LEGAL 210 - Legal Research

5.0 Credits
Introduction to hardbound and electronic legal resources and research techniques. Emphasis on researching primary and secondary legal authorities, analyzing statutes and court decisions, and updating research results. Introduction to writing legal correspondence, office memoranda, appellate briefs, and citations. Prerequisite: LEGAL 200 or instructor’s permission; ENGL 100 or placement in ENGL& 101 (was ENGL 105).

Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Identify whether a resource is primary or secondary authority, or research finding aid. [REASON]
Use hardbound and electronic federal and state statutory and administrative codes to locate constitutions, statutes and agency rules. [REASON]
Use hardbound and electronic court reporters and case digests to locate relevant state and federal case law. [REASON]
Use hardbound and electronic sources to locate legal treatises, annotated law reports, legal encyclopedias, legal periodicals and other secondary authorities. [REASON]
Use hardbound and electronic sources to verify reliability and update primary and secondary legal authority. [REASON]
Use effective strategies to organize and perform basic legal research, cite-checking, and writing assignments. [REASON]
Write correct, complete and accurate citations to hardbound and electronic legal authorities in compliance with the Uniform System of Citations and Washington Style Sheet. [COMMUNICATE]
Prepare documents using the basic components for legal correspondence, legal memoranda, and legal briefs. [COMMUNICATE]
Prepare documents using correct English grammar and legal terminology in tone and style appropriate for the intended audience. [COMMUNICATE]
Use word processing software to format professional quality legal documents and correspondence. [COMMUNICATE]
Demonstrate an awareness of the ethical rules of competence, confidentiality, conflict of interest, and unauthorized practice of law to avoid situations that may be in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct when performing research and communication tasks as a paralegal. [ACT]