LEGAL RESEARCH 101: CLASS 4  
by Joan Olson, CLA, MACP President

LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Legal encyclopedias describe the body of legal doctrine in an alphabetical arrangement of articles, similar to general encyclopedias. Encyclopedias are among the first library resource used by many legal researchers because they provide simple, clear summaries of law, and their extensive footnotes and citations to judicial decisions provide their major value as a research resource. However, their approach is limited, in that they tend to emphasize case law and neglect statutes and regulations, and they rarely consider the historical or societal aspects of the legal system. Legal encyclopedias are generally not viewed as persuasive secondary authority, but they are very useful as an introduction to research and as case-finding tools.

There are two national legal encyclopedias, Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.), published by the West Publishing Company, and American Jurisprudence 2d (Am. Jur.), published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company. Texas is fortunate to have a state legal encyclopedia called Texas Jurisprudence 3d (“Tex. Jur.”), which is published by West Publishing, and when researching Tex. Jur., you should follow the same procedures as you would for C.J.S. This portion of the article will concentrate on the similarities and differences between the two national legal encyclopedias.

Corpus Juris Secundum by West Publishing Company

• Tied to the West Key Number System.

• It is heavily footnoted with legal authorities, in fact it is common to find only one line of narrative text on a page and the rest of the page is filled with footnotes.

• Covers more than 440 topics in an alphabetical arrangement.

American Jurisprudence, 2d Series by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company

• Cites directly to American Law Reports—another Lawyers Cooperative research tool, which will be discussed in my next article. This results in Am. Jur. citing to fewer case citations than C.J.S.

• Contains more narrative and not as many footnotes. Many researchers prefer Am. Jur. to obtain background information because it is uninterrupted text and easy to read.

• Covers more than 400 topics in an alphabetical arrangement.

• Am. Jur. has multi-volumes focusing on trial preparation:

1. Am. Jur. Trials

2. Am. Jur. Proof of Facts

3. Am. Jur. Legal Forms 2d

4. Am. Jur. Pleading & Practice Forms

5. Federal Procedure Lawyers’ Edition

6. Deskbook—includes outlines of the federal government and its court system, standards of the legal profession, financial tables and demographic data of legal interest.

Research Approaches

TOPIC/INDEX APPROACH
1.            C.J.S—Contains a General Index, which is located at the end of the entire set of C.J.S. volumes. The General Index indexes the entire encyclopedia and is best used as a volume finder or title finder and Title Indexes for each of the over 400 titles. The Title Indexes are located in each C.J.S. topic volume, and these indexes are more detailed and extensive.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH
The analytical approach enables the researcher to see how the information is arranged and to quickly narrow the search down to information relevant to your problem.

1.            C.J.S.—After finding a potential title and the volume containing that title, look at the front of the title where an Analysis is located. The Analysis broadly breaks the title down into Roman Numerals and Alphabetical Letters. Following the Analysis is a Subanalysis, which enable you to pinpoint precise sections applicable to a specific problem and to find cross-references to the pages where the text appears.

2.         Am. Jur.—When you identify a topic that appears to discuss the legal issues in your statement of facts, locate the volume and narrow your search to your specific issues through an outline approach.

COMPUTER RESEARCH
1.         C.J.S. is located in Westlaw.

2.         Am. Jur. can be researched on both Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis.

OTHER REFERENCES
Another way to find appropriate encyclopedia topics are through references in other works, i.e. the United States Code Annotated, which is published by West Publishing Company, provides C.J.S. references and the United States Code, which is published by the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company, provides references to Am. Jur.

Updating

Both encyclopedias are updated by annual pocket party and by periodically revised volumes. Am. Jur. includes a New Topic Service Binder, which is used occasionally to add new articles without reissuing entire volumes.

• Volume number of encyclopedia;

• Abbreviated name of encyclopedia (Am. Jur. 2d, C.J.S or Tex. Jur.);

• Title of article (underscored or italicized);

• Section symbol and section number within the article;

• Specific page within section (no page citing to entire section); and

• Date of publication.

88 C.J.S. Trial § 107, at 223 (1980)

46 Am. Jur. 2d Husband and Wife § 118, at 82 (1995)

14 Tex. Jur. 3d Contracts § 292, at 25 (Supp. 1998)

 Joan Olson is the Assistant Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Compliance for Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc. Joan received a Bachelors of Art in Government from the University of Texas in 1991 and her Certificate of Completion from the Paralegal Program at University of Texas at Arlington in 1992. She is a Certified Legal Assistant and the President of the Metroplex Association of Corporate Paralegals.

the sTATE LAW LIBRARY, AUSTIN
WHAT HAVE WE TO OFFER THE PRACTICING LAWYER AND PARALEGAL?

By Catherine Harris

The Mission

The State Law Library (SLL), an agency of Texas state government, is mandated to serve the public in general, as well as the Supreme Court of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Attorney General’s Office, and other state agencies (Texas Government Code, Sec. 91.001 et seq.). Consequently, we answer many questions received by telephone, e-mail, fax, snail mail, and, of course, questions from walk-in patrons. Among our users are  judges, staff attorneys, private attorneys,  paralegals,  librarians, secretaries, runners and John/Jane Q. Public. We encourage the public to contact us with their legal information needs, and many call us with questions regarding legal information.

The State Law Library first existed  in the nineteenth century as the library for the Supreme Court of Texas. In 1971, through efforts of Justices Jack Pope and Jack Hightower, who was then in the Texas Legislature, the legislators passed a bill that made the Law Library a state agency separate from the Supreme Court, and subject to operational funds budgeted by the Legislature. Since 1971, the Library has received increased support from the Legislature.

The Collection

It has been said that “access to justice cannot be separated from access to legal information.” (Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens, Kentucky Supreme Court, 1992). To provide that access, the Texas State Law Library has an extensive collection of primary and secondary legal sources. Our collection has legal research materials for state and federal law of all types—statutory law, case law, and administrative law. In addition, the collection includes numerous law reviews, treatises, legal encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources necessary for legal research.

More specifically, we have all federal and Texas statutory material;  the complete National Reporter System of West,  including the General and Decennial Digests,  and we have the federal and Texas components of the System available in electornic format on CD-ROM. We have the Restatements of the Law, the American Law Reports, the Uniform Laws Annotated, the Texas Practice Series, opinions of the Texas Attorney General; we have commentaries published by Matthew Bender, professional development materials published by the State Bar of Texas, and major sets of practice materials such as those by Wright and Miller, Couch, Keeton, and other notable legal scholars. Additionally, we have both the Federal Register (since 1971) and the Texas Register since it began publication in 1976. The Code of Federal Regulations and the Texas Administrative Code are also in our collection, with issues back to the 1970’s. Our catalog of holdings is on the Web at www.sll.state.tx.us.

Historical Sources

A unique part of our collection enables a researcher to easily search the language of a statute as it existed in earlier years. We have the compact editions of Texas statutes published variously through the years, most recently by West, and since 1986, we have saved and bound the pocket parts to the volumes in the Texas Revised Civil Statutes, also know as Vernon’s Texas Statutes, or the “Black Statutes.” Having access to these pocket parts, and the main volume for a particular part of the statutes or codes, makes retrieving the earlier language of a law easy for the legal researcher.

Electronic Sources

We have purchased many CD’s with legal information and make them available on our public terminals at no cost to the patron. A researcher can find an electronic version of publications of West, Lexis, Matthew Bender, and many other legal publishers. Our computer index to legal periodicals, Legal Trac,  makes searching for journal articles published since 1980 very easy. We provide access, without cost to the patron, to Keycite of West and Shepard’s on Lexis. Our subscription to Shepard’s on Lexis includes access to the full text of cases cited. Additionally, we provide, for a fee, searches on Westlaw and Lexis databases.

The Friends

At times, the funds provided by the Legislature have not been adequate to cover all our needs. Since 1992, the staff and programs of the Law Library have received additional support from the Friends of the State Law Library (FOSLL), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks contributions from private law firms, attorneys, judges, legislators and others interested in the Texas legal community. The furniture for our reading rooms has been purchased by FOSLL through its  “Chair Campaign.”  Over 70 chairs have been donated over the past nine years. Each chair has a brass plaque naming the donor(s) and honoree(s). Many current and former justices of the courts have been honored by family, friends, and briefing attorneys or staff. Numerous private attorneys have been recognized by their friends and family members.

Catherine Harris has been a Law Librarian at the State Law Library in Austin since 1992. The State Law Library is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Friday, we are open 8–6 p.m. Our services are available by phone, fax, e-mail. Reach us at 512-463- 1722 (phone); 512-463-1728 (fax); library@sll.state.tx.us (e-mail) or visit our web site: www.sll.state.tx.us.

Investing Guidelines for Changing Times

By Craig Hackler, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

One thing remains certain when investing: uncertainty. It’s what makes investing so difficult emotionally. While the long-term performance of equity markets has historically been a steady up trend, short-term direction is always unpredictable. Amid all of this misgiving about the market’s course, what should investors do? Here are some suggestions:

Reassess risk tolerance—Amid market turmoil, investors may realize that they don’t quite have the stomach for stock market volatility they thought. Upon discovering risk tolerance is much lower than imagined, move incrementally toward a more appropriate investment mix. Not everyone can withstand extreme stock market volatility, and shouldn’t have to. A well-diversified portfolio generally helps to offset instability and can put investors on the path toward achieving financial goals.

Count cash: liquidity is key—In the event of a market downturn, investors should determine how long they could go without selling stocks, considering income, pension, Social Security and cash and bond holdings. This exercise can help bring the market’s short-term swings back into perspective and help re-focus long-term goals.

Keep a diary—Consider keeping an investing diary. Investors sometimes suffer from selective memory. They may remember thoughts of selling stocks right before a market downturn, but forget that they had that same thought many other times prior to the market’s rise. By keeping a diary, investors can see how often their instincts may be wrong.

Take advice from a financial coach—People have advisors for various aspects of their life, whether religion, athletics, tax or legal, among others. However, investing is one of the most difficult activities many ever undertake.

Seek the advice of a qualified Financial Advisor for coaching through the ups and downs of the emotional investing roller coaster and remain focused on long-term goals.

Craig Hackler holds the Series 7 and Series 63 Securities licenses, as well as the Group I Insurance license (life, health, annuities).  Through Raymond James Financial Services, he offers complete financial planning and investment products tailored to the individual needs of his clients. He will gladly answer your questions.  Call him at 512.894.3473