Legal Research & Legal Writing - A Paralegal Skills Course

Students will get a good conceptual understanding of legal and factual analysis and how the two types of analyses converge. They will see how this process is fundamental to the professional work that supervising attorneys do in a law office or department.

This lesson gives examples of different types of clients and the different reasons they might go to an attorney. If also provides examples of types of legal research and writing that an attorney will do to assist the client.

This lesson wraps up the overarching topic by tying it back to the paralegal. What does a paralegal do to assist the attorney as well as the services of a law office or department? The lesson also describes types of preliminary legal research and writing that a paralegal might do to assist their supervising attorney.

This lesson describes various sources of a law at various levels of government, including constitutional documents, statutes, ordinance, regulations, and case law. It also describes the process of codification and briefly discusses administrative agency policies and guidance materials.

This lesson illustrates how different sources of law may apply to different issue areas. It also introduces and illustrates the concept of precedential cases, an integral part of the common law legal system.

This lesson describes secondary source, how they are used, and how they can ultimately lead to primary sources. It then explains how preliminary legal research conducted by a paralegal can help the supervising attorney.

In this short lecture, we talk about generative artificial intelligence, which is a type of AI. We define a few key terms, highlight its strengths and weaknesses, and explain how it fits into the bigger legal research process.

Notably, we encourage a human-centric approach to AI, that acknowledges the unique synergies that can be enabled when legal researchers are also capable of using advanced technology to enhance their existing skills and expertise.

This lesson describes the "80/20" principle, discusses the importance of legal process and automation, and articulates preparatory steps that can help a paralegal succeed on a drafting assignment.

This lesson discusses the purpose of correspondence and lists some common types of correspondence and the respective audience. The lesson then describes the role of the paralegal in preparing and sending correspondence as well as tips for doing so efficiently.

This lesson describes the relationship between legal research and legal writing. It then describes one approach to a complex legal writing assignment and closes with some specific practical tips that can help paralegals successfully help the supervising attorney on this type of assignment.

We review key points from the entire course. Remember to print and review the handouts and visuals before wrapping up. This course is part of a series of paralegal skills courses presented by Informed Educational Insights, LLC, and taught by Harvey Zeytuntsyan, J.D. The courses are broken down by topic area to enable students to build their own custom (and cost-effective) practical learning program. Look for additional courses on other important topics. An excellent preview of paralegal work, a refresher for current paralegals, as well as a practical supplement to formal paralegal programs.

Look for other Paralegal Skills courses to build your own custom learning set. This bonus lecture is from Legal Technology & Efficiency a paralegal skills course that maps out the common, advanced, and future generation of law office technology, software, and applications.

Like this course, it gives you a bird's eye view of key concepts and helps you develop a road map to develop expertise in the right set of applications and software for the practice area or type of your choice.