Featuring Deborah E. Bouchoux’s highly regarded assignments, examples, and building-block approach, Concise Guide to Legal Research and Writing, Fourth Edition continues to provide timely coverage of the essential research and writing skills used by today’s paralegals. Designed specifically for paralegal students, this is the ideal text for shorter legal research and writing courses. New to the Fourth Edition: New “Sidebar” feature in all research chapters provides quick tips showing how the material in that chapter applies to computer-assisted legal research systems, such as Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law. Discussion of GovInfo, which provides free public access to official and authenticated publications from all three branches of the federal government. Coverage of new tools used for cite-checking, including EVA and Bestlaw. Discussion of Westlaw Edge, Westlaw’s new research platform. Extensive new coverage of the increasing use of artificial intelligence in legal research and writing. Discussion of new sources that provide free public access to the law, including Harvard’s Caselaw Access Project, CourtListener, and RECAP Project. New sections on preparing email letters and email memoranda, including assignments. All new Research Questions and Internet Legal Research Assignments have been included for each chapter. Professors and students will benefit from: Concise, well-organized text, divided into six main sections: Section I discusses primary authorities Section II covers secondary sources Section III focuses on computer-assisted legal research using Lexis Advance, Westlaw, and the Internet Section IV covers citation form and how to ensure that these sources are still “good law” Section V provides an overview of the legal research process Section VI covers legal writing Pedagogy designed to enhance the accessibility of the material, including helpful charts and diagrams that synthesize complex topics, updated Practice Tips offering realistic and helpful suggestions for workplace success, and Ethics Alerts in every chapter. Targeted and ample exercises help students learn how to use a wide range of research sources. Tips on how to effectively use electronic resources are included throughout the text. Conscientious revision ensures that the book has the most up-to-date material, presented in a readable and accessible format.

"Textbook for paralegal courses on legal research and writing"--

Featuring Deborah E. Bouchoux's highly regarded assignments, examples, and building-block approach, Concise Guide to Legal Research and Writing, Fifth Edition continues to provide timely coverage of the essential research and writing skills used by today's legal professionals. Designed to be accessible and practical, this is the ideal text for shorter legal research and writing courses. New to the Fifth Edition: Significant focus on newer technologies available to legal researchers such as Lexis+ Brief Analysis, Westlaw Edge's Quick Check, and more. Coverage of the use of analytics tools now used by legal professionals, such as Lexis+ Context. An entirely new section in Chapter 8 on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal research. Expanded section on techniques to achieve gender-inclusive language. A new section in Chapter 14 on using tech tools such as ProWritingAid, BriefCatch, WordRake, NoRedInk, and Cooley GO to improve writing. A new section on texting and confidentiality issues in Chapter 15. A completely revamped and expanded discussion on e-memos in Chapter 16. Revised throughout with new ethics alerts and updated figures. All new Research Questions and Internet Legal Research Assignments included in each chapter. Professors and students will benefit from: Concise, well-organized text, divided into six main sections: Section I discusses primary authorities Section II covers secondary sources Section III focuses on computer-assisted legal research using Lexis, Westlaw, and the Internet Section IV covers citation form and how to ensure that primary sources are still "good law" Section V provides an overview of the legal research process Section VI covers legal writing Pedagogy designed to enhance the accessibility of the material, including helpful charts and diagrams that synthesize complex topics, updated Practice Tips offering realistic and helpful suggestions for workplace success, and Ethics Alerts in every chapter. Targeted and ample exercises help students learn how to use a wide range of research sources. Tips on how to effectively use electronic resources are included throughout the text.

Unlike conventional legal research books that limit their focus to teaching students how to find and use the various sources of law, this book stresses a systematic, practice-oriented approach to acquiring legal-research skills. It presents a simple yet highly effective research strategy that helps students efficiently solve the types of complex legal-research problems they can expect to encounter in the workplace. In addition, the book includes a section on the various primary and secondary sources of law, and how best to find and use them, as well as a section containing tips for summer interns and associates, and a Trouble-Shooting Guide to help students overcome the occasional obstacles that may crop up in their research projects. The book also includes a detailed Research Checklist for students to use before turning in their work. For these reasons, the book makes an ideal stand-alone text for the first-year legal-research class, as well as an excellent supplementary text for advanced legal-research classes.

Clearly written, and replete with design elements that facilitate study and review, the Concise Guide to Paralegal Ethics provides succinct coverage that focuses on the professional paralegal. Perfect for use in shorter courses, or substantive courses with an ethics component, the Fifth Edition provides timely and thorough coverage of all major legal ethics topics. New to the Fifth Edition: Discussion of how the ethics of technology affects paralegals in matters of confidentiality and privilege, competence, conflicts of interest, and advertising Changes in legal practice that add to the responsibilities of paralegals Refreshed review questions, discussion questions, hypotheticals, and projects Professors and students will benefit from: Consistent emphasis on how the rules of ethics affect paralegals Authoritative writing in a well-organized format Helpful overviews in every chapter Italicized key terms with corresponding definitions in the margins Review questions, hypotheticals, discussion points, and projects Relevant ethics codes, conveniently located in the Appendix Teaching materials include: Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank PowerPoint slides