YOUR INSTRUCTOR
see information on your instructor including website, office hours, phone no. etc. http://lamission.edu/law/lawfaculty/htm
                              

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is the study of legal research. The student learns how to do legal research in a law library and online, along with how to report the results of the legal research. Law 34 teaches the paralegal personal computer user skills, including using the internet and electronic computer research of various legal databases and legal research materials.

The student will learn the process of legal research, and will learn how to apply it to a series of research problems to learn and improve the skills of legal research in the office environment.

The student will learn how to distinguish cases and codes/statutes, and how to carry on a legal research problem, and will prepare a written legal memorandum of the results of their legal research.

Law 34 introduces the student to computerized legal research through the new technology of online legal research and the internet, accessing and finding case law, formulating a search request, searching with various search engines to find the law. The student will learn to use terms and connectors, restricting searches, searching in statutes, court rules & cases, retrieving legislation, current court decisions, searching government regulations and administrative law, using the internet. Each student will be assigned a major research topic to research and report their results using what they have learned in the course.

COURSE TEXT       

Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law by Attorney Stephen R. Elias & Attorney Susan Levinkind 12th Pages: 568 pp
ISBN: 1-4133-0058-8 - You may obtain this book from our bookstore or online - see http://lamission.edu/law/textbooks

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. The student will learn how to do legal research in general, how to phrase a legal question or issue, and how to search for the correct "legal" answer.

4. The student will improve their writing skills and learn basic skills in legal drafting and writing.

5. The student will improve their study skills and will improve how they study law.


GRADING & EVALUATION

The class will be composed of quizzes, assignments, and projects.

Grades are as follow:

A =  90-100 percent of total points
B =  80-89
C =  70-79
D =  60-69
F =  Below 60

Office Hours: see Faculty page at http://lamission.edu/law/lawfaculty.htm - Office Hours, Mon. - Friday 9-5 pm at the Office Telephone number of each Faculty member, or upon special appointment - email the faculty member for your appointment date and time.

Course Structure: This course will be offered through a course management system online. Students should login to the online Mission Portal at http://lamission.edu/online to locate the class and its appropriate portal.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS: ASSIGNMENTS SUBMITTED LATE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNLESS PRIOR APPROVAL IS REQUESTED AND GRANTED BY THE INSTRUCTOR.

EXTRA CREDIT: Since the law is in constant change, along with the advent of the Internet, issues may arise that are timely and germane to our class. Therefore, opportunities may arise during the term that allow for extra credit, although no extra credit is presently offered.

INCOMPLETE: If you require a grade of "incomplete," you must advise me as soon as possible and discuss the terms of its removal.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic honesty is highly valued at Mission College, just as it is at all colleges and universities. A student must always submit work that represents his or her original words or ideas. If any words or ideas are used that do not represent the student's original words or ideas, the student must cite all relevant sources. The student should also make it clear to what extent such sources were used. Words or ideas that require citations include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications, whether copyrighted or not, and all verbal or visual communications when the content of such communications clearly originates from an identifiable source. All submissions to any public meeting or private mailbox fall within the scope of words and ideas that require citations if used by someone other than the original author.

Course Assignments: see assignments at http://duedates.pbwiki.com

Course Evaluation:

The final grade will be determined by: averaging quizzes, discussion questions and written assignments, each assigned 100 or more points.

Required Resources (for internet/online work)

System requirements: IBM or compatible (486/33 CPU minimum) with Windows or Mac or compatible with 6.05 operating system or higher, 8 megs of RAM, 20 megs free hard disc space, modem with a 9600 baud rate minimum.

* This syllabus is subject to change. Please note revision dates ("updated") below. Students are responsible for the most recent updated version of this syllabus.

updated: 3-07-07