Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Legal Research and Writing

What are the basic steps to legal research adn writing?


Asked on 9/08/08, 9:43 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

Lawrence Silverman Law Firm of Lawrence Silverman

Re: Legal Research and Writing

Providing some additional details:

Legal writing instructions samples, methods,techniques & standards ( & legal research methodologies also), can be found in numerous textbooks for law students & for paralegals, sold in large general interest book stores,in their LAW sections.(This is not necessarily an endorsement of a particular book as compared to other similar books,but,for example,THE LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING HANDBOOK by Andrea B. Yelin and and Hope Viner Sanborn, published by Aspen Publishing). ALSO: N.Y. COURTS have law libraries for use by the public where you can research case law both in hard copy & on computer,FREE of CHARGE. FOR a MORE COMPREHENSIVE guide to researching New York case law precedent court decisions than can be provided in relatively short answer format,type following Internet search phrase: "new york legal research pathfinder".(Use lowercase letters, NOT uppercase CAPITALS, and enclose the phrase between QUOTATION MARKS "" which causes the Internet search function to "see" the phrase as single indivisible word.)This search should bring up websites including the website of Georgetown University Law Center's library which may also be worth looking at. However, Rutgers University Law School Library's website with pages containing Rutger Univ. Law School Law Library's "New York Legal Research Pathfinder" is a website which will probably prove to be most helpful to you & which should be brought up by the "new york legal research pathfnder" search phrase.(New York Law School also provides a similar New York legal research guide).As for issue of how to make effective use of law libraries to find case precedents: You may find the following to be especially relevant in Rutger Univ. Law School's "New York Legal Research Pathfinder" (although it may be worth your while to read entire guide): The reference to CASE FINDING digests such as "West's New York Digest" which indexes case law precedents alphabetically by keyword topics; and, to "McKinney's Annotated New York State Consolidated Laws" which lists New York's statutory laws with notes referring to precedent court cases which have decided questions and issues raised by the statutes; and, the "REPORTERS" which are hardcopy collections of court cases.

With regard to ONLINE COMPUTERIZED legal RESEARCH, the "New York Legal Research Pathfinder" lists various excellent computerized legal research systems, e.g., Loislaw & Lexis & Westlaw, & others as well, some of which are provided free of charge.

When researching case law precedents you'll need to be able to check whether cases are still valid law, whether or not they're still "good" law, & have not been overruled; therefore, be sure to check "New York Legal Research Pathfinder"'s references to SHEPARD & to Shepardizing & to Keycite.

Lexis provides a scaled-down version called LexisOne which provides up to the last five years of case law free of charge. I believe non-lawyers like yourself can sign up for LexisOne.

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Answered on 9/10/08, 12:22 am
Kristen Browde Browde Law, P.C.

Re: Legal Research and Writing

Finding, analyzing and understanding the precedents, then assembling them into a cogent argument.

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Answered on 9/08/08, 9:45 am
Kristen Browde Browde Law, P.C.

Re: Legal Research and Writing

Finding, analyzing and understanding the precedents, then assembling them into a cogent argument.

Read more
Answered on 9/08/08, 9:45 am


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