EDU 653 powerpoint

2. Executive
President
Vice President
Administrative Staff
http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/executive-branch

3. Legislative
Senate
House of Representatives
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc76.htm

4. Judicial
Supreme Court
http://www.baucus.senate.gov/files/images/ToursSupremeCourt2.jpg

5. Judicial
Federal Court (District)
http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/images/CircuitMap.pdf

6. Judicial
State Courts
County Courts
Municipal Courts

7. United States Constitution
Supreme Law of the Land
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=3

8. Primary Sources
Statutes
* United States Code
United States Reports
* U.S. Supreme Court Official Publication

9. Secondary Sources
Encyclopedias
Brief broad summaries of legal topics
WestLaw’s Corpus Juris Secundum
LexisNexus’s American Jurisprudence
Dictionaries
Defines legal terms
Black’s Law Dictionary
Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Law

10. Case Method
Name of the case is known
U.S. vs. William Jefferson Clinton
Topic and Index Method
Subject of the case
Impeachment

11. Word and Phrase Method
Case is hinged on legal definitions
Perjury
Shepardizing
Tracing the judicial history
Latest decision on the case

12. Procedures
Read the case at least 3 times
Questions to keep in mind:
What are the facts?
What issues did the court consider?
How did the court resolve these issues?

13. “IRAC” Method
Issues
Facts, jurisdiction (federal or state),
Source of law (statutory, common, constitutional)
Rule
Statutes, regulations, precedents
Application
Identify, apply, arguments
Conclusion
Finding of the court and reasoning

14. Citing a Case
United States Code
Title - Subject Area – 50 Titles
Publication – Abbreviated (U.S.C.)
Section - Paragraph

15. Order to follow
Citation
Rule of Law – synopsis
Facts
Issues
Holdings (Yes or no to the elements of a crime)
Reasonings (The court’s rationale)
Conclusion (Decision of the court)
Dissent (Disagreeing judges)

16. Form Type
Formal Memorandum
Informal Memorandum
Letter
Email

17. Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
University of Washington School of Law
(http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/research.html)
Washburn University School of Law’s WashLaw (http://www.washlaw.edu/)
Duke University’s Duke Law
(http://law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/intresearch)
FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com/)
Legal.com (http://www.legal.com/legal-research)

18. The Executive Branch (2013). Our Government, Retrieved on June 29,
2013from http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/executive-branch
The U.S. Capitol (2013). Retrieved on June 29, 2013 from
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc76.htm
The U.S. Supreme Court (2013). Retrieved on June 29, 2013 from
http://www.baucus.senate.gov/files/images/ToursSupremeCourt2.jpg
U.S. Constitution (2013). Retrieved on June 30, 2013 from
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=3
U.S. District Court Map (2013). Retrieved on June 30, 2013 from
http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/images/CircuitMap.pdf