Practical Resources for Drafting Legal Documents

1. Practical Resources for Drafting Legal Documents FORMS: University of Michigan Law Library Urban Communities Clinic Ann Chase January 10, 2008

2. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY • Ann Chase, Foreign & Comparative Law Librarian • Room S-171 • achase@umich.edu • 764-6151

3. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Overview • How to find books in the law library • Searching the catalog • Finding books in the stacks (where are they?) • How to find FORM BOOKS in the law library • Focused searching with examples • Online resources for forms

4. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Forms and Legal Drafting • Why do you want forms? • Find examples to adapt • Examples/forms may not be perfectly tailored to your purpose

5. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Variety of Sources for Forms • Commercially published form books • Forms prepared by courts, conforming to rules of specific jurisdiction • Institutional in-house databank, archive of forms

6. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY How to find books in the Law Library

7. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Online Catalog • http://umil.iii.com/ • Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) • Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—Michigan—Forms) • Note Call Number, Location and Status

8. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Keyword Searching

9. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Keyword Searching – Results

10. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Keyword Searching – Full Record

11. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Online Catalog • Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) • Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—Michigan—Forms) • Note Call Number, Location and Status

12. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Subject Searching

13. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Subject Searching – Results

14. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Subject Searching – Full Record

15. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Subject Searching

16. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Online Catalog • Keyword searching (e.g. Michigan and forms) • Subject searching (e.g. Real Property—Michigan—Forms) • Note Call Number, Location and Status

17. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Finding Books in the Law Library • BEFORE you go to the shelves, consult the handouts at the reference desk to find out where in the library you can find the book • e.g. Call numbers beginning with “JX2” are located in Sub-3 North • Call Number Locator • Book Locator • Map

18. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Call Number Locator

19. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Book Locator

20. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Map

21. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Finding FORM BOOKS in the Law Library

22. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Form Books • Contain sample legal forms • Multi-volume sets, arranged by topic • Accessed by index and/or table of contents • Usually include multiple versions of forms, optional clauses to add in or remove

23. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY General Forms • Variety of legal topics, from “Abandoned Property” to “Zoning” • Not jurisdiction-specific • E.g., AmJur Legal Forms, West’s Legal Forms (related to business issues) • Title search in online catalog: http://umil.iii.com/

24. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Title Search – West’s Legal Forms

25. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Subject-Specific Forms • Forms related to a specific subject • Keyword search in the catalog (http://umil.iii.com/): [business] and forms • Examples, • Legal forms for starting & running a small business • Fletcher Corporation Forms, Annotated

26. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Jurisdiction-Specific Forms • Forms related to a specific jurisdiction, either federal or state • Bender’s Federal Practice Forms; West’s Federal Forms • To find in the catalog (http://umil.iii.com/), Keyword search: [Michigan] and forms • Michigan Real Estate Practice and Forms

27. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Jurisdiction-Specific Forms, Advanced Keyword Search • Conduct Advanced Keyword search with author: Michigan and forms and author: Institute of Continuing Legal Education • Michigan Business Formbook

28. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Advanced Keyword Search

29. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Advanced Searching with Author

30. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Online resources for forms

31. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Michigan Forms Online – ICLE • Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) –http://www.icle.org • “Partnership” Section • Business • Real Property

32. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY ICLE Website

33. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY ICLE FormBank

34. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY ICLE How-to Kits

35. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY ICLE SCAO (State Court Administrative Offices) Forms

36. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY ICLE SCAO Forms, MI Court Forms

37. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Forms Online - Generally • Lexis and Westlaw (screenshots in subsequent slides) • ‘Lectric Law Library – http://www.lectlaw.com/form.html • FedForms – http://www.fedforms.gov • Findlaw Forms – http://forms.lp.findlaw.com

38. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Westlaw, Michigan Forms

39. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Westlaw, All Forms

40. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Lexis, Michigan Forms

41. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Lexis, All Forms

42. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Reference Assistance • Come to the reference desk in person, staffed 9AM to midnight 7 days a week • Ask a Law Librarian – Email Reference (askalawlibrarian@umich.edu) • Call the reference desk: 734-764-9324 • Schedule an individual research consultation with a professional librarian • Self-help: Online Tutorials and Audio Tours

43. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY Questions?