BUSS330 - Introduction to Legal Studies

Week 3 Memo Assessment Directions and Rubric

This assessment combined with other assessments will be worth 10% of your overall grade.

Deadline

Draft of Memo due by the end of Week 3 at 11:59 pm, ET. Final Memo due by the end of Week 6 at 11:59 pm, ET.

Completing this Assessment will help you to meet the following:

Course Outcomes

• Understand and explain the sources of law and differentiate their functions.
• Identify and discuss areas of substantive law within the state and federal court system.

Scenario

You are working as a paralegal at the law firm of Dean, Jackson and Murphy LLC. and receive the below email from me, your Supervising Attorney.

-----Original Message-----

From: Supervising Attorney [..s@deanjacksonandmurphy.com]

Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:41 PM

To: A. Paralegal [..b@deanjacksonandmuprhy.com]

Subject: Interoffice Memorandum

Dear A. Paralegal,

A client recently contacted our office to discuss his options regarding suing his local police department for tortious battery. I have conducted some initial research on his ability to prevail on such a claim and have located three resources. I need your assistance with reviewing and analyzing these sources.

• St. John v. McColley, 653 F. Supp. 2d 1155 (D.N.M. 2009)

• U.S. v. King, 990 F.2d 1552 (10th Cir. 1993)

• Restatement (Second) of Torts 18-19 (1965)

Directions

Please draft a 500 word intraoffice memo analyzing each of three sources provided. Within in the memo address the following topics.

• Define primary sources and explain their role in the legal system. Explain from which branch of government primary sources of law come (Executive, Legislative or Judicial). Identify which sources out of the three resources provided are primary sources and explain why those are considered primary sources of law. Determine if the sources you identified are from a federal or state jurisdiction and which level of court does each primary source come (i.e. trial, appellate, court of last resort).
• Define binding and persuasive authorities and analyze the role of each in the legal system. Explain how courts utilize binding authorities compared to persuasive authorities. Explain why it is important to identify the jurisdiction of the legal materials with which you will be working, and discuss how primary sources can be either binding or persuasive.
• Define secondary sources and explain their role in the legal system. Are secondary source of law binding or persuasive? Explain your answer. Identify which sources of law out of the three sources provided are secondary sources.
• Explain the ethical importance of understanding the differences between primary and secondary sources and binding and persuasive authorities. Discuss what the ethical implications are for paralegals of relying upon "bad law," or of performing substandard legal research. What could relying on "bad law" mean for the paralegal, the firm, or the client?

Memo Template

Please use the memo template on the next page to draft your response.

[Company Name]

Memo

To:	[Recipient(s)]
From:	Your Name Here
cc:	[Recipient(s)]
Date:	[Date]
Re:	[Subject]

How to Use This Memo Template

You can format your memo by using styles such as Heading 1, 2, and 3 in Styles on the Home tab. To save changes to this template for future use, click Save As from the File tab, and then, in the Save As Type box, click Document Template. Next time you want to use it, click New on the File tab, and then double-click your template.