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The Process of Legal Research | 
 enlarge | Authors: Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Ann Bateson, Matthew P. Downs, Mehmet Konar-steenberg
Publisher: Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $69.00
Buy New: $58.32
You Save: $10.68 (15%)
New (8) Used (1) from $48.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 51429
Media: Paperback
Edition: 7
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 6.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0735569770
Dewey Decimal Number: 340.072073
EAN: 9780735569775
ASIN: 0735569770
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Inventory subject to prior sale. Expedited orders cannot be sent to PO Box. Sorry, not able to ship to APO, FPO, Alaska, and Hawaii.
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Product Description
With a proven-effective process approach that has made this book a continual best seller, The Process of Legal Research, Seventh Edition, offers comprehensive coverage in a format that is pedagogically rich, meaningfully organized, and surprisingly concise.
Written and organized to explain and show the process of Legal Research, The Process of Legal Research, Seventh Edition, includes:
a thorough introduction to the process of Legal Research
extensive illustrations and examples
one continuous in-text example that illustrates how to research a complex problem
a focus on best-research practices how to choose the most appropriate source and media for various types of inquiries
integrated coverage of electronic research
extensive, well-researched problem sets on a CD included with the book
With updated sources throughout, the Seventh Edition features:
expanded coverage of non-Lexis/Westlaw on-line sources
chapter-by-chapter templates for each type of research
an updated and streamlined continuous research problem, with some explanatory material moved to sidebars
enhanced discussion of the links between legal research and legal analysis
a new author website that offers research tutorials
This long-time leader in the field shows no signs of slowing down. Examine your complimentary copy to find out why The Process of Legal Research, now in its Seventh Edition, leads the pack.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Paralegal is a bad career choice December 20, 2008
I gave this book one star, not because I read the book but because I used to be a paralegal and came across this book when ordering books online in preparation for my career change.
I would strongly recommend against any profession in the legal arena unless you want to become an atty. Working for attys is unpleasant to say the least. The hostile environment of a law firm is stressful, and I've seen a few legal secretaries go out on stress leave. Seeing a law staff member cry at work is not unusual. Many attys are hard to please no matter what you do, and sometimes it can be hard to hold onto a job, not because of your work performance but because many attys will find something to criticize no matter how well you do your job. There's more than one way to do a certain task. You chose one way, and he criticizes you for not doing it the other way. If you ask him which way he'd like it done, he's angry that you bothered him.
Most paralegals/legal secretaries will get fired once or twice in their careers. Again, it has nothing to do with poor job performance. I was fired once in 8 years that I worked in this field. It's very stressful to show up everyday to a job, continuously feeling like you're skating on thin ice because the vibe you get is that you will be let go at any time. When you know you are an intelligent person with outstanding skills and attention to detail who shows up to work on time every day and thoroughly completes projects, there's not a whole lot you can do about that. Yeah, I could look for another job, but unfortunately, job jumping won't get you away from it because this is an industry-wide problem. At one job I was completely burnt out and thoroughly exhausted. Every ounce of my energy and strength had been zapped. I just let them fire me. I wanted to live on unemployment even if I couldn't afford it. I just needed a break. During my 8 years in this crap, I worked at 4 firms and temped at 3. Only one of those firms had a decent environment. None of them, however, gave yearly raises that matched the going rate despite stellar employee reviews.
There is a demand, not because the number of available jobs is increasing but because more and more paralegals and legal secretaries are tired of the nonsense and leaving the field. I live in a large metropolitan area. I know of at least two community colleges in my area that discontinued their legal secretary programs because not enough people enrolled to keep it open. More and more people are becoming aware of the problems in the legal industry and are avoiding this field.
And as far as pay goes, it's not that great. It's dead end because there's no ladder of success to climb. If you are young and single, it might be a good way to generate some work experience, but as you get older and want to advance your life, it's not a good choice. If you're an ambitious person who wants a career with promotion opportunities, this isn't for you. If you are an independent thinker and a natural leader, this definitely isn't for you.
Another thing, I can't emphasize the attorney maltreatment of staff enough. If you are single and middle-aged, i.e., no husband with a good job to fall back on and too old to go back home to the parents, that gives the firm leverage against you. They see you as someone less likely to quit, and they might stick you with the more undesirable jobs (difficult atty), and your raises might be worse. If you're a single mom (like me), that can give the firm yet more leverage. They would expect a single mom to be someone who most needs a job and most likely to put up with the most crap to keep it. My last employer was shocked when I walked in and told them I was leaving. Unlike most people my age (believe me, I'm older than dirt), I moved back home with my kid. That meant leaving the state and giving up everything I had. As a paralegal, however, I didn't have the ability to accomplish much; so I had very little to lose in starting over.
Yelling, slamming doors, things slammed down on desks are normal occurrences in law offices. If you stick around long enough, you will see an atty throw a notebook at a staff member and maybe even see physical confrontation (it happened at my firm once, but I missed it because I just happened to leave early that day for an interview at another firm!). Best case scenario - you will be spoken to condescendingly every now and then, and you won't get too much overtime. That's another thing. They don't respect you and think the world revolves around them. So get used to an atty putting projects that take 3 hours to complete on your desk after 4pm and telling you he wants it complete and on his desk before you leave that evening.
One more thing about pay-The only way to maintain a decent salary is to change jobs every 2 years or so. Year-end raises might match cost of living, but it's very rare for a year-end raise match the going rate for legal staff. New paralegals and secretaries get hired at the current rate; so they make more than those with seniority, believe it or not (assuming the new hiree has about the same experience as the tenured employees). This is another way the firm uses its leverage with its employees. They know that most people don't like change and would rather keep the same job - it's scary to start over elsewhere because the law field has an industry wide hostile environment - and in a situation like that it's better to stay with what you are familiar with. Chances are high that changing jobs will get the person right back into the same situation anyways, except that she did bump her salary up a little. The firms know that a paltry raise usually isn't enough to send a lot of its employees packing; so why should it pay good wages when they get the same quality employees for less?? A law firm will milk its employees for everything it can possibly get but will give back barely enough to keep the employees coming back.
If you are seriously considering this as a profession, don't change your mind just because of what I've wrote here. Go out and find some paralegals and interview them. Ask them questions. How did you get into this line of work? If you could go back and do it over again, would you make the same choice? Why not? Why do you stay in this field??? Why don't you like it? If you don't know any paralegals, ask around, but DON'T ask the school you are planning to attend to refer you to someone to talk to because they will lead you to someone whom they know will say only favorable things about the job because that school might also be on the brink of discontinuing their program because of lack of enrollment. They will do all they can to get as many enrollees as possible to support their program
If you are considering paralegal as a career, I would recommend the following books also:
"When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses..."
"Coping with Toxic Managers..."
"When you work for a bully..."
There are many other great books like these, too many to mention.
Also familiarize yourself with the EEOC site as well as that of the Dept of Labor or Labor Commissioner for your state. And one more thing... get used to documenting EVERYTHING.
 Good Book September 28, 2008
The CD is the best part about this book. It is well written. I use it as a textbook for school and I have no complaints so far.
 3 stars from a fence-sitter June 27, 2005
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
One can obtain copies of previous editions for as little as 1 USD
(enter the ISBN of the sixth edition 073553666X and view listings
for the approximately five versions/incarnations; click on Used).
Unless you 'must' have the most recent edition (the 6th), go USED
The Process of Legal Research, Sixth Edition
by Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Matthew P. Downs, Ann Bateson
Published: 6/30/2004
ISBN: 073553666X
Format: Paperback
Description
The revision of the first legal research text to take a process approach to the subject offers important new material in the proven effective format that has made the book a continual bestseller. The Process of Legal Research, Sixth Edition, leads students to a deep and meaningful understanding of the "what," "how," and "why," of conducting legal research. The text is skillfully structured to engage student interest:
a complete introduction to the process of legal research aquaint students with sources and vocabulary, along with how each source works, how to combine different sources, and how to resolve legal problems through effective research techniques
extensive illustrations and examples of actual research problems -- including an ongoing text example involving smoking in the workplace -- give students a preview of the realities of practice
the authors emphasize best research practices and discuss how to choose the appropriate source and media for particular types of problems
coverage of electronic research is integrated into the text, with guidance on when and how to make the choice between paper and electronic research, and how the choice of media results in different means, scope, and currency of materials
extensive, well-researched problem sets appear on perforated pages for easy use
the authors demonstrate the interrelated process between tasks of research and writing
Changes for the Sixth Edition facilitate teaching and learning:
thoroughly updated text reflects ongoing developments in research, media, providers, and sources
strengthened discussion of overarching cognitive tasks improves student understanding of the research process as they maneuver through a bewildering array of sources
streamlined book offers enhanced graphics and less dense text, with unnecessary detail eliminated
coverage of ALWD Citation Manual as well as The Bluebook
more emphasis on the Internet and Loislaw, with less discussion of CD-ROMs
expanded coverage of legal ethics, including several more cases on unethical research
reworked problem sets retain the "greatest hits" from previous editions and introduce brand-new problems
new co-author Susan Catterall draws on her experience as a research/instructor at a prominent law firm and as a reference librarian and assistant professor at Drake University of Law School
 A good text-book with which to teach January 21, 2001
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I teach a legal research and writing course with this textbook at UCLA and have found it very helpful. The book is well organized, has good homework problems, reasonably clear writing and fine illustrations. My students find it very helpful in their studies. Its only two flaws are that it does not use California law in its problems and has only one problem at its end to test all of the student's research skills. In a perfect world, two comprehensive research problems would be included to ensure that students have fully grasped the principles involved. While I have used the 4th edition over the last 3 years with great success, I am confident that this 5th edition (which I have read and am presently using in my class) will be equally effective. I only give it four stars because of the two flaws described above and the limited answers to homework problems given in the teacher's edition.
Great book for basic legal research October 28, 1999
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book explains to the first year law student how to go about legal research in the library and on the internet. It has practice exercises in the back of the book to facilitate the learning process. It is a quick read on all the main sources of legal research and general legal writing. It breaks down the elements of research into small, easy to manage parts that don't make you feel totally overwhelmed during your first research paper. I think it is a great tool for the first year law student.
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