Law Firm Legal Research and Writing 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'primary authority' in legal research?
- The law itself, including constitutions, statutes, regulations, and case law (Correct answer)
- Law review articles and treatises written by legal scholars
- Legal encyclopedias such as Am. Jur. and C.J.S.
- Secondary sources that explain or interpret the law
Correct answer: The law itself, including constitutions, statutes, regulations, and case law
Primary authority consists of the actual law — constitutions, statutes, regulations, and judicial opinions — which courts are bound to follow.
Question 2: What is the purpose of a 'case brief' in legal practice?
- A concise summary of a court opinion including facts, issues, holding, and reasoning (Correct answer)
- A document filed with the court to argue a legal position
- A letter to a client summarizing the status of their case
- A checklist of tasks to complete before trial
Correct answer: A concise summary of a court opinion including facts, issues, holding, and reasoning
A case brief is a structured summary of a judicial opinion used to quickly understand the case's key facts, legal questions, holding, and the court's reasoning.
Question 3: What does it mean to 'Shepardize' a case?
- To check whether a case is still good law using Shepard's Citations on Lexis (Correct answer)
- To summarize a case into a brief format
- To submit a case citation to opposing counsel for verification
- To find all cases that cite the same statute as a precedent
Correct answer: To check whether a case is still good law using Shepard's Citations on Lexis
Shepardizing a case means using Shepard's Citations (available on LexisNexis) to verify whether the case is still valid law and hasn't been overruled or limited.
Question 4: What is the Westlaw equivalent of Shepardizing a case?
- KeyCite (Correct answer)
- WestCheck
- CiteVerify
- LegalTrack
Correct answer: KeyCite
KeyCite is Westlaw's citator service that serves the same function as Shepard's, allowing attorneys to verify whether a case remains good law.
Question 5: What is a 'memorandum of law' used for internally at a law firm?
- To objectively analyze a legal issue and provide an attorney with a thorough assessment of the law (Correct answer)
- To persuade a judge to rule in the client's favor
- To summarize settlement negotiations for the client file
- To record billing time for research performed
Correct answer: To objectively analyze a legal issue and provide an attorney with a thorough assessment of the law
An internal legal memorandum presents a balanced, objective analysis of a legal question, helping attorneys understand the strengths and weaknesses of a position.
Question 6: What is 'secondary authority' in legal research?
- Sources that explain, summarize, or analyze the law such as treatises, law reviews, and legal encyclopedias (Correct answer)
- Court decisions from lower courts that have been appealed
- Statutes that have been superseded by later legislation
- Federal regulations that have not yet been codified in the CFR
Correct answer: Sources that explain, summarize, or analyze the law such as treatises, law reviews, and legal encyclopedias
Secondary authority includes materials written about the law — like treatises, law review articles, and Restatements — that are persuasive but not binding on courts.
Law Firm Legal Research and Writing 1
What is 'primary authority' in legal research?