Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Transactional Drafting: Introduction to Contract Drafting and Transactional Practice
Ben Fernandez · Ben Fernandez · 2021
Transactional Drafting: Introduction to Contract Drafting and Transactional Practice contains a condensed presentation of all of the topics typically covered in an upper-level law school class on contract drafting. The book covers drafting from scratch including writing in plain English (not using legalese), avoiding ambiguity, and drafting covenants, rights and prohibitions consistently (using "will" or "shall" for covenants, "may" for rights, and "will not" or "shall not" for prohibitions). And it covers contract organization, from the title and the exordium to the core covenant, deal provisions and "boilerplate," to the testimonium and the signature blocks. The book also includes material on getting up to speed before you start drafting and brainstorming for contingencies after you have finished. In addition to drafting from scratch the book introduces students to the wide range of skills involved in transactional practice. There are chapters on revising form documents, both when you are the original drafter and when you represent the other side. Also, the book includes chapters on negotiating contract language, handling a closing (i.e., verifying authority and getting the documents signed), dealing with ethical issues that arise in contract drafting and execution, drafting a contract amendment, and using computers to draft contracts. Transactional Drafting includes everything students need to know to “hit the ground running” as a transactional attorney.
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Legal Writing I & II: Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice
Ben Fernandez · Ben Fernandez · 2020
Legal Writing I & II; Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice contains a brief discussion of all of the topics covered in a law school courses on legal writing, including a typical first semester course on legal research, analysis and writing an objective memorandum, as well as a second semester course on persuasion and writing an appellate brief, motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment. The discussion focuses on the basics of analogical reasoning and persuasion and leaves out the minutiae. Each topic is taken one step at a time, with each step building on the step before it. The sources of law are presented first, then legal research, and reading and analyzing cases and statutes. The book covers analogizing a case to a fact pattern and marshaling the relevant facts to the elements of a statutory rule next. And then first section of the book concludes with legal citation, CRAC and CREAC, and writing a legal research memorandum. The text also includes a lot of samples and examples of how the author would write a case brief, a legal memoranda and an appellate brief, as well as an appendix with charts, outlines and exercises students can use to practice these skills. Legal Writing I & II; Legal Research and Writing & Introduction to Litigation Practice covers all the skills students need to know to work at a law firm, and everything students have to learn to begin practicing in litigation department of a firm.
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Civil Rights and Liberties
Rorie Solberg; Kimberly Clairmont; Petar Jeknic; Sarah Mason · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2023
This volume focuses on the constitutional doctrine and law in the areas of civil rights and liberties. It contains excerpts of landmark cases covering the first amendment, second amendment, fourteenth amendment and the right to privacy. The excerpts include the constitutional issues in these cases that are related to civil rights and liberties with other questions of law and dicta omitted.
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Open Judicial Politics
Rorie Solberg; Jennifer Diascro; Eric Waltenburg · Oregon State University · 2020
The impetus for this volume was a multitude of conversations regarding pedagogy and teaching related to our judicial process courses. Based on these conversations, we identified four main threads or needs of our colleagues: First, many of us bring or want to bring more “political science” into our classes, though we also want to avoid the high costs of reinventing successful existing courses to do so. Second, our programs all require a political methodology course, and we want to reinforce those lessons in our substantive courses. We want to encourage our students’ understanding of how to read and understand research studies as well as how to craft their own research questions. Third, we want to keep our courses as current as possible. And fourth, we wanted to find a way to bring the cost of our courses down, as we see so many students struggle with the high costs of a college degree. This volume (as well as any future editions) addresses each of these concerns. Open Judicial Politics is a compilation of new and original research in judicial politics written specifically for the undergraduate audience, thus providing accessible examples of political science research that also address some of the more current concerns and controversies in our field. Additionally, every article is accompanied by some type of classroom activity—from basic discussion questions to full-blown simulations—that makes it easier for instructors to adapt the material to their courses and enhance classes with interactives. The chapters of the volume generally follow the well-worn path of most textbooks of judicial politics, making the volume an easy companion for adoption, and the material should fit seamlessly into the preestablished structures of most courses. Finally, the volume is an open-source resource, and adoption of the text adds no cost for our students. Whether one uses one or ten articles, the cost remains nil. This volume includes twenty-two original contributions that we have grou
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Open-Source Property: A Free Casebook
Stephen Clowney; James Grimmelmann; Michael Grynberg · Open Source Property · 2015
Open Source Property: A Free Casebook is a free resource for instructors and students of the first-year Property Law course at American law schools, and anyone else with an interest in the subject.
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The Indigo Book: A Manual of Legal Citation
Christopher Sprigman · Public Resource · 2016
Welcome to The Indigo Book 2.0—a free, Creative Commons-dedicated implementation of the uniform system of citation commonly used in United States legal documents. The Indigo Book (2d ed. 2021) isn’t the same as The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020), but it does implement the same system of citation that The Bluebook does. The scope of The Indigo Book’s coverage is roughly equivalent to The Bluebook’s “Bluepages”—that is, The Indigo Book covers legal citation for U.S. legal materials, as well as books, periodicals, and Internet and other electronic resources. For the materials that it covers, anyone using The Indigo Book will produce briefs, memoranda, law review articles, and other legal documents with citations that are compatible with the Uniform System of Citation. Although law students, scholars, and legal professionals sometimes talk about legal citation as if it is truly uniform, the fact is that legal citation has never actually been a uniform national system. Accordingly, The Indigo Book also provides insight into some of the discretionary preferences and jurisdiction specific variations found in legal citation throughout the United States.
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Professional Responsibility: An Open-Source Casebook
Brian Frye; Elizabeth Schiller · Brian L. Frye & Elizabeth Schiller · 2019
We wanted this casebook to be as easy to use and understand as possible. Accordingly, we included not only cases, but also the text of the rules and restatements, as well as concise explanations of the relevant law. Each chapter of the book addresses a different issue, in the following format. First, it clearly and concisely explains the relevant law governing that issue. Then provides the relevant text of any statutes, Model Rules, sections of the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, or other sources, with a link to an open-source versions of the full text, when available. It provides one or more heavily edited cases intended to illustrate the application of the law at issue, with a link to an open-source version of the full text of the case. Each case is preceded by a brief summary of its facts, reasoning, and holding, and followed by questions intended to indicate subjects for further investigation or discussion. And finally, it includes citations to law review articles and other materials relevant to the law at issue, with links to open-source versions of those materials, when available. This casebook covers a wide range of different subjects related to the professional responsibility of attorneys. While it is possible to cover all of this material in a three credit-hour course, you may wish to omit some subjects. You may also wish to supplement the materials in this casebook with additional materials. We encourage you to use this casebook in any way that you like.
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The Pay for Success Handbook
Suzanne Adatto; Paul Brest · Suzanne Adatto and Paul Brest · 2020
Government agencies frequently contract with nonprofit or for-profit organizations to provide services to improve the well-being of their clients―for example, by reducing recidivism, homelessness, or drug use. Governments have traditionally paid service providers on the basis of the number of clients they treat. The past decade has seen a number of Pay for Success (PFS) or results-based finance (RBF) programs, in which service providers are paid for their outcomes or results. For example, whereas a government agency contracting with a service provider to reduce recidivism among young men released from prison would traditionally have paid the service provider for the hours spent counseling a client, a PFS contract pays the organization for success in reducing the clients’ rate of recidivism from some baseline. This handbook is written for government officials considering the adoption of Pay For Success (PFS) programs and for students in public policy and business schools interested in studying outcomes-oriented government contracts for services. Part One introduces concepts necessary to develop and operate a service delivery program and then surveys some of the issues specific to PFS. Part Two presents two detailed case studies and a number of shorter descriptions of PFS programs. Part Three focuses on the components of PFS programs; it also discusses barriers to their development and ways of overcoming them. An editable file (docx) is also available.
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Extended Readings on Copyright
Matthew Sag · Matthew Sag · 2019
Extended Readings on Copyright is subject to a non-commercial Create Commons license that allows you to add, subtract, and amend as you see fit, provided you extend those terms to any derivative work based on these materials and provided your provide appropriate attribution. I encourage you to share your edits and additions with me, but it is not obligatory.Extended Readings on Copyright can be used as a stand alone textbook on United States copyright law. The individual chapters are available on this website, and these can be used to supplement other materials. Individual chapters are likely to be more up to date than the consolidated build of the book.
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Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
Alison Burke; David Carter; Brian Fedorek; Tiffany Morey · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2019
There is a dearth of OER textbooks in Criminology and Criminal Justice, which made creating this textbook all the more exciting. At times we faced challenges about what or how much to cover, but our primary goal was to make sure this book was as in-depth as the two textbooks we were currently using for our CCJ 230 introduction course. The only way we were willing to undertake this project as if it was as good, or better than the current books students read. We have had very positive feedback about the required textbooks in the course but consistently heard how expensive the books were to buy. We also needed to ensure we met the learning outcomes outlined by SOU for a general education course, as well as the state of Oregon, to make sure this textbook helps students meet those outcomes.
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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Employment Discrimination
Matthew Green · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2017
This Chapter will address the current protections that are available to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals who allege they have been victims of employment discrimination. The Chapter's primary focus will be on federal statutory law, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although the focus here is on federal law, Appendix I to this Chapter lists the states that protect individuals from public and/or private discrimination under state laws. This topic is explored in four parts: (1) a brief overview of congressional efforts to enact a statute to protect individuals from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; (2) discusses Title VII and sexual orientation; (3) discusses ways in which recent courts have handled sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII; and (4) similarly examines early judicial treatment of claims brought by individuals alleging discrimination on the basis of their gender identity and/or expression and explores how the law has developed in this area as well.
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Introduction to Criminal Investigation: Processes, Practices and Thinking
Rod Gehl; Darryl Plecas · BCcampus · 2017
Introduction to Criminal Investigation, Processes, Practices, and Thinking is a teaching text designed to assist the student in developing their own structured mental map of processes, practices, and thinking to conduct criminal investigations. Delineating criminal investigation into operational descriptors of tactical-response and strategic response while using illustrations of task-skills and thinking-skills, the reader is guided into structured thinking practices. Using the graphic tools of a “Response Transition Matrix”, an “Investigative Funnel”, and the “STAIR Tool”, the reader is shown how to form their own mental map of investigative thinking that can later be articulated in support of forming their reasonable grounds to believe. Chapter 1 introduces criminal investigation as both a task process and a thinking process. This chapter outlines these concepts, rules, and processes with the goal of providing practical tools to ensure successful investigative processes and practices. Most importantly, this book informs the reader how to approach the investigative process using “investigative thinking.” Chapter 2 illustrates investigation by establishing an understanding of the operational forum in which it occurs. That forum is the criminal justice system and in particular, the court system. The investigative process exists within the statutory rules of law, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and case law rulings adjudicated by the courts. Considering the existence of these conditions, obligations, and case law rules, there are many terms and concepts that an investigator needs to understand to function appropriately and effectively within the criminal justice system. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some of the basic legal parameters and concepts of criminal justice within which the criminal investigation process takes place. Chapter 3 describes the functions and terms of “evidence”, as they relate to investigation. This speaks to a
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Torts: Cases and Contexts
Eric Johnson · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Plain-spoken and convivial, this casebook makes a deliberate effort to explain the law, rather than to provide a mere compilation of readings and questions. Simple concepts are presented simply. Complex concepts are broken down and accompanied by examples and problems. By being clear and straightforward, the casebook aims to quickly get students to the point where they can navigate regions of gray and build nuanced arguments. The book is written from the conviction that when students stop to puzzle over something, it should be because the law itself puzzles, not because the book obfuscates. Students describe the book as easy to read. A key aim is context, with explanations of how pieces of doctrine fit into the bigger picture. There is also a continual effort to plug doctrine into the real world of practice, getting students to think about litigation strategy and tactics. Another key feature is a high-degree of organization. Doctrine is explained upfront, independent of and before the cases. After the cases, there is no notes-and-questions mishmash. Historical notes, check-your-understanding questions, questions to ponder, and problems are all separately labeled as such. The readings are rich with variety. The classic cases are here, of course. But there are also atypical readings that allow students to see tort law from different perspectives, including an opening statement, a closing argument, administrative-enforcement letters, an excerpt from a novel, and an opinion on tribal law from a Navajo court. Many selections are also startlingly modern, with facts involving texting-and-driving, alcoholic energy drinks, Facebook libel, suddenly accelerating Toyotas, and the misery of a six-hour tarmac delay. Please note that the publisher requires you to login to access and download the textbooks.
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Property
Christian Turner · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2012
This is Volume 2 of a two volume set written for Property Law. From the Preface to Volume 1: Property, as a vaguely defined collection of contract, tort, and criminal cases, does not take on the natural structure of a substantive area of the law through the systematic study of duty, breach, causation, defenses, and damages. Instead this textbook and most Property courses survey various topics in law with two goals in mind. First, we will study a number of traditional property topics, those where the issue of "ownership" and what that entails have long been thought to be a central issue. Second, but most importantly, our interdisciplinary study will introduce some of the major analytical techniques in law, from reasoning using precedent to law and economics to distributive justice. As we roam among topics, our goal is always, relentlessly to ask, "Why?" "Why should the law protect this party's interest?" These major techniques that we will pick up along the way will help us provide better and better answers to this question.
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Property
Christian Turner · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2012
This is Volume 1 of a two volume set written for Property Law. From the Preface: Property, as a vaguely defined collection of contract, tort, and criminal cases, does not take on the natural structure of a substantive area of the law through the systematic study of duty, breach, causation, defenses, and damages. Instead this textbook and most Property courses survey various topics in law with two goals in mind. First, we will study a number of traditional property topics, those where the issue of "ownership" and what that entails have long been thought to be a central issue. Second, but most importantly, our interdisciplinary study will introduce some of the major analytical techniques in law, from reasoning using precedent to law and economics to distributive justice. As we roam among topics, our goal is always, relentlessly to ask, "Why?" "Why should the law protect this party's interest?" These major techniques that we will pick up along the way will help us provide better and better answers to this question.
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U.S. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2023
Deborah Geier · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2017
This is the tenth edition of this textbook, updated through December 15, 2022 for use beginning January 2023. In addition to incorporating new law and all inflation adjustments, this edition builds on updates made for the ninth edition and incorporates new charts pertaining to economic and tax data, including December 2019 CBO charts showing that income inequality between 2015 and 2020 (with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in 2017) worsened after taxes and transfers than before taxes and transfers are taken into account. This textbook is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise; rather, it is intended to be far more useful than that for beginning tax law students by equipping the novice not merely with unmoored detail but rather with a rich blueprint that illuminates the deeper structural framework on which that detail hangs (sometimes crookedly). Chapter 1 outlines the conceptual meaning of the term income for uniquely tax purposes and examines the Internal Revenue Code provisions that translate this construct into positive law. Chapter 2 explores various forms of consumption taxation because the modern Internal Revenue Code is best perceived as a hybrid income-consumption tax that also contains many provisions that are inconsistent with both forms of taxation. Chapter 3 then provides students with the story of how we got to where we are today, important context about the distribution of the tax burden, the budget, and economic trends, as well as material on ethical debates, economic theories, and politics as they affect taxation. Armed with this larger blueprint, students are in a much better position to evaluate the myriad pieces that follow throughout the remaining 18 chapters. For example, they are in a better position to appreciate how applying the income tax rules for debt to a debt-financed investment afforded more favorable consumption tax treatment creates tax shelter problems. Stated another way, they can better appreciate how the tax system can someti
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Torts: Cases and Contexts
Eric Johnson · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
Plain-spoken and convivial, this casebook makes a deliberate effort to explain the law, rather than to provide a mere compilation of readings and questions. Simple concepts are presented simply. Complex concepts are broken down and accompanied by examples and problems. By being clear and straightforward, the casebook aims to quickly get students to the point where they can navigate regions of gray and build nuanced arguments. The book is written from the conviction that when students stop to puzzle over something, it should be because the law itself puzzles, not because the book obfuscates. Students describe the book as easy to read. A key aim is context, with explanations of how pieces of doctrine fit into the bigger picture. There is also a continual effort to plug doctrine into the real world of practice, getting students to think about litigation strategy and tactics. Another key feature is a high-degree of organization. Doctrine is explained upfront, independent of and before the cases. After the cases, there is no notes-and-questions mishmash. Historical notes, check-your-understanding questions, questions to ponder, and problems are all separately labeled as such. The readings are rich with variety. The classic cases are here, of course. But there are also atypical readings that allow students to see tort law from different perspectives, including an opening statement, a closing argument, administrative-enforcement letters, an excerpt from a novel, and an opinion on tribal law from a Navajo court. Many selections are also startlingly modern, with facts involving texting-and-driving, alcoholic energy drinks, Facebook libel, suddenly accelerating Toyotas, and the misery of a six-hour tarmac delay.
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Sales and Leases: A Problem-based Approach
Scott Burnham; Kristen Juras · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2023
Sales and Leases is a coursebook for a 3-credit course in personal property sales and leases – the subject matter of UCC Articles 2 and 2A. Adjustments could be made for other credit allocations and chapters can be used on a stand-alone basis. The course is designed so that students both review the rules and principles they studied in their first-year course in Contracts and learn the rules that apply to the subset of contracts for the sale and lease of goods. Students taking this course should be well-prepared to solve legal problems in contracts and sales, and should be well-prepared for those parts of the bar exam as well. While the course in Contracts focuses on the rules of common-law contracts, the focus of this course is the rules found in legislation. Therefore, instead of emphasizing case analysis, the book contains a good deal of narrative that assists students in working through the complexity of the statutes. Students will need to supplement the book with a complete copy of the UCC that includes the Official Comments. Discussion of other statutes, such as UETA and Magnuson-Moss, is incorporated where appropriate. The approach is problem-based, which we believe is more appropriate for an upper-division course based primarily on statutes. The narrative is interspersed with problems for class discussion that require students to apply the principles and rules to particular fact situations. Many times there is an issue of interpretation or policy in the Code, however, and therefore each chapter also contains at least one case that explores an issue arising under the statute.
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Torts: Cases, Principles, and Institutions
John Witt · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2022
This is the Fifth Edition of Torts: Cases, Principles, and Institutions, a casebook for a one-semester torts course that carves out a distinctive niche in the field by focusing on the institutions and sociology of American tort law. The book retains many of the familiar features of the traditional casebook, including many of the classic cases. Like the best casebooks, it seeks to survey the theoretical principles underlying those cases. But it aims to supplement the cases and principles with editorial notes that focus students’ attention on the institutional features of our tort system, including features such as the pervasiveness of settlements, the significance of the market, the role of the plaintiff's bar, the importance of private insurance, the contingency fee, and the jury. These institutional arrangements are what make American tort law distinctive. They are how the substantive doctrines of tort law are translated into the practice of torts lawyers. And they are sociologically fascinating in their own right. TCPI integrates the institutional materials into the cases and notes rather than segregate them into separate sections of their own. It does so because its aim is not to teach the details of any one institution, such as the mechanics of the law of subrogation or workers’ compensation. Few one-semester torts classes can take up so much material. Instead, the book integrates the institutional material into the main text to draw general lessons about the massive, sprawling systems of private administration that American law has created under the umbrella of our torts system.
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What Color is Your C.F.R.?
Elizabeth Gotauco; Nicole Dyszlewski; Raquel M. Ortiz · CALI's eLangdell® Press · 2016
What Color is Your C.F.R.? is a problem-based law workbook with a colorful twist. Conceived and written by law librarians, it uses easy to understand plain language and is a light-hearted but helpful supplement to instruction on basic legal research. The book takes a non-traditional approach to legal research and uses short legal research exercises and coloring.