Legal Research and Writing

Legal Research for Solos: A Round-Up

July 14, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Back in the dark ages when I started my firm, the only legal research options available were the library and a $600/month LEXIS subscription service, which actually had a cap on number of searches. Fast forward fifteen years and Lexis costs have declined considerably, though not as much as one might expect in light of [...]

Should You Charge for, Or Mark Up the Costs of Legal Research?

May 17, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Over at my Legal Blogwatch beat, I posted about an ongoing lawsuit against biglaw firm Chadbourne Park, alleging that Chadbourne wrongfully billed the client $20,000 for online research services when the actual cost to the firm was only around $5000. The suit alleges that the firm engaged in deceptive trade practices in violation of state [...]

Great Criminal Law Resource, and Why It Helps Solos

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

At Illinois Trial Lawyer , Evan Schaeffer shares a wonderfully valuable resource, The Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy. The Center was formed as a free, non-partisan training resource to assist new lawyers in becoming competent criminal practitioners. And one of the Center’s missions is to provide newly licensed sole practitioners with materials to provide a [...]

More on the Joys of Law Libraries

April 25, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Like Barry Kaufman, I’m a huge fan of the law library and recognize that it’s an indispensable tool for solo practitioners. Which is why I’m thrilled to be able to offer this Guest Post, Eight Reasons Solo Lawyers Should Use Law Libraries from Mary Whisner, the assistant librarian for reference services at the Gallagher Law [...]

ISO The Money Quote for Briefs

April 6, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve spent much of the past three weeks in seclusion, almost exclusively focused on a 75 page response in opposition to two summary judgment motions in a federal civil rights matter that I’ve been handling for close to four years. During the process, I had a chance to read some classic Supreme Court and Circuit [...]

Not the Way to Win on Rehearing

March 12, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

David Swanner posts this excerpt from a rehearing petition that’s likely to lose. Read it and see if you can figure out why: Statement of Issue Presented for Review: The Court of Appeals committed a major error in affirming the dismissal. The Court did not address the facts of the case. The Court has a [...]

More Suits Against Biglaw Firms

February 12, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Used to be that large firm incompetence was another dirty little secret in the bar. I don’t mean to imply that large firm lawyers are less competent than solos, because that’s not the case. My point is that incompetence and unethical conduct runs evenly throughout the bar, from top to bottom, with any lawyers capable [...]

New Mexico Joins Casemaker

January 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Casemaker, a free legal research service included in participating state bar membership fees is a trend we’ve been following for a long time. As this article fom bizjournals.com (1/20/06) reports, New Mexico is the 23d state to join the Casemaker consortium. New Mexico Bar joins legal research consortium, hich according to the article, now serves [...]

An Angry Brief Won’t Win You Anything But A Sanction

December 3, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Debra Koven’s ranting appellate brief (see excerpts at 5-8) isn’t something that as a lawyer, I’d ever write and as a judge I’d ever want to read. Among other things, Koven accused opposing counsel of suborning perjury and claimed in her brief that “the fix was in.” As a result, the court ordered a $2000 [...]

Can You Recognize When A Court Opines, Asserts or Declares?

October 7, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Curb Your Editorial Urges When Describing a Court’s Actions, Kenneth Oettle (NJLJ) (10/5/050) finally clarified for me the subtle differences in verbs like recognized, observed, ruled, held and others that describe how a court acted. As a general rule of thumb, here’s how the author feels about some of these verbs: [...]

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