P4P: General Practice Resources

What we will cover:

• Forms
• Jury Instructions
• Court rules
• Not exactly forms, instructions or rules

FORMS

instruments or pleadings:
what kind of form are you looking for?

state or federal:
what is your jurisdiction?

official or unofficial:
does the court itself have a form for this purpose?

subject-specific or general resource:
what's the best resource for this form?

free or paid:
is the form credible?

print or online:
what is the easiest and most cost-effective way to find the form?

template or example:
If you can't find a form, can you find a similar document?

General Form Sets

Examples

• West's Legal Forms
• AmJur Legal Forms
• AmJur P & P
• AmJur POF
• Causes of Action
• Current Legal Forms, with Tax Analysis
• Basic Legal Transactions

Online resources

• WestlawNext
• LexisAdvance
• Bloomberg Law

Subject-Specific Form Books

Check out this awesome subject list of form books:



http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/legal_forms.cfm

Legal Practice Form Books

FORMS

• Letters for Lawyers
• Letters for Litigators
• Letters for Divorce Lawyers
• Letters for Bankruptcy Lawyers
• Letters for Small Business Lawyers

Free! Online!

Two free sites

USA.gov:
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference-Shelf/forms.shtml


WashLaw:
http://www.washlaw.edu/legalforms/

Practice hints:
Try Nolo
Or your local law library
Or a listserv
Or a government website

Jury Instructions

General ReSources

• AmJur
• ABA
• Bender

State Resources

• LLRX
• NCSC

Subject-Specific Jury Instructions:

Go to the RWU WebCatalog and Title Search for:

"jury instructions"

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Court Rules

F.R.C.P., F.R. App. P., F.R.E.:
U.S.C. Title 28, Appendix


F.R. Crim. P:
U.S.C. Title 18, Appendix

Looking for annotated versions?

Try the U.S.C.A. (appendix following the title)
or U.S.C.S. (separate volumes near the end of the set)

You might also check Moore's Federal Rules Pamphlet (which has forms, too) or U.S. Supreme Court Digest, L.Ed. for historical notes, advisory committee commentary and annotations.

Supreme Court rules?

Check the same places or the S.Ct. website.

Local Rules:
Individual federal courts supplement the general rules with their own rules.

Check Federal Rules Service "Federal Local Court Rules" binders, State Court rules handbooks, Court websites.

Special Court Rules:
Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims, Court of International Trade, Maritime, Magistrate, Administrative Agencies, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance, Habeus Corpus, multidistrict litigations, Veterans claims, military courts

Check U.S.C., U.S.C.A., U.S.C.S., court's website

SO WHAT?

Sometimes you will have to research the history of a rule (like legislative history, but for rules!) or an amendment or even a rejected amendment.



There are many resources for this. Need help? Ask a librarian!

Sometimes you will
need to interpret a rule.



Look at the annotations, check Wright and Miller, try Federal Rules Decisions on WestlawNext, consider the Federal Rules Digest in print, read Moore's Federal Practice or Federal Rules Pamphlet...

Let's try looking up a rule in Westlaw!

Let's try using Moore's Federal Rules Pamphlet on LexisAdvance

Maybe you are
looking for a state's rules?



Have you checked the statutes? Try the Judiciary's website. Check out the state's rule's handbook.
llrx.com/courtrules

Not exactly forms, rules or instructions

Other:

• Discovery Treatises
• Evidence Treatises
• CLE Material
• Public Law Libraries

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