Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Course involves significant hands-on research in both print and electronic resources.  

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Use the applicable jurisdiction to identify binding and persuasive authority, primary and secondary authority, and explain the relationships between these types of legal authority.
2. Prepare and carry out a simple legal research plan.
3. Use print and electronic resources, including finding tools and secondary sources, to locate statutes, regulations, constitutional provisions, court opinions, and court rules. 
4. Create and maintain simple research trails and research notes.
5. Properly cite court opinions and federal statutes and regulations.
6. Identify, locate, and use resources to update and verify cited legal authority.
7. Draft cogent analyses of the law, employing the proper format for interoffice memoranda, based on original legal research.

Flexible dependent on needs of student population and preferred teaching style of instructor, but may include reading assignments, exercises and drills, hands-on guided and independent research, and weekly homework.

May include attendance and participation in class experiences and discussions, written assignments, tests, and individual research.

Themes, Concepts & Issues

This course is part of a three-course series on legal analysis, writing and research that consists of PL 108, Legal Analysis & Writing, PL 203, Basic Legal Research, and PL 204, Applied Legal Research & Drafting. The activities, concepts and skills introduced in this course include performing original legal research effectively and efficiently, and properly citing legal authority.  The activities, concepts and skills further developed in this course after being introduced in PL 108, Legal Analysis & Writing, include analyzing primary sources of law and drafting interoffice memoranda conforming to legal office standards.

Students are introduced to specialized tools for legal research, and a specific legal research methods, along with the Bluebook system of citation. 

Competencies & Skills

1. Locate and identify binding and persuasive authority.
2. Locate and identify primary and secondary authority.
3. Prepare and carry out a legal research plan.
4. Use print and electronic resources including finding tools and secondary sources to locate statutes, regulations, constitutional provisions, court opinions and court rules. 
5. Create and maintain a research trail and research notes.
6. Properly cite court opinions and federal statutes and regulations.
7. Identify, locate and use resources to update and verify cited legal authority.
8. Draft cogent analyses of the law, employing the proper format for interoffice memoranda, based on original legal research.

Approved Texts

Choice of texts is at the discretion of each course instructor, but instructors are encouraged to seek methods to reduce or eliminate student textbook costs.