. Digests
A. Components
1. Headnotes
2. Topics
B. Types
1. Century Digest
2. Decennial Digest
3. General Digest
4. State Digest
5. Federal and Supreme Court Digest
6. Specialty Digest
V. Shepardizing
A. Definition
B. Use
C. Citations
D. Procedures
VI. Computer Assisted Legal Research (CALR)
A. Search Methods
1. Boolean Searching
2. Natural Language Searching
3. Table of Contents Searching
B. Internet Legal Research
1. Government Web Sites
2. Law School Web Sites
3. Commercial Web Sites
C. Online Services
1. Types
2. Uses
D. Legal Search Engines