Computer Assisted Legal Research

Graded Project

CALR

CALR GRADED PROJECT

INTRODUCTION Attorneys delegate legal research assignments to paralegals daily. Paralegals must be able to use CALR systems, such as Lexis Advance, WESTLAW, and the Internet, to quickly and efficiently retrieve legal information. This graded project will test your skills in this critical area. Read the description of each legal research assignment and complete each assignment using the Internet and Lexis Advance.

INTERNET Use the Internet for Sections I, II, and III of this project.

Section I: Build a Judge Profile Your firm has a case coming up for trial. Your supervising attorney needs you to profile the judge using the Internet. The judge’s name is Kathleen O’Malley, a federal district judge in Ohio. Print your research results.

Section II: Perform Company Research Your attorney has signed on a new client, Dell Computer Corporation, and wants to learn more about Dell’s business operations. Print two company profiles from independent sources.

Section III: Evaluate Internet Information Quality Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov and http://www.whitehouse.net and compare and analyze the two websites. Write 2-3 paragraphs evaluating the content of the information of the two sites.

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LEXIS ADVANCE Use Lexis Advance for Sections IV, V, VI, and VII of this project.

Section IV: Formulate a Search Request Your supervising attorney represents a drug manufacturer that developed a new arthritis drug. During clinical trials, volunteers who took the drug experienced heart palpitations and nervousness. The drug manufacturer asked your firm if it must disclose the side effects of the drug to potential patients. The client needs an answer to this question as soon as possible to determine if it should seek FDA approval to release the drug to the public. Formulate two queries for the research assignment using (A) natural language and (B) terms and connectors. Use federal and state case law as your sources. Print just the first page of your research results in the cite list format for each search query. Be sure your search requests are visible.

Section V: Search and Retrieve Primary and Secondary Legal Materials

A. Retrieve and print the first two pages of the following case by citation: 17 Cal. 3d 425.

B. Retrieve and print the first two pages of any case involving the following party name: Trump Wilshire Associates.

C. Retrieve and print the first two pages of the following case by docket number: B018788.

D. Explain how to narrow your results and how to view the results.

E. Describe the types of secondary materials that are available on Lexis Advance, and name five specific sources.

Section VI: Verify the Accuracy of Case Law and Statutes Your supervising attorney gave you the following citations:

QQ 217 B.R. 598

QQ 523 U.S. 574

QQ Fed. R. Civ. P. 26

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She wants you to validate the legal materials to find out if they’re still good law. Carry out the assignment and print your research results. It’s OK to print only the first few pages if you get a lot of hits. (Note: For the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, select your first hit and print the first page.)

Section VII: Conduct Company and Financial Research Locate the company headquarters, address, and telephone number for eBay, the online auction house. Print samples of your research results.

A. Print the first two pages of the latest quarterly (10Q) report for Dell Computer Corporation.

B. Please note, to ensure that you’ve included all the required assignments, label each assignment with the appropriate roman numeral and letter if applicable. Paper clip the papers for each assignment together.

Expectations for This Project You should be able to perform factual, business, and legal research on the Internet; understand how a paralegal uses the Internet in the legal environment; start a Lexis Advance research session; formulate a search request; search for documents; search and retrieve primary and secondary legal sources; verify the accuracy of citations using Shepard’s citation service; locate, profile, and investigate companies; conduct financial and business research; and find factual resources.

Grading Criteria for This Project

Content 100%

I. Build a judge profile 5%

II. Perform company research 5%

III. Evaluate Internet information quality 10%

IV. Formulate a search request 15%

V. Search and retrieve primary and secondary legal materials 25%

VI. Verify the accuracy of case law and statutes 25%

VII. Conduct company and financial research 15%

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Exemplary Proficient Fair Not Evident

Build a judge profile

Provides a thorough judge profile

Provides an adequate judge profile

Provides mini- mal evidence of a judge profile

No evidence of a judge profile

Perform compa- ny research

2 thorough company profiles from inde- pendent sources are included.

2 adequate company profiles from independent sources are included.

1 company profile from independent sources is included.

No evidence of company profiles from independent sources is included.

Evaluate Inter- net information quality

Thorough para- graphs evaluating the content of the in- formation in the two sites are provided.

Adequate paragraphs evaluating the content of the information in the two sites are provided.

Minimal evidence is provided of evaluating the content of the information in the two sites.

No evidence of evaluating content of the information in the sites is provided.

Formulate a search request

2 or more queries for the research assignment using (A) natural language and (B) terms and connectors are provided.

2 queries for the research assignment us- ing (A) natural language and (B) terms and connectors are provided.

1 query for the research assignment us- ing (A) natural language and (B) terms and connectors is provided.

No evidence of queries for the research assignment are provided

Search and retrieve primary and secondary legal materials

All 5 materials are provided.

4 materials are provided.

3 or fewer materials are provided.

No evidence of primary or secondary materials is provided.

Verify the accuracy of case law and statutes

Thoroughly validates the legal materials

Adequately val- idates the legal materials

Minimal evidence of val- idating the legal materials

No evidence validating the legal materials

Conduct company and financial research

Locates the compa- ny headquarters, ad- dress, and telephone number for eBay, the online auction house. Provides samples of research results. Provides the first two pages of the latest quarterly (10Q) report for Dell Computer Corpo- ration

Locates most of the company information and provides quar- terly reports

Locates mini- mal company information and provides quar- terly reports

No evidence of company information or quarterly reports

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SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT 1. Go to http://www.pennfoster.edu and log on as a student. 2. Go to your Student Portal.

3. Click on Take Exam next to the lesson you’re working on.

4. Enter your email address in the box provided. (Note: This information is required for online submission.)

5. Attach your file as follows:

a. Click on the Browse box.

b. Locate the file you wish to attach.

c. Double-click on the file.

d. Click on Upload File.

6. Click on Submit Files.

Be sure to keep a backup copy of your completed work.