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Law
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Researching and Writing About the Law
General Legal Research
The major works explaining how to research the law.
- Fundamentals of Legal Research,
by J. Myron Jacobstein, et al (Foundation Press)
- Introduces the publication process and
methods for locating court cases, and examines other sources of
primary law and secondary sources useful in legal research. Covers
international law, English legal research, citation form, and federal
taxation.
- Legal Information
(LexisNexis)
- When faced with a legal question, many people don't know where to start. This free service is designed specifically for individuals and small businesses and provides accurate and reliable profiles of lawyers and law firms; information to help users better understand the law, make more informed personal legal choices, and identify high quality legal representation; tips on how to select an attorney, prepare for meeting an attorney, and work with an attorney; an interactive discussion community of individuals and lawyers covering hundreds of legal topics; consumer-friendly explanations of major areas of law, articles on current legal topics, links to legal resources on the web, a glossary of legal terms, and more.
- Legal Information: How to Find It, How to Use It, by Kent C. Olson (Oryx Press)
- Integrated guide to using online and print sources to research all aspects of United States federal and
state law.
- Legal Research FAQ (Mark Eckenwiler)
- This document gives an overview of the
standard resources and tools used in conducting legal research on
state and federal law in the United States. It also provides an
overview of the structure of the various state and federal court
systems, and describes the primary legal sources (case reporters,
statutory and regulatory compilations) where the law can be located. It is written for laymen,
not lawyers; no prior legal knowledge or research experience is
assumed.
- Legal Research for the Texas Practitioner, by Brandon D. Quarles and Matthew C. Cordon (W.S. Hein)
- This
textbook covers the basic skills needed to research cases, statutes,
and regulations, as well as more involved areas such as jury
instructions, briefs and records, and attorney general opinions.
- Research Legal Information (LexisNexis)
- Access legal articles, law message boards, and other legal research resources for many personal and business law topics.
- Research Methodology (Harvard Law School Library)
- General guide to legal research written for Harvard
law students.
- Web Based
Tutorials and Instructional Research Guides
(Cleveland-Marshall College of Law)
- Web-based
tutorials and instructional research guides help students learn new
topics and skills, as well as refresh lessons learned in the classroom.
They provide opportunities for convenient, individualized, self-paced
instruction. This site provides links to a selection of law-related
tutorials and instructional research guides produced by many
organizations.
General Legal Writing
Basic advice on how to write about the law.
-
The Elements of Legal Writing, by Martha Faulk and Irving M. Mehler (MacMillan Publishing Company)
- Similar to Strunk and White’s Elements of Style,
this guide to grammar and style for the legal profession is intended to
help lawyers, paralegals, and students minimize their legalese and
write with clarity and grace.
- A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, by Bryan A. Garner
(Oxford University Press)
- Gives
practical advice on how to write clear, jargon-free legal prose. Words,
phrases, and a few topics are arranged alphabetically and defined or
discussed, with distinctions drawn between similar terms.
- Exercises from Legal Writing in Plain English (University of
Chicago Press)
- In
Legal Writing in Plain English, Bryan Garner teaches legal
writers how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve
editing skills. The exercises here are organized under fifty principles.
Click on the principle to go to its exercise page.
- Expert Legal Writing, by Terri LeClercq (University of Texas Press)
- A
guide to writing legal documents with clarity and precision. Discusses
punctuation and grammar, style, organization, and even how to generate
ideas. The author is a columnist for the Texas Bar Journal.
- The Law
Student's Guide to Good Writing (Chicago-Kent College of Law)
- Explanations of the rules of grammar, punctuation,
and good writing that are most important to legal writing. Also includes
exercises (with answers) on each of the topics discussed.
- The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style, by Bryan A. Garner with Jeff Newman and Tiger Jackson (West Group)
- Comprehensive
guide to writing, focusing on the specific needs of legal writers and
emphasizing the ways legal writing differs from other kinds of
technical writing. Covers grammar, style, punctuation, capitalization,
spelling, footnotes, and citations, illustrating everything in a legal
context. Also covers editing, proofreading, design, and layout.
Writing Case Briefs
Advice on how to write summaries of cases for law-related classes.
- Briefing Cases (lawschool.westlaw.com)
- Short outline of the parts of a brief
and what should be included in each.
- Brief Writing and Oral Argument, by Edward D. Re and Joseph R. Re (Oceana Publications, Inc.)
- This classic work sets forth the fundamental principles, techniques, and skills required to write an effective brief and present a convincing oral argument.
- Case Analysis and Fundamentals of Legal Writing, by William P. Statsky and R. John Wernet, Jr. (West Publishing Company)
- This popular textbook introduces the skills of reading and analyzing court opinions.
- Case Briefs Bank (4LawSchool)
- Actual case briefs written by law students. Browsable by legal practice area.
- Format for Writing a Certiorari Brief (Touro Law Center)
- Simple template indicating the parts of a brief and what information needs to be included in each part.
- A Guide to Legal Case Briefs (Robert J. Beck - University of Virginia)
- Clear, thorough outline of all the elements needed in a student case brief.
- How to Brief a Case (lawschool.westlaw.com)
- Teaches what briefs are, why they are
important, and how to draft them. Includes samples of briefs.
- How to Brief a Case (SUNY – John Jay College of Criminal Justice)
- Explains the difference between an appellate brief and a student brief, then gives tips on how to write a student brief.
- How to Write a Case Brief (About.com)
- Writing a case brief can be rather easy once you’ve got the format down. This simple guide outlines and explains how to identify and understand the parts of a case, which then become the elements of a brief: the facts of the case, the procedural history, the issue presented by the litigants, the judge's holding, the rule of law on which the holding was based, the reasoning behind the judge's decision, and any concurring or dissenting opinions.
- Writing a Brief the George Orwell Way (Legalwriting.net)
- In his 1946 book
Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, Orwell spelled out Six
Rules for Writing. Professor Wayne Schiess elaborates on
these rules and applies them to brief-writing.
Drafting Legal Documents
Instructions and advice on creating official legal and governmental documents.
-
Drafting Legal Documents
(Office of the Federal Register)
- In order to help agencies produce clear, enforceable
regulatory documents, the Office of the Federal Register, National
Archives and Records Administration, presents this guide to legal
writing. It includes information on organizing; writing clearly; using
words and expressions properly; punctuation, typography, and spelling;
and proper format for regulatory documents.
- Guidelines for Drafting and Editing Court Rules, by Bryan A. Garner (Administrative Office of the United States Courts)
- This
style guide has been adopted by those responsible for drafting and
revising the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Appellate Procedure.
The principles described here could also be applied to codes and
ordinances, judicial opinions, contracts, and other types of legal
drafting.
- Information
on Legislative Drafting (Office of the Legislative Council)
- Links to official drafting offices
and related manuals on drafting federal state, local, and foreign
laws. Also includes miscellaneous articles related to legislative
drafting.
- Texas
Legislative Council Drafting Manual (Texas Legislative Council)
- This manual explains how legislative
drafting is done by the staff of the Texas
Legislative Council. Although it is primarily
intended for use by the council staff for training and as a
reference guide, other participants in the legislative process may
find it helpful.
- Writing Contracts in Plain English, by Carl Felsenfeld and Alan Siegel (West)
- This
guide takes the reader through the revision process for three
documents: a consumer-loan contract, an apartment-sales contract, and
an insurance policy. In the process, the book discusses all aspects of
legal drafting, including audience analysis, plain-English writing
style, graphic design and layout, content requirements, and testing.
The book was published in 1981, but the principles are still relevant.
This page is maintained by
Bobby Griffith
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last modified
Sunday, January 29, 2012. 03:34 PM
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The UNT Libraries will be closed Saturday, May 26 through Monday, May 28 for
the Memorial Day weekend. The Libraries will reopen during regular
building hours on Tuesday, May 29.
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