Research
Authority, decisions, and opinions handed down by the courts.
What is case precedent?
A detailed explanation and application of a precedent case is used to set this up.
What is a case comparison?
This is the acronym we have been using all year to organize analysis of a legal issue in objective and persuasive memoranda.
What is CREAC?
This is the voice you want to edit out of your legal writing, for the most part.
What is passive voice?
This is the punctuation you use to separate cases which support each other in a string cite.
What is a semicolon?
Use this connector to ensure that two search terms are in the same paragraph of the case.
What is /p?
Organize your legal analysis by this rather than by case.
What is a legal issue or rule?
You should always use this at the beginning of your discussion section.
What is a roadmap or thesis paragraph?
You should always use one of these two typefaces for case names in your legal writing.
What are underline and italics?
You should never cite this part of a case found on Westlaw or Lexis.
What are headnotes?
Use this to determine if your case or statute is still good law.
What is a citator (or Shepard's or KeyCite)?
These are the facts used in the precedent court's holding and/or reasoning that we want to analogize to our client's facts.
What are the legally significant facts?
Full sentences that are used to organize and persuade throughout your argument section.
What are point headings?
Spellcheck does not catch typos in this part of your memo.
What are point headings?
The appropriate page range in a pincite for pages 1199-1205.
What is 1199-205?
A decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is this kind of authority for a District Court in the First Circuit.
What is persuasive?
These are the three elements of a case explanation.
What are facts, holding, and reasoning?
Every fact that you mention in your application sections of your memo must also be found here.
What is the Statement of Facts?
This is one of Prof. Bloom's biggest pet peeves about spelling, and she will always correct it. Hint: it rhymes with board.
What is toward? (Not towards!)
These three types of primary authority should never be underlined or italicized in a citation or textual sentence.
What are statutes, constitutions, and regulations?
This is the place to find a list of cases cited by the case you are currently viewing.
What is the Table of Authorities?
The objective memo equivalent of the persuasive phrase: "The Court should..."
What is "The court is likely to..."
You should use a block quote for this many words or more.
What is 50?
Use a capital "C" to refer to any court in full (ex: the Supreme Judicial Court), the U.S. Supreme Court (ex: the Court) or in this circumstance.
What is when referring to the court that will receive your documents?
This numbered table is the place in the Bluebook where you will find the correct citation format for each state's courts and statutes.
What is Table 1?