From the Desk of David Williams: Demystifying the Life Cycle of a Lawsuit for the Pro Se Litigant

You have decided to sue somebody. It may be a breach of contract dispute, a divorce, an action against a debtor, a suit for child custody, or a claim for negligence or some personal injury. Perhaps you have tried to resolve the dispute out of court by negotiating with the other party or by going through an arbitration process. Unsuccessful, you have decided to sue the person or company in court.

What to do next? If you have the financial resources, you may decide to engage the help of an attorney who will take the case for you. In an arena where success or failure can have big consequences, hiring a competent attorney may be some of the best money you will ever spend. However, times are tough and hiring an attorney may not be feasible for many would-be litigants. You may decide to handle the case on your own. Although the authorized practice of law is limited to individuals who are admitted to the state bar, the law does permit an individual to work his case pro se, or for himself. This article attempts to lay out the different parts of a lawsuit for the pro se litigant in the hopes of making this journey a little less daunting. This article should not be taken in any way as legal counsel or advice. Instead, it merely describes the different parts of a typical civil lawsuit as an aid to pro se litigants in their own planning.

Investigation

Before you sue an individual, a company or some other legal entity, you have to make sure you have sufficient evidence to prevail on your legal argument. Sometimes, this is very simple. Perhaps an absolute divorce in your state requires being physically separated for a year. Maybe you have a registered trademark or patent that gives you a presumption on the evidence. Perhaps you have a case that requires engaging the help of a private investigator. Regardless, you will want to make sure that you have “the goods”, or evidence, to successfully support your case. You will need to make sure your evidence is relevant to your legal claim.

Pleadings

Pleadings are the initial documents that you, the plaintiff, file with the court to begin the lawsuit. At a minimum, a pleading is comprised of the complaint, which is an outline of the claims for relief that you are seeking from the defendant. Claims can include monetary damages, injunctive relief, or perhaps even specific performance. All claims must be supported by a cause-of-action. In other words, what you are suing for must be a civil action that the law recognizes. Negligence, breach of contract or fiduciary duty, defamation, tortious interference, copyright infringement and wrongful death are just a handful of examples of different causes-of-action. The complaint with your causes(s) of action may be a simple form you have filled out and that the court has made available, or it may be a more lengthy document that you have drafted.

Once you have you prepared your complaint, you need to file it with the court. Which court you file it with is a very important question. State superior court? A federal district court? Small claims court? The answer here depends upon many factors, including where the defendant is, where the disputed transactions or occurrences transpired, how much money is in controversy and whether the underlying causes of actions are based on state or federal law.

After you file the complaint with your court, the clerk of court will give you a summons. A summons is an order of the court for the parties to appear in order that the complaint may be heard and litigated.  However, before any court can exercise its power, or jurisdiction, over a defendant, that defendant must be served. The law requires that a defendant have proper notice of a complaint before any powers of the court can be exercised over him in a civil suit. For the lawsuit to move forward, the defendant or defendants must be served with notice of the lawsuit. At this stage, the pro se litigant needs to make sure that a process server is engaged to deliver the complaint and summons on the defendant. Most courts will require proof of this notice, so you will have to get a notarized affidavit of service or return-of-service affidavit from the sheriff or private process server that indeed the defendant was served with notice. The question of notice is at heart a constitutional inquiry, and if a court determines that a defendant wasn’t fairly apprised of the pendency of the action, then no remedy can be obtained by the plaintiff. Beware: service of process on a defendant by the plaintiff is not permitted. Process serving must be done by someone who is not a party to the lawsuit.

Once the complaint and summons have been served on the defendant, the defendant will usually either file an answer or move the court to dismiss the case. A motion to dismiss, typically a 12b-6 motion or perhaps a judgment on the pleadings, is made when the defendant asserts that the plaintiff doesn’t have a cause-of-action that the law recognizes. If you’re suing under a cause-of-action that the law doesn’t recognize, or your lack personal or subject-matter jurisdiction, then the defendant may move to dismiss.

Alternately, the defendant may answer your complaint. He may affirm or deny some of the specific facts listed in your complaint. The defendant might also counter-claim, or sue you, the plaintiff. The defendant may not do anything at all, in which case you as plaintiff may be entitled to what is called a default judgment.

Discovery

Discovery is the fact-finding process whereby the parties to the lawsuit disclose information to each other and prepare their evidentiary resources, including witnesses, for trial. Shortly after initial pleadings and answers by the defendant, a judge will usually require a pre-trial discovery conference between the parties. Discovery can be a very big deal in high-profile or corporate cases. At this stage, the lawyer or pro se litigant may ask the court to issues subpoenas, or orders to produce testimony or documents from witnesses.

Pre-trial

At the pre-trial stage, the litigants are getting ready to take the case to the courtroom. Often, defendants at this phase will make a motion to the court for summary judgment. When a defendant moves for summary judgment, he is arguing that the plaintiff cannot prevail as a matter of law, even looking at the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff.

There can be renewed attempts at settling the case during this stage, too. With all the facts and legal arguments out on the table, the parties may be in a better position to settle their dispute without going to trial. Other times, parties will decide it makes more sense to put their case in court before a jury or a judge in a bench trial.

Trial

This is the stage where the litigants argue their respective cases in court. You may have a civil case heard by a jury. Jury trials involve jurors deciding questions of fact. At other times a “bench trial” presided over by a judge is used, where the judge decides both questions of fact and law. Trials involve opening statements by attorneys, witness testimony (lay, expert and character), and closing arguments. There are extensive rules of evidence regarding what types of evidence are allowed in court. If you’re looking for resources, the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) can be a good starting place. After each side has presented their evidence and legal arguments, the fact-finder, judge or jury, will take leave from the courtroom to decide the case.

Judgment

Once the civil case has been decided by the judge or jury, a final judgment is formally entered by the court. If you have prevailed as plaintiff, you may have a specific judgment that includes the damages the court has determined are owed you by the defendant. If the defendant successfully counter-sued, the judgment may be against you, the plaintiff. All 50 states will generally enforce the judgments of other states, and this is supported also by the “full faith and credit” clause of the US Constitution. Sometimes, a judge may adjust a jury’s award if it is required by precedent or statute, or is in their discretion.

A judgment in and of itself is worth nothing: suitable only for framing. If you have a judgment for $50,000, in order to collect you will need that judgment executed upon. This usually entails employing the local sheriff or federal marshal to enforce the judgment through a writ of execution. This execution stage can involve seizing assets, selling them at auction, or ordering some other exercise of power over the property.

Appeal

If you’ve come out on the losing end of your law suit, you may decide to appeal the judgment. Appeals are generally not successful, so you will want to make sure you have strong grounds for appeal. If the judge has made some mistake of law, or been clearly erroneous or abused his discretion, there may be support for a successful appeal.

If you’re a pro se litigant, I hope this outline proves helpful. This article provides just a sketch of a typical lawsuit’s life cycle, and only scratches the surface at that. There are many different kinds of cases. Most never go to trial. Nevertheless, you may find this article educational, and a real aid to you as you navigate the legal landscape.

~David Williams, Class of 2013~

ALR Student’s Corner: North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book

Do you need information regarding divorce or simple assault in North Carolina?  Need annotations to case law regarding a violation of a 50B order or defrauding an innkeeper?  Before you Google it or browse the North Carolina General Statutes, try looking first at the North Carolina Trial Judges’ Bench Book.

The Bench Book can be found in the Reference Carolinas section of the Charlotte School of Law Library.  It is contained in two large, white, three-ring binders with dark red lettering on the cover and spine.  The North Carolina Bench Book, as the name suggests, contains information on North Carolina law.  Volume one contains information on family law, and volume two contains information on judicial powers, duties, and conduct; criminal law and procedure; and civil trial and procedure.  The table of contents in each volume is specific to that volume, but also contains a basic outline of the other volume.  Each is broken down into chapters or subtopics of the main subject.  For example, the family law volume contains chapters on divorce, child custody, alimony, and equitable distribution.  Each chapter is also divided into sections which can be found in the table of contents at the beginning of each chapter. For example, the chapter on child custody is divided into sections such as venue, jurisdiction, and the definition of custody.  There is also an index at the end of each chapter and common forms which can be copied and filled out.  I feel the sections are efficiently organized because a researcher can identify a main issue and then navigate through its respective sections and subsections in a very precise manner.

The School of Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill publishes the Bench Book.  The School also publishes the North Carolina Crimes book, which our library also has.  The information contained in the Bench Book is updated on a rotating basis as needed.  The Library’s copy is from 2011.  In volume one, all the chapters but domestic violence and termination of parental rights were updated in the 2012 online version (available at http://www.sog.unc.edu).  Volume two is updated entirely through the 2011 print version.

Here is an example of how to use the Bench Book.

A client walks into your office and tells you that she is newly divorced and a mother with two young children.  While she and her ex-husband share joint physical custody, he is an alcoholic and, for this reason, she wants to be in control of major decisions affecting the kids.  After taking down some basic information, you assure her that you will research her situation and be in touch.  After she leaves, you decide to consult a copy of the Bench Book that you received as a gift for passing the bar.

The first step is to determine what volume applies to the given facts.  Since the situation involves a divorced couple and the major life decisions of two young children, volume one seems appropriate.  Flip to its table of contents and locate the page number for “Chapter 4 – Child Custody” since the client’s issue involves parental control over children.

Each of the Chapters has its own table of contents to help navigate through the various subsections.  For instance, “Chapter 4 – Child Custody” breaks down further into subtopics, like “definition of custody,” where you will find the definitions for both legal and physical custody.

The information here states that case law has held legal custody to include the decision-making process of parents and that a parent may have sole legal custody or joint legal custody.  Based on this information and the client’s request, you determine she is best served by pursuing an order for sole legal custody.  This same information could also have been found by searching the index at the end of the chapter.

The Bench Book is an all-in-one source for case law, statutory law, and forms in North Carolina.  You can find the same basic statutory information online at www.ncleg.net for free.  There is generally no free equivalent for case law materials; however, the law itself can occasionally be found on free legal websites such as http://www.scfamilylaw.com or by using Google Scholar.  The downside to both of these sources is their lack of annotations.  Finally, copies of forms can be found at the Mecklenburg County Self Serve Center or online at www.nccourts.org.

~ David Sherman, Class of 2013 ~

From the Desk of Matt Froelich: Dual Degree Reflection

Starting in the fall of the 2012-2013 school year, CSL and UNCC initiated a joint JD/MBA degree program. This is a great bundle considering completing each separately would take an additional year, and we all know “time is money.” Now that I’ve been in the business program for nearly a full academic year, it’s time for a brief reflection on my experiences. And, hopefully a prospective student will read this and gain insight into the actual happenings of both institutions.

I want to start by complimenting the quality of both schools’ faculty, which consists of well-respected figures in their fields. Additionally, both of the school’s facilities are exceptional, and they offer similar technologies for students. However, the approach to education each school takes is completely different. In law school, students are expected to abide by the Socratic Method and approach each problem on their own. On the other hand, business school is much more team oriented, and this takes a great deal to get used to.

Group work definitely has its perks. The total workload is divided up among you and your teammates, which greatly lessen the burden imposed on each individual. But here’s the catch: you have to rely on and trust others. For those of you who are like me, this can be an unnerving experience, especially if you are in an unfamiliar group. For students who have been molded through law school, this can be quite difficult. But, business school requires you to re-learn to trust the competency of others, which can be a tall-order. Apart from learning to deal with the different attitudes found in each program, there are other downsides to the program.

The first downside is that for students currently in the law program it adds another year until freedom, I mean graduation. This includes taking any pre-requisites that may be needed the summer before entering the program, as well as enrolling in classes in the following summer. Speaking from my own experience, I can tell you this additional year is much longer and requires more effort than one would think.

Attending law school for 2 years is an intense experience, which drains a lot of energy. For that reason, the majority of the people I know – including myself – are ready to be done with school after the three years. However, even with the added year, I still believe the dual degree program offers an excellent opportunity. Not only does it diversify the skill sets you develop in law and/or business school, but it also improves your marketability for future employers. All in all, this is an excellent way to distance you from the rest of the market that is over saturated with new attorneys.

~Matt Froelich, J.D./M.B.A. Candidate 2014~

ALR Student’s Corner: Prosser on Torts

We speak often of legal luminaries at Charlotte School of Law.  All of them reside inside our library.  Their works, ideals, thoughts, and aspirations for our profession are all found on the shelves of our library waiting for your approval or disdain.  

One such great thinker is Dean William L. Prosser; his work Prosser on Torts stands high in the world of treatises [W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts (5^th ed. 1984) (call number  KF1250 .P73 1984)].  If you want a complete and thorough understanding of the law of torts and its ramifications on society, pick up this amazing treatise by a true giant in our profession.

Prosser on Torts is laid out in a chapter format, starting with a thorough introduction into the law of torts, winding through the intentional torts, negligence, products liability, privacy, and ending with immunities.   Each of the 25 chapters contains a pithy review of the law accompanied by an often-time acerbic wit.  It is also a fundamental road map to our law and how it was shaped.  Don’t overlook the fact that this book, in earlier editions, contained our nation’s nascent ideas of privacy, well before Griswold and New York Times v. Sullivan.  Chapter 20, Privacy, provides an insightful and thorough examination of an area of law that would not come into fashion until 20 years after Prosser’s death.  Yet, his thoughts and words still led our formation of this emerging body of law.

As Prosser notes in his chapter on Privacy, “(p)rior to the year 1890, no English or American court had ever granted relief expressly based upon the invasion of (privacy).  Id. p. 849.  Prosser forwards his argument for recognition of a “right of privacy” by announcing what is now common knowledge among law students: the elements necessary to prove the four privacy torts.  It is in this treatise that we find our common understanding for the elementary constructs of privacy. “It is clear, however, that there must be something in the nature of prying or intrusion, and that mere noises which disturb a church congregation, or bad manners, harsh names, and insulting gestures in public are not enough.  It is clear also that the intrusion must be something which would be offensive or objectionable to a reasonable person.”  Yes, there he is, the root of our most favored of persons: the reasonable man.  We owe it to Prosser.

If you fail to pick up this treatise, you’ll also miss some great quotes that all your older attorney peers have committed to memory long ago.  “Assault and battery go together like ham and eggs.”  Classic Prosser.  “The thing speaks for itself, (referring to the doctrine of res ipsa) but what the hell is it saying.”  You simply can’t miss out on legal explanations like that.

Prosser on Torts is also a great research tool.   Each topic segment contains a list of Westlaw Reference Tools that can be used to find more authority on a given topic.  Id. at 7.  For instance, the Introduction lists “379k1” (Use and Occupation of Realty) as an example of a Digest Topic and Key Number.   Plugging these into Westlaw Classic or WestlawNext will produce a wealth of additional resources to expand your research.   Accompanying this example in Prosser is the following Terms and Connectors Boolean search string: topic(torts) & reasonabl* unreasonabl* /20 interfer! /20 interest*.  This search in Westlaw Classic returns over 450 federal and state cases and numerous secondary sources in the results.  To narrow these, a researcher merely has to restrict by source or jurisdiction or use the “Locate in Results” feature.

Another time saving research tool found in Prosser is the comprehensive appendix.  Appendix A provides a complete, albeit dated, detailed introduction to Westlaw Classic researching methods for specific torts-related searching.  This is a great resource to perfect Boolean searching.  Id. at 1082.  The Index also provides a useful tool when a general topic search is all that is required.  If you know a general topic, the Index will lead you to a treasure trove of sources within the chapters that will prove to be worthy for even the most stingy of research budgets.

Prosser on Torts proves that blind searching with Google or Bing may be “free and easy” but not necessarily free or easy.  Using a treatise to narrow and target your research will likely produce more relevant and efficient results.  The competitive job market demands that we reduce our hours of research and, at the same time, increase the relevancy of our search results.  Pick up and use Prosser on Torts and you may well be on your way to that sought after title of research guru.

~ Adam Thornton, L ‘14 ~

ALR Student’s Corner: Police Misconduct Law and Litigation

The word “treatise” made me cringe my first semester of law school.  Coming from a business background, I had no idea what a treatise was other than a text recommended by my professor.  After receiving exposure to treatises through a practical exercise, their value as a free research tool became apparent to me.  This post will examine a criminal law treatise and is intended to help illustrate how using a treatise can easily enhance legal research or knowledge of a specific area of law.

Police officers play a prominent role in American society. They help ensure order by enforcing federal, state and local laws.  As a result, police officers are equipped with extreme power, but they pose a threat to society if their power is not restricted and monitored.  The problems created by police misconduct are of particular concern for individuals of a minority race, class or gender, but have the potential to affect any American as a result of a violation of our Constitutional Rights.  For example, the Federal Government’s “War on Drugs” has had a huge impact on civil liberties as police officers and judges have ignored the Bill of Rights to enforce narcotics laws.  The potential dangers of police misconduct are clear, but how is it handled in our judicial system? In order to create a greater understanding of this area of the law, a good starting place is the treatise, Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation (3^rd ed. 2012).

Locating the Treatise

In order to utilize the treatise, you must first physically find it in the library.  The book is located in the Treatise section in the northwest section of the Charlotte Law library.  Once you have identified the call number (KF1307 Av38p) from the Library catalog and located the treatise section of the library, proceed to the Torts / Products Liability shelf.  The book is about three-quarters of the way down the aisle on the left hand side, third shelf from the top.

Contents of the Treatise

Now that you know how to locate the book, we can explore its contents.   The book is contained in a single volume that was initially printed in 1977; two additional editions followed, the most recent in 2012.  The book contains a Table of Contents, Index, Sample Pleadings and Table of Cases which allows for practicing attorneys to quickly locate relevant subject areas.  This book provides an in-depth analysis of each step in the police misconduct proceedings process from actionable conduct to the charge of the jury.  There is discussion of each important litigation step supplemented by relevant case law.

Research Exercise

We now turn our attention to using the treatise as a secondary source.  For this exercise, imagine that you are a summer associate at a Criminal Law firm.  You are asked to take notes in a client consultation.  The client, a 22-year-old female, was Tasered after police responded to a noise complaint at her apartment.  She was charged with aiding and abetting alcohol to minors and resisting arrest.  After the meeting, your task is to find case law discussing the reasonableness of the use of a Taser.  The firm has access to Westlaw, but is charged for each search; so, to minimize costs, you must start your research with secondary sources at the CSL Law Library.  To start your research, you look for “Taser” in the index of Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation.  Unfortunately, the term is not listed in the table of contents (TOC) or the index.  Before turning to a different secondary source, you try “Excessive force” as a search term, and are then directed to various subparts of chapter 2.  Confused about where in chapter 2 to start, you reference the TOC and a section labeled, “Excessive Force and Physical Brutality.”  Having isolated the relevant portion of the book, you flip to the section and find a discussion on the use of Tasers by police officers (p. 115).  This section provides a good starting point for your research because the discussion of the law relating to the use of Tasers is current and, equally important, annotated to key federal authorities that can be used on Westlaw to create a custom digest.

Conclusion

Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation is a good resource for any criminal attorney dealing with police misconduct, because the treatise clearly and logically lays out the entire judicial process related to this kind of litigation.  A notable feature of the treatise that I found very helpful is the sample complaints section located in Appendix B.  However, the authors might have assisted researchers further by providing more charts and checklists throughout the book (like those found in Appendix A).  Charts help engage the reader and highlight key concepts in the text.

In order to supplement the materials in the treatise, a reader should visit The National Police Accountability Project website.  The website is free and updated by an organization of plaintiffs’ attorneys who work on police misconduct cases with the intent to end police abuse.

Citations

Michael Avery et al, Police Misconduct Law and Litigation (West Publ’g, 3^rd ed. 2012)

National Police Accountability Project, http://www.nlg-npap.org

 ~ Brian Dunaway, Class of 2014 ~

HeinOnline for the iPhone

HeinOnline is a free premier online research source and is now available for your iPhone and iPad.  The HeinOnline app allows the user to “view the image-based PDFs, access content by citation, browse by volume, navigate a volume with the electronic table of contents, and use full advanced searching techniques.”

To get started, the user will need a username and password or the user can simply visit a law school campus and touch the “IP Authentication” button, which grants access to the user for 30 days from any location.  After 30 days, the user will need to visit the law school to re-authenticate the IP address to continue access.

This is the home screen that offers the user many different legal journals to choose from, depending on the topic of the research.  In this instance, I am looking for information on secondary copyright infringement.  So, I chose the broad option of Law Journal Library.

In the search box, I typed the search terms “secondary copyright infringement” and was presented with a list of law reviews that offered information on intellectual property and copyright infringement.

I chose “Copyright, Patent & Trademark Law” from the Washington and Lee Law Review.  This screen gives you the option of downloading the information in PDF format…

…or browsing the Table of Contents to pinpoint exactly what it is you are looking for.

I think the app has a lot of information that could potentially help the researcher immensely.  The problem with using an iPhone to search this site is that most of the journal names or titles of law reviews are cut off by the size of the small screen.  This is an irritating feature that is not remedied when you click on the title, as it is still cut off by ellipses on the following screen.

The HeinOnline app may work better on the iPad since it has a bigger screen to fully display journal and law review title names.  I think if you are in a rush and need to use a legal app to quickly find helpful information, I would use a different app.  This one takes too long to navigate and the small screen is an obstacle that is tough to ignore.  I would personally stick with HeinOnline on a computer and find another iPhone app to use for legal research at my fingertips.

~Catherine Chesnut, Class of 2013~

North Carolina General Assembly App Review

The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) app appears to be relatively plain and simple.  However, once you navigate through it, you discover that, with few exceptions, it has many of the same functions and features that the NCGA website has to offer.  Then, as you explore even further, you find that the website is much better equipped for researching due to greater efficiency, functionality and overall resourcefulness.

NCGA App Functionality

When you visit the home page of the app, as seen below, you encounter the following sections – Audio, Committee, Calendars, Bills, Members and Statutes.

At first glance, the app appears to not have many of the same options that the website has.  However, once you click on the app’s Audio section, you notice that it offers the same options as the NCGA website’s Audio page (i.e. House Chamber, Senate Chamber, and Finance Committee Room). Also, when you click on the “more…” link, you recognize other options similar to those on the website. However, the app does not offer many of the dropdown options that the website offers. Additionally, the app’s audio link doesn’t offer an option for help with audio problems, whereas the website does, as seen in Picture B.

Picture A (mobile app)

Picture B (website)

The NCGA App Compared to the NCGA main website

The one big drawback of the app is that there is no full text search when searching for Bills – you must search by bill number (i.e. S23).

The website, on the other hand, offers the options “full site search” and “search bill text.”

The app is also missing the following links that provide very helpful information:  About NCGA, Redistricting, Who Represent’s Me?, and the Citizen’s Guide. In each of these sections on the website, there are multiple links that are available, which are also not available on the app.

On another note, it is more efficient to use the NCGA website than to use the app. The smart phone’s screen is limited in size (about 3 inches wide), so it is difficult to read all of the information without having to constantly adjust the screen up/down or left/right to capture everything.  This essentially makes the app more time consuming to use. The larger laptop screen (about 15 inches avg.) makes it easier to read the information; hence, making your research easier and faster.

One positive takeaway about the app is that it is constantly being maintained and updated.

Conclusion

The NCGA website is far better to use than the app, as the website provides more information, is easier to use, has better options for searching, and is more efficient. It’s a no go on the app.

~Jonathan Jones, Class of 2013~

OyezToday

OYEZTODAY at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law offers you the latest information and media on the current business of the Supreme Court of the United States. OYEZTODAY provides: easy-to-grasp abstracts for every case granted review, timely and searchable audio of oral arguments + transcripts, and up-to-date summaries of the Court’s most recent decisions including the Court’s full opinions. You will have access to all this information on your iPhone with the ability to share reactions on Facebook, Twitter, or by email. (Recordings of opinion announcements from the bench will follow when the Court releases these files to the National Archives at the start of the Court’s next Term).  ~www.oyez.org

Available for all iOS and Android Platforms

There are many features that I liked about the Oyez app, the first being that the app is free to download.   Additionally, the case detail does a nice job of synthesizing the issues and lets you know how the Justices voted.  The feature I enjoyed the most is the media component, which provides an audio version of each argument presented before the Court.

In addition to the list of cases provided through the application, there is a tab that provides background information about each Justice.  I personally liked this section because, in many instances, understanding a Justice’s background and philosophies provides you an insight which will allow you to effectively predict how certain justices will rule on specific issues.

 

While there are many features that I really enjoyed about this app, there are some features that I did not like.  The biggest drawback is that the app only goes back to the 2010 term.  Another key component missing from the app is a search function.  A researcher accessing the Oyez site on a laptop can search for specific cases by typing in the case title or case citation.  But with the Oyez app, you have to scroll through each page for a particular case, which can be extremely time consuming and not the most effective search method.

Overall, this app is beneficial in some instances and worth it for every law student to give it a try.  Did I mention it is FREE?!?

~Porcsha Daniels, Class of 2014~

LexisNexis “Get Cases” Application

The first step I took, in test-driving the LexisNexis “Get Cases” Application, was to input my username and password.  After successfully logging on, I input a citation (“18 USC 924”) and clicked “Get a Document” – seeing as how this and Shepardizing were my only two search options.  This search yielded three results, all of which gave direct links to the statute itself.

Using the same citation, I then clicked “Shepardize.”   I was provided with a warning that the citation I provided has received negative treatment and that my search yielded over 20,000 results.  Naturally, I was told to restrict my search.  Although Shepard’s is used as both a finding tool and validation tool, when trying to restrict my search after clicking “Shepardize,” I had a lot of difficulty getting anything back in terms of results.  Ultimately, what I discovered was that this application works best with explicit citations – not necessarily keywords, case names or Boolean searches.

To test this, I input a random case citation (131 F.2d 313) and, from the home-screen, clicked on both “Get a Document” and “Shepardize.”  This time, I received results for both searches.

I found this app’s functionality and usability as a legal research tool to be rather adequate.  Although it has restrictions when it comes to generalized legal research, this app could prove to be essential to any attorney who needs to look up specific information regarding a case and/or statute.  Because this application works best with specific citations, an attorney or other legal professional who needs to quickly reference a specific issue in a case or statute can access that law by using this app.  You are able to instantly review case law – including the rules, the Court’s reasoning, and the legal issues at hand.  In addition, to help evaluate the results you receive, you are then able to use LexisNexis’s Shepard’s system to get information regarding the treatment of a specific case, statute, etc.

In comparing legal research on phones/tablets to “traditional” technologies (i.e. laptops and desktops), I think that we are very lucky to have such amazing portable research tools available to us as legal professionals.  Although this particular application does not provide every tool that would be available to any Lexis subscriber using their laptop, it is only one of many apps out there.  LexisNexis, alone, has several applications (the majority of which are free to download):  Lexis Advance, eBooks from LexisNexis, CourtLink, lexis.com Mobile, LexisNexis Get Cases, LexisNexis Welcome Center, etc.

To summarize, LexisNexis’s Get Cases Application is a great and essential tool for any legal professional to learn how to use.  Not only does it provide someone with a mobile legal research tool, but users are able to access an incredible amount of information that could aid any attorney in an “on the spot” or ambiguous legal question.

~Madeline Gould, Class of 2013~

App – Congress Plus – Powered by THOMAS

This app costs $4.99 and is completely worth it.  Being a broke law student, I might have even paid $10.00 because the searching possibilities of this app are just about limitless.  When you first open the app, you are greeted with a list of all members of congress. This list includes their pictures and state, district and party affiliations. You can search for a member of Congress by name or by state by selecting the option in the top right corner.

I first explored the app to determine just what it had to offer. Honestly, I was shocked at the options and the quick links to important sites. It is almost as if the makers of the app knew just how we law students like things to be quick and easy.  Along the bottom of the opening screen, as shown above, you have options to view Senate members, House members, Legislation, etc..  The app begins to get interesting after you press on the “more” button, found at the far right bottom of the screen.  Although a law student’s primary need will be the legislation option, sometimes you need to play.  If you choose to do so, you will be able to access news, DC job openings, Factcheck.org, News articles from Politico with a search option, open seats in congress, the political composition of each house, and even, donors.

After playing around for about thirty minutes, I decided to conduct a search.  The research topic I conjured up was a topic involving eminent domain.  I was curious as to whether there were any federal repercussions for states that use the power of eminent domain to confiscate land from a private owner to make a public park, and then later decide to close the park and sell that land to an apartment developer.  I tapped the “Legislation” option on the bottom tool bar and was presented with the option to search for legislation by name or phrase, or by entering the bill number. I entered “eminent domain” “public parks” into the search bar.  The results were many bill listings separated into three different categories: (1) “Listing of 4 bills containing all your search words near each other in any order,” (2) “Listing of 76 bills containing all your search words but not near each other,” and (3) “List containing 995 bills containing one or more of your search words.” When I selected the first bill in the search list, a table of contents page appeared with links to each subject.

Also, the app gives you the option to look at a bill summary, explore the sponsors of the bill and information about each member, etc..  I selected the bill summary just to see if I was on the right track, and the CRS Summary paraphrased every relevant section of the bill for a rapid assessment of the bill’s usefulness.  To top it all off, if you press on “Home,” at the top left of the screen, you are taken directly to the THOMAS site.

So, if you feel your search options are limited with the Congress Plus app, you are given the full spectrum of search power through THOMAS.

I truly enjoyed using this app because it ran very smoothly, with no hiccups, and there are no obvious organizational changes to make.  It is worth every penny, especially if you are involved in politics.

~Laura Dean, Class of 2013~