Basic Vocabulary

• Plaintiff: The person that brings the case to the court (The person that accuses)
• Defendant: The person that is being accused

Chapter 1: Admissions + Applications 

• LSAT – Law School Admissions Test
  • 5 parts- 1. Logic Games 2. Reading Comprehension 3.Arguments 4. Experimental 5. Short Essay 
  • CAS- service that assembles a report of transcript, LSAT…
• GPA + Recommendations

Chapter 2: Choosing a School

• ABA Accredited School 
  • Can Practice law in any state
  • What is studied
    • Common law- the history of case law in England + America
    • Case law- rules of law found in court decism 
    • Statutory law- laws enacted by state legislatures by Congress
• State Accredited
  • Only practice law in certain state 
• Non-Accredited  
  •  Not really reliable
• Choosing law school on ratings
  • All law schools have the same skills and courses in the first year
    • After that many electives
• Law Professors
  • Research
    • Publications in law reviews
    • Edit case books
    • Write books
  • Accessibility needs to be considered

Chapter 3: First year Overview

• Fundamental First Year Classes
  • Torts
  • Legal Research + Writing
  • Contracts
  • Civil Procedure
  • Criminal Law
  • Real Property
  • Constitutional Law
• These are tested on bar examination 
• Current Trends in Teaching law
  • Letter Grades
  • More and more material to teach
    • Society expands 

Chapter 4: Torts

• Torts 
  • Tort is an ‘injury or wrong’
  • Under Civil law, means may not necessarily be illegal but causes harm-> can still overlap within criminal law like trespassing 
• Teaching methods
  • Socratic Method 
    • Students already read texts
    • Discuss in class
      • Professors use class time to ask analytical questions and lead discussions on the text that was read for homework
  • IRAC Method
    • I- Issue of the law, the conflict
    • R- Rule of Law, How law applied 
    • A- Analysis, discussion of facts of case + a applicable law
    • C- Conclusion, A summary of all the facts + applied law + verdict
• Some Vocabulary
  • Liability- responsibility for one’s conduct
  • Tortfeasor- someone that commits a torts
  • Tortious- conduct that subjects someone to liability because of a tort
• Intentional Tort
  • Intends to cause harm/injury
  • Against Person
    • Assault, Apprehension of Immediate harmful contact
    • Battery, harmful/offensive physical contact 
    • Assault v.s. Battery: Assault only needs apprehension from victim while Battery has to have actual physical contact
  • Against property
    • Trespassing 
• Negligent Torts
  • Failure to care to a certain degree
    • That a normal reasonable person would in the same circumstances
  • When plaintiff believes defendant has breached a ‘duty of care’
• Strict Liability Tort
  • “Strict liability exists when a defendant is liable for committing an action, regardless of what his/her intent or mental state was when committing the action.” – Cornell Law
  • Does not have to be at fault, only needs to prove that tort has occurred and is caused by the defendant. 
  • This is applied to situations that are inherently dangerous
• A Mnemonic learning Device (Page 190) for dealing with Torts Questions

Chapter 5: Legal Research + Writing

• Legal Research and Writing- Teach how to find law in law library and write legal papers
• Substantive law
  • structure/govern everyone in society 
  • Rights and responsibilities for civil law 
  • Crimes and punishments in criminal law
  • Examples: 
    • Torts
    • Contracts
    • Wills 
    • Penal codes
• Procedural law
  • Systems that are set to make, administer and enforce substantive law. 
  • How courts hear/resolve cases + how proceedings are governed

3 Basic sources of Law

• Codes
• Aka Statues, known collectively as statutory law 
• Starting point of most research 
• State Statutes 
  • Each state has a set of codes for various aspects of life
• Federal Statutes
  • After passed by Congress, President signs it into law, it becomes codified
    • Placed into United States code (USC) 
• Case law
• Derived from actual cases instead of codes/statutes
• Trials usually begin on county courts and are available online
• State Court Decisions
  • Reports 
    • Written decisions of a state appeals court 
  • Appellate court/appeals court   
    • Can review cases from a lower court 
  • Review 
    • A review of the decision from a lower court can be requested through a appeals court
  • Appellant/Petitioner 
    • The person that appeals the lower court decision  
  • Appellee/Respondent 
    • The person that is against repealing lower court decision
  •  Court decision’s contained the court’s opinion (reason for decision), laws that applied to case, and judgement
  • Judgement 
    • Court’s decision on rights of the parties 
• Published opinions of appellate courts 
  • Majority opinion
    •  When all that review case disagree with court’s ruling 
  •  Concurring opinion 
    • judges/justices want to emphasize a point 
  • Dissenting opinion 
    • Written by judge/justice that disagrees with majority opinion 
• Binding v.s. Persuasive Authority 
  • Binding authority
    • Lower courts have to follow rulings of higher courts in jurisdiction
  • Persuasive authority
    • Not required to follow decisions made by higher courts in other jurisdictions 
• Administrative law
•  The decisions of administrative agencies
• Administrative agencies are made when a branch of government give some of their authority to group of people that are deemed experts in a particular field
  • Example: DMV
• Branches of US government
  • Legislative: Create law 
  • Executive: Enforces law
  • Judicial:interprets law
• Shepardizing
  • Means to verify that the information being cited is still ‘good law’ meaning it has not yet been overruled, modified, or criticized heavily.  
• Citations
  • Shorthand notation to identify and locate a source of law
  • Where they are used
    • Briefs, legal documents presented in court to prove why a party should win
    • Legal memorandums, informal documents to aid parties involved in legal matters to remember points of law/facts
    • Law review footnotes, a student run journal that publishes articles by law professors,..- other legal professionals 
  • The Bluebook is the basics of citation forms in legal matters 
  • 

Chapter 6: Contract Law

• Contract, a legally enforceable promise 
• Contract law shows to what extent promises that are legally binding can go
• Contract Vocabulary
  • Assignee: the person that transfers (property, contract, other rights) from contract to another person 
  • Executor: Person to carry out terms of will 
  • Decedent: deceased person that writes the will
  • Consideration 
    • A benefit that is agreed to by parties, the reason why the contract is made
    • A necessary element for a valid contract
    • Is the inducement to a contract 
    • May also be referred to as quid pro quo 
      • Latin term :‘This for that’ :bargain exchange
  • Inducement: a promise that allows for parties to enter into agreement 
• Briefing a case
  • Similar to the IRAC approach in analyzing case law
  • A student brief, a short summary + analysis of the case
    • Sort out the parties
    • Identify issues
    • What was decided 
    • Analyze reasoning behind the decision
• Different ways of briefing cases
  • The name of case
  • Nature of case
    • The form of action 
      • (Negligence, breach of contract, assault)
    • Type of proceeding
      • (appeal, summary judgment, demurrer)
      • Summary judgement: put early end to lawsuit 
      • Demurrer: written response to complaint filed in lawsuit which basically asking to dismiss case because there is no legal basis for lawsuit
    • Relief that is sought 
      • (criminal sanctions, monetary damages (material compensation))
    • Example:”Appeal of a burglary conviction”
  • Facts of case
    • Brief summary of all facts
  • The issue
    • The rule of law put in form of ‘yes or no’ question
  • The rule of law/legal rule 
    • The general principle  that the court was applying to the case 
  • Analysis 
    • A summary of the events that happened 
  • Holding/conclusion of case
    • Discussion of rule of a case + Court’s rationale 
    • Rationale: The reasoning behind the court’s decision   
• Why cases are in law books
  • To show the majority rule 
  • To show the minority/dissenting opinion
    • This contains information called dicta
  • Historical significance
  • Decided wrong 
• Sample case brief 
  • 
• Elements to create a valid contract
  • List
    • Offer
    • Acceptance
    • Consideration 
      • Money
      • Promise to do/not do something 
    • Mutuality 
      • Carry out considerations
    • Certainty of terms
  • Offer
    • Written document
    • Orally 
    • Conduct of parties
  • Acceptance
    • Must be be accepted to form contract
    • Mutual assent
      • Both offers and acceptances must be explicit in a contract. The statement “I might sell you my guitar for $400” would be considered an intent to negotiate rather than an actual offer. “Sure, I’ll give you $300 for it” or “Yes, if you include the case and some strings” would not be an acceptance because the terms “accepted” are not the terms originally offered; such a statement would be deemed a counter-offer.
      • Applied words
      • Conduct of parties
        • Be in agreement based on actions even if the person didn’t officially sign the contract 
  • Consideration 
    • Inducement into contract
    • The incentive/ the bargain 
  • Mutuality 
    • Both parties have to be responsible to perform agreement
      • If this is not the case, no one is legally responsible 
  • Certainty 
    • The terms must be sufficiently definite 
• Defenses against ‘Breach of contract’
  • Legality
    • If the contract is illegal + Both parties have equal fault 
  • Statute of frauds 
    • A statute that states that certain contracts had to written and signed by the parties
  • Capacity
    • The state of the defendant while making the contract was compromised (Drunk, insane)
  • Unconscionability 
    • Extreme unfairness in the ‘consideration’
  • Mistake
  • Fraud
  • Undue influence
    • When a party convinces another with their relationship
      • When one has more authority 
  • Duress
    • Wrongful pressure put on a party in the contract to agree to the contract
• Compensations for ‘Breach of contract’ 
  • Damages
    • Compensates for resulting loss the nonbreaching party incurred because of the breach in contract
  • Restitution
    • Requires that the defendant return/forfeit the benefit that they unjustly received as a result of the contract
  • Specific performance
    • Breaching party has to carry out a specific order by court
      • Example: the duties in the contract 
• Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
  •  Common law and UCC presides over contract law
  • Governed by common law 
    • Real estate
    • Services
    • insurance
    • intangible assets
    •  employment 
  • Governed by UCC
    • Tangible objects
    • goods 

Chapter 7: Civil Procedure

• There are two separate court systems
• Federal court system (pg.77)
  • Handles
    • Military tribunals (courts martial)
    • United states Tax court…(ETC)
    • Criminal cases
      • Bankruptcy
      • Kidnapping 
      • Arson 
    • 2 special courts
      • Court of International Trade
        • International trade
        • Customs
      • U. S. Federal Claims 
        • Against the government
        • Taking of private property
        • Vaccine injury 
  • Federal Appellate courts 
    • 13 courts of appeal for each district 
    • Supreme court is the highest court
      • Chief justice + 8 associate justices 
      • Original jurisdiction/exclusive jurisdiction, if the parties can’t come to agreement, the supreme court is the only one that has authority to take jurisdiction 
      • Writ of certiorari 
        • Allows court to request documents from lower courts on cases they choose/they want to hear 
        • Certiorari is most commonly associated with the writ that the Supreme Court of the United States issues to review a lower court’s judgment.  A case cannot, as a matter of right, be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. As such, a party seeking to appeal to the Supreme Court from a lower court decision must file a writ of certiorari.   
        • In the Supreme Court, if four Justices agree to review the case, then the Court will hear the case. This is referred to as “granting certiorari,”[ If four Justices do not agree to review the case, the Court will not hear the case. This is defined as denying certiorari.
      • Cases are usually selected when there are important questions on the constitution/federal law
  • Separated into 13 districts
• State + territorial court systems (pg. 81)
  • Each state or territory in the United States has their own system of courts
  • The only time cases from state courts cross into the federal court system is if a case reviewed by the state supreme court is appealed into the U.S. Supreme Court
  • State courts are of general jurisdiction, they hear all cases outside of the federal courts 
  • Federal courts deal with federal laws, while state courts deal with state laws
  • Each state has different laws because each state has different histories and developments
  • Cases start with lower courts the trial courts
• Jurisdiction, the power/authority to hear/determine a case 
  • Personal Jurisdiction 
    • Personal jurisdiction deals with the power of a court to bring all parties involved before it and to create a resolution to the case
    • Personal jurisdiction can occur in two ways, 
      • Personal service within state (service of process)
        • Legal notice to the party in question in advance 
        • Notice= copy of complaint+summons to appear in court
      • Voluntary appearance of defendant to defend themselves
    • Direct Attack
      • Special appearance
        • If defendant appears in the court’s state to challenge the court’s authority to assert jurisdiction over them, the defendant is not subjecting themself to the jursidiction 
      • General appearance 
        • Not going to court to challenge the court’s authority to assert jurisdiction
        • Submitted themself to court’s jurisdiction 
        • Can defend on merits of case without being able to object to the jurisdiction 
      • Direct attack, attempt to avoid/correct a judicial proceeding by manner of law 
    • Collateral attack, doesn’t enter the case and allows a default judgement
      • Default judgement, defendant doesn’t appear in court/respond to summon, judgement made in favor of plaintiff 
      • After this judgement, defendant would make an appearance to claim a lack of personal jurisdiction 
  • Evolution of Personal Jurisdiction 
    • Domicile, the individual’s permanent home 
    • Minimum contacts, party (particularly a corporation) has to have a minimum number of contacts in a state to to avoid unfairness when tried in another state
  • Other types of Jurisdiction
    • Jurisdiction over property
      • in rem jurisdiction, jurisdiction over a thing instead of a person 
        • From Latin, “against a thing.”  Concerning the status of a particular piece of property. 
        • For instance, in-rem jurisdiction refers to the power of a court over an item of real or personal property.  The “thing” over which the court has power may be a piece of land or even a marriage.  Thus, a court with only in-rem jurisdiction may terminate a marriage or declare who owns a piece of land.  In-rem jurisdiction is based on the location of the property and enforcement follows property rather than person.
      • quasi in rem jurisdiction, court’s power to attach property to get jurisdiction over someone 
        • Largely abolished except in certain circumstances
    • Subject matter jurisdiction, restriction on type of case that a court can hear
      • Limited jurisdiction, when a court is limited to a certain type of case such as probate/divorce
      • General jurisdiction, the court can hear any type of case
    • Original jurisdiction
      • Governs trial courts
      • Authority to hear case first
    • Appellate jurisdiction, job is to review the record of trial courts
    • Federal jurisdiction
      • Federal courts have limited jurisdiction
      • State courts have general jurisdiction 
    • Concurrent jurisdiction, 2 different courts have the power to hear a case
    • Exclusive jurisdiction, Only one court has the authority to hear the case 
  • Diversity Jurisdiction
  • Venue, the geographic area in a judicial district where a suit should be brought to based on how much the interests of justice/convenience of parties are met 
  • Pleadings + Discovery
    • Pleading, formal written statement of a party’s view/claims/defenses to the other party’s claims, meant to give a view into the basic positions 
    • Complaint, answer, reply, counterclaim 
    • Discovery, pretrial procedure where the parties can get evidence from each other from devices such as 
      • Request for answers to interrogatories
      • Request for documents to be produced
      • Request for depositions/admissions

Chapter 8: Criminal Law

• There are 2 types of criminal law in the U.S.
  • Substantive criminal law
    • Defines what is criminal 
    • Gives the punishment that should be enforced as a result
  • Procedural criminal law, procedures to investigate and prosecute criminal behavior
• actus reus + mens rea
  • actus reus, ‘guilty act’ commit a criminal act 
  •  mens rea, ‘guilty mind’ have intent that deserves blame
  • For something to be a crime, the person has to intend to to do something that state legislature/congress has deemed to be a wrong: has to be criminal intent
  • Concept is based on belief that only those that have acted in a way that makes them morally in the wrong should be punished 
  • Some crimes do not require mens rea 
    • Strict liability laws-> social benefits of strict rules outweigh harms of punishing someone morally innocent
    • Statutory rape laws 
    • Sale of alcohol to minors 
  • Crimes are put into categories: 
    • Felonies
    • Misdemeanors
    • Infractions (violations)
      • Minor offenses that can be covered by a fine and no jail time
• Felonies and misdemeanors
  • Punishments 
    • Felonies can have a more severe punishment such as capital punishment, or imprisonment for >1 year 
    • Misdemeanors have less severe punishment such as fine, probation, community service, confinement < 1 year 
  • Nature
    • Felonies are the most serious type of criminal offense 
      • Homicide (murder, manslaughter), robbery, rape, grand larceny… ETC
      • Each felony has specific elements to be met for the defendant to be found guilty 
    • Misdemeanors 
      • Public intoxication, vagrancy, assault + battery… ETC
• Category of crimes
  • Personal Crimes (injury or harming of wellbeing to another individual) 
    • Assault 
    • Battery
    • False imprisonment
    • Homicide 
    • Rape 
  • Property Crime (interfering with right to property)
    • Larceny (theft)
    • Robbery 
    • Burglary 
  • Inchoate Crime (Incomplete crimes, a substantial step was missing from crime)
    • Any crime that has been attempted
    • Conspiracy 
    • Solicitation
  • Statutory Crime (Violation of state/federal statutes)
    • Alcohol related crime
    • Sale of Alcohol to a minor 
  • Defenses against crimes :Infancy, insanity, intoxication, justifiable use of force, duress
• Civil v.s. Criminal Law
  • Civil cases= disputes between individuals, Criminal= against the state
  • Civil law= injured party, plaintiff Criminal=injured party either people of state/U.S.
  • Federal system=the jury must have a unanimous verdict, State(⅓ states)=only majority 
  • Civil case= defendant is liable or not liable, Criminal=guilty or not guilty 
  • Civil case= appeal by either party, Criminal case= only defendant can appeal 
• Criminal procedure, protect individual rights while going against the government 
• Constitutional Safeguards, for those accused
  • 4th Amendment, Protected from unreasonable seizure/search
    • Evidence that is obtained illegally must be excluded from trial 
  • 4th Amendment, Warrant for arrest has to have a probable cause
  • 5th Amendment, Can’t be deprived of life/liberty/property without trial (due process of law)
  • 5th Amendment, Against Double Jeopardy=Can’t try someone twice
  • 6th Amendment, Guarantee speedy trial, by jury, public trail,… ETC.
    • Right to attorney, if defendant can’t pay for someone, they are provided one 
  • Against excessive bails, and cruel/unusual punishment 
  • 5th Amendment, against self-incrimination
• Federal Exclusionary Rule
  • After the case of Mapp v. Ohio, The Supreme court ruled that evidence that has been obtained illegally (against the 4th amendment) can’t be used against someone in court
• Police need to get a warrant to search cell phones even during a lawful arrest
• Automobile exception: allows search of lawfully stopped vehicle

Chapter 9: Property Law

• Real Property v. Personal Property 
  • Real Property (real estate/immoveable property), land ownership and possession
  • Personal property, movable items anything that isn’t ‘real property’
    • Tangible,Physical property (something that can be touched)
    • Intangible, non-physical (debts, copyrights, trademarks, patents)
  • The purchases, sales, possession of property comes from the English common law 
    • Developed in England in the 11th century
    • Stare decisis: applying historical cases to similar cases in precedent/future rulings by judges
• Adverse Possession, a way of getting ownership of property by occupying it for some time with intention to own it
  • Property can be occupied by someone that doesn’t own it 
  • The title holder of the property has the responsibility to expel unrightful occupants of the land by a certain time. 
  • If this and some other conditions are met, the titleholder that doesn’t meet the obligation can lose the rights to the property
  • The conditions of adverse possession
    • Actual
      • Show open use of land in the intent of owning it 
      • Act like you own the land 
    • Hostile/Under claim of right 
      • Knowing that the land isn’t theirs but still speaking as if it is their own  f
    • Open and Notorious,Possess the land openly for everyone to see 
      • Improving + cultivating land demonstrates this
      • Owner should know about this/or really notorious use most people know  
    • Exclusive, claimant has exclusive occupancy 
      • Can have joint possession 
  • Actual possession 
    • When adverse possessor improves, cultivates, encloses property 
    • Basically acts like the rightful owner 
  • Prescriptive easement,
    • Usually happens when the land is used to access other property like a driveway
    • Can happen when neighbor begins to use part of adjoining property
    • This gives legal right to use the property but not the ownership
• Easements, the right to use/cross property for a reason 
  • Affirmative easement 
    • Right to do something on someone else’s land 
    • Example: Can travel on road on others’ property 
  • Negative easement 
    • Holder can prevent granter from doing something legal on their own land 
    • Example: holder can build something that obscures light/view 
  • Creation by 
    • express grant
    • Implication
    • Necessity
    • Adverse possession
  • Termination by
    • If created by necessity and it isn’t necessary anymore
    • Land is destroyed 
    • Easement abandoned
  • Eminent domain, the right of government/its agent to take private property to use publicly with payment as compensation
• Possessory Estates
  • Estate, interest in land that might become possessory in a certain period of time 
    • Fee simple, can potentially last forever like absolute ownership
    • Fee tail, can potentially last forever, but will end if the first fee tail tenant doesn’t have any lineal descendants to take possession of estate
    • Life estates, end after tenant dies
    • Leasehold estates, last for fixed time, or from period to period until the landlord/tenant wants to terminate
• Future Interests, non possessory interests that can potentially become possessory 
  • Interest doesn’t give current right to ownership

Chapter 10: Evidence 

• Criminal law v. Criminal Procedure + Evidence
  • In Criminal law, the focus on if the a crime happened or not, the type of crime and what defenses are to the crime
  • In Criminal Procedure, the focus is on the process of the investigation when prosecuting the accused
  • Evidence governs the presentation of facts
• Burden of Proof
  • The prosecution’s job in a criminal case is to prove the guilt of defendant ‘beyond reasonable doubt’
  • In a civil case, the accusor only needs to prove responsibility by ‘preponderance of the evidence’ which means that there is greater than 50% of responsibility 
    • This shows that a civil case requires a lower amount of certainty in the proof
• The Brady Rule
  • Based on Brady v. Maryland
  • The supreme court ruled that the prosecution was to turn over all exculpatory evidence
  • Exculpatory evidence, evidence that can prove that the defendant isn’t responsible
  • The prosecution has to disclose information and evidence even when it is favorable to the defendant
• Types of Evidence 
  • Real evidence, physical objects like a weapon
  • Demonstrative, a model of what might have happened
  • Documentary, any kind of documentation
  • Testimonial, witness account
  • Circumstantial evidence, evidence that can support the case depending on the situation, also known as indirect evidence
  • Direct evidence, supports the claim directly, an example being a witness seeing defendant shooting victim 
  • Corroborating evidence, evidence that when compared with other evidence can strengthen and add to the authenticity of existing evidence 
• Hearsay, a statement that made outside of court that can be used as proof/evidence
  • Goal of this rule is to make sure the evidence at trial is as authentic as possible
• Presumptions, conclusions that triers of fact (judge/jury) are supposed to get from the evidence presented. 
• Burdens of proof in evidence 
  • Burden of production, evidence that show facts exist
  • Burden of persuasion, evidence that is meant to persuade trier of fact
• Other Rule of Evidence
  • Judicial notice,accepting a fact without formal proof (EX: sunset, sunrise, tides)
  • Relevance, if evidence proves/disproves a fact (has to prove something, guilty/not guilty)
  • Privileges
  • Examination/impeachment of witnesses, 
  • Best evidence rule, a legal principle that says the original version of a document is the best authentication 
  • Exclusionary rule, excludes evidence that is obtained illegally/by violating defendant’s rights (14th amendment)
  • Due process, everyone is entitled to safeguards that make sure a trial is fair
    • Assisted with a lawyer
    • Neutral decision maker

Chapter 11: Constitutional Law

• U.S. Constitution 
  • The main law, the supreme law of the land/super law 
  • Any laws that violate the constitution are invalid
  • State constitutions are also supreme inside the state, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the constitution
  • Constitutional rights, individual liberties granted by state/government which protects the citizens from interference from the government 
  •  Articles of constitution
    • Article I, gives power to the legislature to create laws
    • Article II, shows how laws should be executed by the executive branch 
    • Article III, defines laws for the judicial branch 
• Judicial Review, power given to federal courts that allows them to review the actions of the other two branches and deem them to be unconstitutional: therefore invalid
  • This doctrine was established by a landmark case called Marbury v. Madison (1803)
  • Background
    • Marbury was appointed as justice of peace for D.C
    • James Madison was Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state
    • Madison refused to carry out Marbury’s commision
    • Marbury + 3 other colleagues of similar status petitioned to get a writ of mandamus 
      • This is when a superior court has the power to command a public official/lower to perform a specific duty 
  • Issues of the Case
    • Did Marbury have the right to receive this commission
      • Yes
    • Can he sue for this commission in court
      • No, Chief Justice John Marshall held that it was unconstitutional because it was outside of the court’s jurisdiction 
      • (In article III, section 2, clause 2) (pg.135)
    • Does the Supreme court have the authority to order madison 
      • No
  • After this, Justice Marshall established the principle of judicial review 
• Original + Appellate Jurisdiction 
  • Original Jurisdiction, the authority of a court to make a decision on a case based on a trial and its evidence instead of reviewing cases and their procedures
  • Appellate Jurisdiction, refers to power that protects from legal procedural errors, bias and other wrongs that might occur in a court
  • Supreme Court
    • Most cases are appellate jurisdiction
    • Judicial review comes from Article VI, Clause 2 (supreme clause) and Article III, Section 2
• Certiorari, a way of getting the Supreme court to hear a case which is based on federal and chosen by 4/9 of the justices known as a grant.
  • Before 1988, the two ways for a case to be brought to the Supreme court were by appeal or certiorari.
  • In 1988, Congress eliminated almost all of the appeal process, so now most of the cases that are heard get there by certiorari 
• Supreme + lower federal courts will only hear cases that are justiciable 
• Justiciability 
  • Court can’t offer an advisory opinion
    • Advisory opinions are opinions that are submitted by courts that don’t have impact on the decision but advises on interpretation of law
  • Plaintiff has to have standing
    • The legal right to even start a lawsuit 
    • Has to have injury in fact, ‘invasion of legally protected interest’
    • cause /effect relationship between injury + the conduct
    • Likelihood that the injury can be corrected by a favorable verdict
  • Issues must be ripe, can’t be moot
    • Mootness, when the actual controversy no longer exist, there would be no actual impact by the court’s decision 
  • Issues can’t go against the political question doctrine 
    • A court won’t hear a question that could be better resolved by another branch of the government due to its political nature 
  • Bill of rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S Constitution which contain the rights for citizens 

Chapter 12: Legal Writing + Research Revisited

• Office memorandum and the brief are 2 of the most used kinds of documents by attorneys in their daily work 
• Law Office Memorandum, a ‘document of legal writing’
  • Open memorandum, have to find primary authorities for the memo 
  • Closed memorandum, only need to use authorities provided 
  • Primary authority, legal research term that ‘refers to statements of law that are binding upon the courts, governments and individuals’
  • Key elements 
    • Heading, 
      • the author of memo
      • who it was written to
      • what it is about
      • date 
    • Questions
      •  Presented, statement of legal questions that are to be answered
    • Short Answer 
      • A short answer for each of the questions presented 
    • Statement of Facts
      • Objective description of facts that are of legal importance in relation to the issue
    • Discussion 
      • Issues + sub issues that come up with the problem
    • Conclusion
      • Longer version describing how the problem is solved + problems presented by problem 
  • Legal Brief 
    • A document used by a lawyer to persuade the court that their client is in the right, and to persuade them that they should make a decision in favor of their client
    • Import to make arguments clear, concise and engaging by getting to the point instead of using too many details

Chapter 15: Recap 

• Torts and Contracts classes teach what lawyers do in civil court
• Civil Procedure teaches how lawyers carry out their jobs in Civil court
• Criminal Procedure is about the procedures in Criminal Law
• Evidence is taught as a basic tool 
• Real Property teaches basics on law regarding possessions and land
• Constitutional Law goes into the powers and differences between different branches of government 
• Legal Writing and Research is also taught as a basic tool for attorneys to learn further