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Table of Cases | |
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Preface | |
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Organization of the text | |
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New to this edition | |
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Supplemental resources | |
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Acknowledgments | |
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Introduction | |
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Law and Sources of Law | |
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Introduction | |
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The American system of law | |
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Our tripartite system | |
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Interplay among the three branches of government in lawmaking | |
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Sources of law | |
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Legal Reasoning and Analysis | |
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Introduction | |
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An illustrative fact pattern | |
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Doctrine of stare decisis | |
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Judicial opinions | |
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Deductive reasoning | |
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Legal analysis of statutory law | |
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Legal analysis of constitutional law | |
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The interpretation process | |
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Secondary Sources and Finding Tools | |
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Introduction | |
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Encyclopedias | |
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American Law Reports | |
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Attorney General opinions | |
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Restatements of the Law | |
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Treatises | |
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Legal dictionaries | |
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Legal directories | |
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Formbooks | |
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Looseleaf services | |
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Legal periodicals | |
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Internet material | |
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Digests | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Legal Encyclopedias | |
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Legal Research Assignment--American Law Reports | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Digests | |
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The Judicial Branch and Cases | |
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Introduction | |
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The judicial branch | |
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Reading cases | |
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Briefing a case | |
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Location of cases | |
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Case citations | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Reading Cases | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Case Law | |
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Primary Sources: Constitutions, Statutes, Court Rules, and Administrative Law | |
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Introduction | |
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Constitutions | |
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Statutes | |
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Court rules | |
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Administrative law | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Constitutions | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Statutes | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Court Rules | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Administrative Law | |
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Citators | |
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Introduction | |
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Citators | |
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Shepardizing procedure | |
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Statutes | |
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KeyCite | |
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Legal Research Assignment--Citators | |
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Overview of the Research Process | |
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Introduction | |
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Gathering information | |
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Identification of key terms | |
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Basic approaches to legal research | |
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Currency | |
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Learning about the general topic | |
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Locating primary sources | |
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Relationship among research tools | |
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CALR: Computer-Assisted Legal Research | |
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Introduction | |
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History of Computer-Assisted Legal Research (CALR) | |
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Electronic information formats | |
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Computer-Assisted Legal Research tools | |
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Legislative databases | |
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Business information databases | |
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Investigative and public records databases | |
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Legal citation: electronic formats | |
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CALR: pros and cons | |
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The Internet in a Nutshell | |
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Introduction | |
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Accessing the information superhighway | |
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Navigating the Internet | |
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The Internet as a research tool | |
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Evaluative guidelines for selecting Internet resources | |
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Future trends | |
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Legal Research Assignment--The Internet | |
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Cyberlaw: Using the Internet as a Legal Research Tool | |
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Introduction | |
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Available resources | |
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The bad news: what is [currently] not available | |
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Free vs. fee-based | |
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Legal resources on the Internet | |
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Government information on the Internet | |
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Litigation support | |
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Limitations to using the Internet as a research tool | |
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Cyber-citation | |
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Copyright concerns in the digital environment | |
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Future trends | |
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Legal Research Assignment--the Internet | |
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Introduction to Legal Writing | |
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Introduction | |
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Types of legal writing | |
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Fundamentals of Writing | |
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Introduction | |
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Writing process | |
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Structure | |
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Mechanical errors | |
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More legal writing advice | |
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Transmittal Letter and Client Opinion Letter | |
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Introduction | |
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Purpose of the transmittal letter | |
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Style of letters | |
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Purpose of the client opinion letter | |
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Format of the client opinion letter | |
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Sample client opinion letters | |
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Writing Contracts | |
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Introduction | |
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What is covered in this chapter | |
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The substance of the contract | |
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Writing a contract | |
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Checklist of matters to be considered when writing a contract for the sale of goods | |
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The perfect contract | |
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Checklist for an employment contract | |
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Organization and format | |
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A type of employment agreement--the attorney-client retainer agreement | |
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Pleadings | |
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Introduction | |
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Purpose and use | |
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Format | |
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Format of the complaint | |
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Format of the answer | |
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Evidentiary facts, ultimate facts, and legal conclusions | |
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First sample set of pleadings | |
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Second sample set of pleadings | |
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Cyber Examples | |
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Law Office Memo | |
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Introduction | |
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Purpose and use | |
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Style | |
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Format | |
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First sample office memo | |
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Second office memo | |
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Communicating clearly with the reader | |
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Memorandum of Law | |
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Introduction | |
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Purpose and use | |
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Style | |
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Organization | |
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Format | |
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First sample memorandum of law | |
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Second sample memorandum of law | |
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Appellate Brief | |
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Introduction | |
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Purpose and use | |
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Format | |
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First sample appellate brief | |
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Second sample appellate brief | |
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Appendices | |
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Search and Seizure | |
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Introduction | |
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The Williams search and seizure problem | |
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Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources Found after researching search and seizure problem | |
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Research and writing exercises | |
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Flowchart for office memo on Williams Brothers | |
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Sample outline for office memo | |
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Citation Rules | |
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General citation tips | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
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United States courts of appeals | |
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United States district courts | |
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Citations for constitutions | |
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Citations for statutes | |
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Citations for court rules | |
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Citations for administrative law | |
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Citations to legal encyclopedias | |
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Citations to American Law Reports | |
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Citations to attorneys general opinions | |
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Citations to restatements | |
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Citation to a treatise | |
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Citation to a legal dictionary | |
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Citation to a law review article | |
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Citation to Internet material | |
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Cyber citations | |
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Rules for Quotations and Short Form Citations | |
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Introduction | |
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Quotations | |
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Short form citations | |
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Short form citations for statutes | |
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Exercises on short form citations | |
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Mechanical Errors | |
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Introduction | |
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Excess words | |
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Use of apostrophes | |
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Sentence fragments | |
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Run-on sentences | |
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Parallel construction | |
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Antecedents | |
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Active versus passive voice | |
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Change in tenses | |
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Combination of errors | |
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Problems | |
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Was swimming pool an attractive nuisance? | |
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Defamation | |
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The nightmare property | |
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I wonder what is in the package | |
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Web Bibliography: Company Information on the Internet | |
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Internet Terminology | |
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Bibliography of Evaluative Criteria Web Sites | |
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Legal Research "Starting Points" | |
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Federal Law Resources | |
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State and Local Resources | |
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International Law Resources | |
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Commercial Legal Information Web Sites | |
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Topical Index of Legal and Government Web Sites | |
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Law-Related Internet Discussion Groups (Lists) | |
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Glossary | |
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Index | |