INTRODUCTION TO LAW

INTRODUCTION TO LAW

BILL COVINGTON

640-1552/329-3608

M/W 3:30-5:50

Room 239 Snohomish Hall

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What Is Law?

Law-a set of rules and regulations the observance of which can be enforced in court Purpose to regulate human behavior, promote

societal stability and to allow persons and institutions to know their rights and obligations in a given situation

Court-a tribunal established by government to enforce the law

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What Is Law?

Courts exist on federal, state and local level Federal courts-enforce rights granted by

United States Constitution, acts of United States Congress and decisions of federal courts

State courts-enforce rights granted by state constitution, acts of state legislature and decisions of state courts

Local courts-enforce rights granted by local charter and laws passed by local legislative body

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General Information

Course-Introduction to Law (Legal 200)

Instructor-William Covington Room 239 Snohomish Hall 425-640-1552 Office hours Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30

to 5:50 Prefer telephonic communication

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What We Will Be Studying

American legal system which includes Bodies which make laws (legislatures) Bodies which interpret and enforce laws (courts)

Emphasis shall be placed on types of courts, their powers, how courts make decisions etc.

Laws themselves which include Constitutional law; Statutory law; Regulations and

Case law Close examination laws of torts and of property

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Text

”Introduction To Law And The Legal System” 8th edition by Frank Schubert

Suggested Supplemental Materials “Law Dictionary” by Steven Gifis “Legal Research In A Nutshell” by

Morris Cohen

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What We Will Do In First Two Sessions

General overview of course

Expectations of instructor; of students

Review assignment sheets

Discuss grading

Answer questions

Lecture on briefing cases; use of law library

Law library tour

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Question?

ALL STUDENTS TO ANSWER FOLLOWING QUESTION.

What Basic Information About Courts And The Court System Does A Person Need In Order To Be A Good Paralegal? List three or four items Be prepared to share your answers.

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What Course Will Cover

Chapter One-define law, discuss where law comes from, what it does, general definitions; due process clause; equal protection clause

Chapter Three-judicial system (federal, state) and portions of two-ethics

Chapter Five-limits on ability to sue

Chapter Six-judicial decision making, precedent

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

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What Course Will Cover

Chapter Seven-remedies (legal, equitable)

Chapter Eleven-law of torts (intentional, negligence, strict liability)

Chapter Twelve-property, types, ownership interests

FINAL EXAMINATION (All examinations are take home and essay)

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What I Hope To Accomplish

Course Will Not Make You Lawyers

Course Aims To Do Three Things RE-DEFINE WORDS TEACH RULES AND PRINCIPLES HONE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

Remember To Express Yourself Using Legal Terms And Expressions

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Keys To Being Good Instructor

Pass on knowledge

Provide new skills and insights (research, briefing and improve presentation abilities)

Interesting (Socratic method)

Punctuality

Personal background

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Keys To Being Successful Student

Willingness to learn (tackle tough problems)

Attendance (no extra copies) Class cancellation policy

Complete assignments in timely manner (typed,12 point font, double spaced, no team work)

Ask questions/give feedback (the dumb questions are the ones which are not asked)

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Use Of Web Site

Contains all homework assignments, tests and some of the handouts

Will contain all overhead slides which shall be made available after presented in class

Contact me with any questions or should there be problems accessing site

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Grading

1.0-4.0 (quality of work, appearance, clarity of analysis, accuracy, use of language) See syllabus re what constitutes grade of A

Midterm and final examination (take home)

Seven assignment sheets (two are optional)

No extra credit (attorney interview and special research exercise)

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Grading

Midterm and final examination each count 1/3 of final grade and

Three highest graded assignment sheets collectively count for 1/3 of final grade

Missing papers or assignments displace assignment sheet at grade of zero

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Grading

Possibly up to four quizzes-in class, but will not be pre-announced

Grade of seventy five percent or more will add one point to the final grade; less than seventy five percent neutral, no impact Missing quiz or quizzes will result in point

reductions (one point for first quiz, two points for each additional quiz missed)

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Analysis Of Assignment Sheet

Did you read chapter

Briefing of cases (remember chapter and topic being studied)

Five short questions (IRAC method-issue, rule, analysis, conclusion)

Essay (remember IRAC)

Library research

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Answering Questions

IRAC (use this as a guide)Expect that important information may be missing (identity it, explain importance)Remember need for proper use of language i.e.grammar and spellingProvide a full story for reader (answer questions before they are asked)Proofread prior to turning in assignment

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Answering Questions

IRAC Guidelines Issue-What are the essential background facts

(facts which lead to this issue arising)? Rule-Synopsis of the applicable law

(summarize applicable law, do not quote law verbatim unless absolutely necessary)

Analysis-Apply rule to facts (show thought process leading to answer)

Conclusion-Answer

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Review Of Model Answers

Question-Lawsuit between former business partners, one partner succeeds in winning judgment for many thousands of dollars, seeks writ of garnishment to collect money awarded by court. Judgment-Court award of money to party to

lawsuit making that party a judgment creditor and other party judgment debtor

Garnishment-court order directing 3rd parties who owe judgment debtor money to pay judgment creditor

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Problems with poor answer 1) no background information, 2) does not

describe applicable Washington, law 3) incomplete and 4) there is a possible mistake in the fee amount-we do not know if this case is in district or superior court

Problems with mediocre answer 1) insufficient information re what is required for

writ, 2) assumption re what court can hear case, 3) conclusion may not be supported by facts

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Virtues of good answer 1) follows IRAC guidelines, 2) identifies

missing information and explains its importance (what court may hear case), 3) draws a sound conclusion

Take your time in answering questions, be sure answer is supported by materials in book, from handouts or lecture and be sure to review/proofread

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Briefing Cases

Briefing Defined-Isolating and identifying most important elements of a case

Purpose-Helps boost analytic ability Skill that takes good deal of time to develop,

don’t expect to master it in this course

For this course very important to keep in mind chapter and topic being reviewed

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Many Correct Ways To Brief Case(Varies from firm to firm)

Title/Heading (parties, where to find full text of court’s opinion)

Facts (what took place)

Question and Answer

Reasoning (why court ruled in a particular manner)

Holding (lesson case teaches)

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Briefing Cases-The Details

Title names of parties, where to find full text of court’s opinion

Facts only those which are most important, ask what facts did case “turn upon”

Q and A Try to make this a yes or no answer (ask what is key question case asks, what is principle being addressed)

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Briefing Cases-The Details

Reasoning Why did court make the decision, what was motivation, philosophical rationale

Holding What is lesson case stands for (in one or two sentences describe major principle that has been taught) Be aware on occasion holding and reasoning

can be very similar if not the same

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Library Research-Basics

Whoever provides best evidence (facts) and presents best arguments (laws which support their side) usually wins-aim is do this quickly and well Investigator finds facts, Researcher finds law

What is a good researcher? Uses basic tools well (codes/statute books,

digests and reporters) Knowledge of all tools (electronic also) Can use tools quickly and thoroughly

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Library Research-Basics

Basic tools Statute/code books (constitutional and statutory

law) Digests (access to common law) Reporters (verbatim text of common law)

Legal research is changing due to electronic access tools-be aware of this, good tools include Internet Legal Resources, FindLaw

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Challenges For Novice Researcher

Need to find laws which are “on point” (apply directly to case being argued)

Legal language can be difficult to understand, written in obscure form

Use of indices (key search word may be difficult to find)

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE things become much easier with time

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Hierarchy Of Authority

Constitutional law-Statutory law-Regulations-Case or common law

Constitutional-supreme or controlling law 1) establishes government, 2) divides power w/

other levels of government, 3) dictates how laws are made, 4 grants basic rights to citizens

Statutory-made by legislature

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Regulations-rules passed by administrative agencies

Case/common-look to past court decisions

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Constitutional law supersedes statutory law, statutory law supersedes regulations supersede case or common law

Federal law supersedes state (with some exceptions that are constitutional)

State law supersedes local law

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Always ask supervising attorney what sorts of laws one should be looking for, ask what is desired scope of research This is very important as time is money in the

legal business

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Relevant Legal Texts

Constitutional and statutory law United States-USCA or USCS State-Revised Code of Washington Local-Look for name of jurisdiction and word

“Code” or “Statutes”

Regulations Federal-Code of Federal Regulations State-Washington Administrative Code

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Relevant Legal Texts

Digests (access tool for common law) Federal (Supreme Court Digest, Federal Digest) State (Regional Digests, State Digests)

Reporters See handout Keep in mind there are official and unofficial

reporters (e.g. Washington Reports and Pacific Reporter)

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Using Statute/Code Books

Contents-Verbatim text of constitution and statutes currently in force

Coverage-Examine cover of volume

Annotations-Explanatory notes and other materials designed to help researcher

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Annotations Legislative History Cross References/Collateral References Library references (digests, law reviews,

ALR, encyclopedias etc.). Notes Of Decision Forms

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Generally organized by title, chapter and section (United States Code, some states are exceptions)

Structure of code/statute books Constitutional volumes generally first Subject matter volumes (called titles) second General index usually at end

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How to use to research a problem First go to General Index Find a key word which refers one to title,

chapter and section Go to volume containing that title, chapter and

section Review materials-see if they are “on point” ALWAYS CHECK POCKET PART

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Using Digests

Digest defined a tool that helps one find case/common law (different from reporter which contains verbatim text-digest is access tool-only contains case abstracts)

Always remember when common law used if No on point constitutional or statutory law; or Unclear how constitutional or statutory law

applies

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Using Digests

What is a digest Set of volumes which classifies decisions of a court or courts alphabetically by subject matter providing “abstracts” of relevant decisions

Under each topic are sub-topics called key numbers and below each key number are series of case abstracts which provide: 1) court that decided case, 2) case name, 3)

description of what was decided, 4) citation

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Using Digests

Examine cover of book to tell what courts are covered by this digest Digests covering federal courts: 1) Supreme Court

Digest, 2) Federal Digest Digests covering state courts: 1) State digest

(Washington Digest), 2) Regional digest (Pacific Reporter)State digest contains more state cases and

should be used for research; Regional digest contains fewer state cases, used for comparison purposes

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Using Digests

Organization of Digests Topical volumes come first (examine scope

note and analysis for topic being researched) Table of Cases Digested comes next Words and Phrases (this may be combined with

Table of Cases Digested) Defendant-Plaintiff Table follows (eliminated

in newer sets, incorporated in Table of Cases) Descriptive Word Index (usually at end of set)

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Using Digests

How to use Examine Descriptive Word Index and find

reference to Topic and Key Number Go to volume containing that topic and key # Examine cases and determine if relevant If not applicable return to first step If applicable ALWAYS CHECK POCKET

PART

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Using Reporters

Contain verbatim text of court’s opinion (as opposed to digests which have abstracts) usually published annually

Normally used when one seeks to use case and/or language from case in support of one’s position

Look at cover of volume which identifies court cases contained and period of time in which those cases were decided

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Using Reporters

Contents of typical state reporter Court hearing cases, time period cases heard List of judges sitting during this time period Table of cases reported Actual cases Unreported cases/New court rules Topical index to reported cases

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Using Reporters

Contents of typical federal reporter Court hearing cases, time period covered List of sitting judges Table of cases reported Statutes and Rules/Words and Phrases

construed or defined in volume Actual cases Key Number Index (reference to digests)

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Using Reporters

Contents of a reported opinion File name, date case argued Name of case Head notes Case history Names of attorneys arguing case Author of court’s opinion Opinion of court (Dissent, if any, follows)

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Using Reporters

Use reporters for following: To verify information contained in digests is

valid (abstract does indeed reflect what is contained in court’s opinion)

To find language in support of one’s case which can be inserted in a legal memorandum or brief

INTRODUCTION TO LAW

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