Volume II, Chapter §2.10 The Foundations of Legal Research
American Law Reports
Introduction
An incredibly useful resource, American Law Reports (A.L.R.) is detailed in this exercise. Please note that not every research topic is found in every research tool. So if you do not find it here, don't worry. It will probably be in the next set of books you research. But even so, you must become familiar with this great research tool, either in the law library or online.
Paralegal Perspectives . . .
AMERICAN LAW REPORTS
I'm going to admit something to you. When I was a paralegal student, I didn't get A.L.R. I just didn't understand it, and thus, I didn't like A.L.R. at all. By the end of my class, I had learned just enough to answer test questions, then I swore that I would never use that book again! After being hired as a paralegal, I eventually started doing research. On one particularly difficult assignment, I couldn't find anything. When the attorney asked me where I had looked, I told him. Am. Jur. 2d, C.J.S., state statutes, Words and Phrases. Then he asked whether I had checked A.L.R. I told him that I didn't really like A.L.R. (As if my opinion should matter!) He smiled, took me down to the law library, and showed me why A.L.R. was such a special and unique set of books. No book does what A.L.R. does. It takes selected important or unique cases, then annotates those cases. (Definition of annotation? It discusses the heck out of the case!) The annotations in A.L.R. do the work for you!
About A.L.R.
Using the same hypothetical set of facts you chose or were assigned, conduct this assignment. Remember to keep track of relevant authority you find. It may be used in the Trial Brief you prepare later in this program.
Click on the examples of Time Sheets below to zoom in and compare. Yours should look like the Good example.
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
Time Sheet Download
Click here to download a Time Sheet that automatically adds up your billable hours. You should keep track of any research or writing you do on behalf of your client, including the Audio Companion research assignments below as well as other assignments in this chapter.
Audio Companion: Researching A.L.R.
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After you have finished the assignments in the law library, check your answers in by clicking on the Exercise Answers below . But it is critical that you do the Assignments in the law library (or online) first!
