Practical Resources for Drafting Legal

DocumentsFORMS:

University of Michigan Law Library

Urban Communities Clinic

Ann Chase

January 10, 2008

• Ann Chase, Foreign & Comparative Law Librarian– Room S-171– achase@umich.edu– 764-6151

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Overview

• How to find books in the law library– Searching the catalog– Finding books in the stacks (where are they?)

• How to find FORM BOOKS in the law library– Focused searching with examples

• Online resources for forms

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Forms and Legal Drafting

• Why do you want forms?• Find examples to adapt• Examples/forms may not be perfectly tailored

to your purpose

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Variety of Sources for Forms

• Commercially published form books• Forms prepared by courts, conforming to rules

of specific jurisdiction• Institutional in-house databank, archive of

forms

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How to find books in the Law Library

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Online Catalog

• http://umil.iii.com/• Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms)• Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—

Michigan—Forms)• Note Call Number, Location and Status

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Keyword Searching8UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Keyword Searching – Results9UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Keyword Searching – Full Record10UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online Catalog

• Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms)• Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—

Michigan—Forms)• Note Call Number, Location and Status

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Subject Searching12UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching – Results13UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching – Full Record14UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject Searching15UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online Catalog

• Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms)• Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—

Michigan—Forms)• Note Call Number, Location and Status

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Finding Books in the Law Library

• BEFORE you go to the shelves, consult the handouts at the reference desk to find out where in the library you can find the book– e.g. Call numbers beginning with “JX2” are located

in Sub-3 North

• Call Number Locator• Book Locator• Map

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Call Number Locator18UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Book Locator19UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Map20UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Finding FORM BOOKS in the Law Library

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Form Books

• Contain sample legal forms• Multi-volume sets, arranged by topic

– Accessed by index and/or table of contents

• Usually include multiple versions of forms, optional clauses to add in or remove

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General Forms

• Variety of legal topics, from “Abandoned Property” to “Zoning”

• Not jurisdiction-specific• E.g., AmJur Legal Forms, West’s Legal Forms

(related to business issues)– Title search in online catalog: http://umil.iii.com/

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Title Search – West’s Legal Forms24UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Subject-Specific Forms

• Forms related to a specific subject• Keyword search in the catalog (http://umil.iii.com/):

[business] and forms– Examples,

• Legal forms for starting & running a small business

• Fletcher Corporation Forms, Annotated

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Jurisdiction-Specific Forms

• Forms related to a specific jurisdiction, either federal or state

• Bender’s Federal Practice Forms; West’s Federal Forms

• To find in the catalog (http://umil.iii.com/), Keyword search: [Michigan] and forms– Michigan Real Estate Practice and Forms

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Jurisdiction-Specific Forms, Advanced Keyword Search

• Conduct Advanced Keyword search with author: Michigan and forms and author: Institute of Continuing Legal Education– Michigan Business Formbook

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Advanced Keyword Search28UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Advanced Searching with Author29UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Online resources for forms

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Michigan Forms Online – ICLE

• Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) –http://www.icle.org

• “Partnership” Section– Business– Real Property

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ICLE Website32UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE FormBank33UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE How-to Kits34UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

ICLE SCAO (State Court Administrative Offices) Forms

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ICLE SCAO Forms, MI Court Forms36UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Forms Online - Generally

• Lexis and Westlaw (screenshots in subsequent slides)

• ‘Lectric Law Library – http://www.lectlaw.com/form.html

• FedForms – http://www.fedforms.gov• Findlaw Forms – http://forms.lp.findlaw.com

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Westlaw, Michigan Forms38UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Westlaw, All Forms39UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Lexis, Michigan Forms40UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Lexis, All Forms41UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY

Reference Assistance

• Come to the reference desk in person, staffed 9AM to midnight 7 days a week

• Ask a Law Librarian – Email Reference (askalawlibrarian@umich.edu)

• Call the reference desk: 734-764-9324• Schedule an individual research consultation with a

professional librarian• Self-help: Online Tutorials and Audio Tours

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Questions?

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