Printable Version

Spring 2010
6370 Advanced Legal Research - SIMONS- 23963

Professor(s):

Credits: 3

Course Areas: Practice Skills - (Research and Writing) 

Time: 9:00a-10:30a  TTh Location:  

Course Outline: Purpose of Course: to develop understanding of legal research as a process. You will learn to plan, track, and assess your research progress in a way that gets you on the right track and guides you to completion with a minimum of wasted effort, duplication, and time. Research in Texas legal materials is emphasized; federal legal research is also covered. After establishing a solid research process, using the core legal resources used by all attorneys, the course will develop your expertise in critical areas less familiar to many attorneys, such as international and foreign law, empirical (non-legal) research, legislative history, and the increasingly important administrative law. You will be introduced to a number of free and subscription online databases, and will receive instruction in specialized Westlaw and Lexis resources and advanced techniques. Since the goal of research is the production of usable analysis, there will be a research assignment culminating in a written analysis of a legal problem. You will also develop a guide to research resources and techniques in a specialized subject chosen by you. Also explored will be the use of tools to identify and properly develop transactional documents, and, as time permits, tips on drafting skills to allow you to develop common documents while avoiding drafting pitfalls.

Course Syllabus: Syllabus

Course Notes:   

Prerequisites:  

First Day Assignments: Read pp. 3-31, 193-201

Final Exam Schedule: 05/11 9am - noon     

This course will have:
Exam: NO
Paper: YES

Book Requirements:

• (10/29/2009 3:52:34 PM) Title: Texas Legal Research
  Author: Spencer L. Simons
  Edition:  Year: 2009 ISBN: 978-1-59460-649-6 Publisher: Carolina Academic Press