Customer Reviews

Basic Legal Research, Third Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a paralegal student and we used this textbook for our legal research class. This book provided virtually *no* actual information as to *how* to conduct legal research. It provided knowledge of the theory of research, and had an acceptable explanation of primary/secondary and mandatory/persuasive authority, but that's about it.

The only reason why I came out of that class with any understanding of legal research was going to the local law library and having the librarians help me through it (and they were incredibly patient, helpful, and understanding).

If you are in a class that uses this textbook, God help you. You will benefit far more by speaking to other students who might know about research, or just going into a law library and asking for help there.

I can say with all fairness that even if I had no fundamentals of research, this book offers no real insights. It tells you such great ideas as, "electronic research is most likely to be effective under the following circumstances: 1) When the material you need is not available in print...You will want to use print resources when: searching for material not available online." Or, "You can also use the 'previous section' and 'next section' links in the heading to browse preceding or subsequent sections." Oh really? No. No way.

It also goes into great insights about choosing keywords that any law student under 75 years of age would know how to do from Googling.

Waste of money.

This book is an absolute must for law students or anyone engaging in the process of legal research and writing. I am first year law student and this book is my go-to for any question I have about the research process. This book was recommended for my course, but not required. So many law students only buy the required books. Some feel the supplemental material is just a waste of money. Don't make that mistake with this book, you can use it throughout your career.

This is the required text for my LR class and I read as required but I do not find this book to be very interesting. I have actually found other resources to be better study guides for LR but none the less, this book is required and therefore I have read every page. It'd be nice if a prof would find a more interesting book for this class but I guess you can only make legal research so interesting.

After talking to friends at other law schools it seems all libraries carry this book so you might want to save a buck and use their copy, especially for how little it is used in class.

The book served me well. It was a lot cheaper than what was selling in my school bookstore, and was sent in really good condition. Even the highlighting that was in the book prior to me buying it, was helpful.

I've used this book for the past few months and have been pleasantly surprised by how well it is organized, and how easy it is to understand. The author writes in a clear, straightforward manner and covers all of the pertinant topics.

I'm usually concerned about purchasing items on line, especially books. I can honestly say that this experience was worth it. I would recommend this seller to anyone interested in purchasing good quality books at extremely reasonable prices.

Buy with confidence, I did!