ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS: Why are legal definitions important? Legal terms have p

ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:
Why are legal definitions important? Legal terms have precise meanings depending on the specific context in which that term is used. In other words, one legal term may have different meanings when used in different areas of the law. For example, the term “negligence” has a different definition when used in a criminal vs. a civil law context. To master these terms, Part 1 will ask you to provide a definition of the core legal terms relevant to the specific area of law that we are studying each week.
How do I craft a legal definition? In most cases, a good definition is one sentence, although there are exceptions. The assigned textbook reading will provide information to enable you to craft a succinct definition of each term. If you decide to use a legal dictionary (e.g., Black’s Law Dictionary), you need to make sure the definition is consistent with the correlating subject in the assigned textbook reading.
Example:
ASMT 1: (1-sentence definition)
• Goods – personal property that is moveable at the time of identification to the contract of sale.
TEAMWORK INSTRUCTIONS
Why is legal reasoning important? Teamwork exercises teach the skill of legal reasoning. It is a useful analytical skill that can be applied to a diverse array of problems (i.e., not just law). We will learn this skill by practicing the standard analysis procedure used in the American and other common law legal systems. See below example.
What is the legal reasoning process? We will learn this process by briefing court cases (i.e., prepare legal briefs). It is called “briefing” because it is a short summary of the case. For an example, see the Hearts of Atlanta Motel brief posted under the Instructions tab. The briefing process has 4 steps:
• Case citation
• Legal issue (question)
• Relevant facts (based on evidence)
• Applicable law (applicable legal principles)
• Conclusion (answer)
The better you understand a case, the shorter your brief will be.
Why are legal research skills important? Lawyers are expensive, and we often do not have access to legal advice at work or in our consumer or other personal roles. However, the law is readily accessible and, if we have basic skills, we can often conduct core legal research using those tools.
How do I conduct assigned legal research? We will learn a several primary legal research skill. Examples include finding a federal or state statute, regulation or court decision (by legal citation, party names, word search), how to analyze court decisions, how to do a patent, copyright and trademark search and more. If you run into a snag, you can email me or attend our Saturday Study Group for that week.
Nexis Uni Database – Your Best Teamwork Tool
You are required to look up the assigned cases in the WBU Virtual Library, Nexis Uni Database and, at a minimum, read the Nexis Uni Headnotes before preparing your case study. See steps below.
1. Take the legal citation from the assigned case. Note whether it is a federal or state case, and, if a state, which one. Note: if it is a state case, the state will be identified in the citation, e.g., Kalenka v. Jadon, 305 P.3d 346 (Alaska 2013)).
2. Follow these steps to get the case from Nexis Uni database:
a. Textbook Example: Case 21.1 – Cite 363 F.Supp. 2d 692 – Jurisdiction – US District Court (which is federal)
b. Go to WBU Virtual Library, Articles & Databases, Nexis Uni database.
c. On the home page—
Go to What are you interested in? Click cases.
Go to the right, click on Federal
Go to the right, add the citation
Note: there are spaces where the ^ symbol is shown here – 363^ F.Supp. 2d
^692).
Explanation: 363 is the book number (add space) F.Supp.2d is the reporter (add space) 692 is the page number that the case starts in that reporter.
Skip the date box
Click on Search.