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For all you who work
for litigious lawyers (is that a redundancy?), this page provides connections
to government sources, people locators, federal and NJ state court sites,
and links to various expert witness sources and legal documents on-line.
For RVCC students, there is a tutorial on the preparation of NJ pleadings.
A litigation paralegal
assists her employer in the preparation of cases for trial (and appeal)
in virtually any area of civil law from breach of contract to personal
injury to constitutional rights. Due to the substantive diversity of litigation,
there is enormous variety in its practice. Yet, because of the procedural
similarity of litigation, there is also enormous routine. Effective paralegals
working in this area of law will, of course, need to know something about
whatever substantive law is involved in the particular case, as well as
a thorough working knowledge of state and federal court rules. They will
need to do the mundane things like send for medical records and track
deadlines, but also draft and review the myriad legal documents necessary,
from pleadings to depositions to judgments. The para-professional here
will likely experience both the pressure and the excitement of working
in court.
Litigation
Law
The following sources
provide an overview of this area of law:
- FindLaw
for Legal Professionals
www.findlaw.com/01topics/29litigation/index.html
Geared for legal
professionals, includes a guide to attorneys who specialize in this
area of practice, databases, articles, software, forms, discussion groups
and related websites.
- FindLaw
for the Public
http://public.findlaw.com/litigation_appeals/
Geared for the non-professional, includes overviews on litigation practices,
articles on deciding when and whether to sue, and a connection to an
on-line lawyer service where, for the low fee of $39.95, one can speak
with an attorney in your state about your case!
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Government
Sources
Due to the substantive
diversity of litigation, there are a myriad of government sources that
can assist the litigation paralegal – indeed, too many to list them
all here. What follows is a list of NJ and federal sites that can lead
you to almost any government source you need…happy hunting!
-
Federal:
- US
Supreme Court www.supremecourtus.gov
the official
U.S. Supreme Court Web site, it provides links to Supreme Court
opinions, calendar, rules, and will send you to related sites like
the Administrative Office of the Courts or the Solicitor General’s
Office. And if you go to
www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage you can even listen to
real unedited oral arguments, available on Real Audio, for cases
like Roe v. Wade & Bush v. Gore.
- US
Circuit Courts of Appeal www.ca3.uscourts.gov
you can locate any of the circuits by changing the number
3 in this url to the number of whatever circuit you seek, but this
site sends you to the 3rd Circuit, which includes NJ,
Pa., Del. & the Virgin Islands. The site features opinions,
dockets, rules, procedures, forms and more.
- US
District Courts http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/
NJ’s district court site is hosted by Rutgers School of Law in Camden
(my alma mater…). Under "Links to important Federal Material,"
this site gives you all you need to know about the NJ Federal District
Court, including court opinions, but also access to the federal
rules, the federal code of regulations & even the US Constitution.
If you need access to a different Federal District Court, this site
www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/district_courts.html
will get
you to whatever district court you seek, arranged alphabetically
by state.
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NJ
State:
- New
Jersey Judiciary www.judiciary.state.nj.us
is the NJ court homepage. It provides information about the Supreme
Court Justices and the Supreme Court agenda; it includes all state
court calendars, links to reported opinions, decisions on motions,
information for jurors and frequently asked questions. To find NJ
court rules, ethics opinions, administrative agencies, constitution,
statutes, etc., this site sends you to Rutgers Camden Law, mentioned
above,
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/
where, under
the "NJ Legal Resources" link all this material is available
to you on-line.
- New
Jersey State www.state.nj.us
is the NJ state website.
Although
this site links to state agencies, the legislature and the judiciary,
it is mainly geared for the public, with basic info on how to register
a car or a business, info on senior services and state attractions,
etc.
- New
Jersey Legislature
www.njleg.state.nj.us
provides info on individual legislators, the legislative schedule,
you can search bills,
check out
committees and even listen to live and archived legislative proceedings!
- New
Jersey Departments & Agencies
http://www.state.nj.us/deptserv.html
will take
you to all 16 state departments & all 33 state agencies. From
the Department of Education to the Pinelands Commission, all have
their own sites for your browsing pleasure.
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Professionals
& Professional Associations
Many different professionals
may be needed to effectively litigate a case, from court reporters for
deposition purposes, to videographers, to jury consultants. Local professionals
can always be located through the State Bar Association
www.njsba.com
the yellow pages of your local phone book, or the NJ Lawyers Diary. The
following sources will help you find litigation law professionals in any
area of the country:
-
Technical
Advisory Service for Attorneys www.tasanet.com
for experts in all areas of law nationwide
-
The
Legal Pages www.lawdiary.com
a comprehensive directory of goods and services for NJ legal professionals,
it provides local connections to experts in all disciplines, and even
court reporters, process servers, interpreters and more.
-
MedicalLegal
Art
www.medical-legal.com to create custom medical demonstrative trial evidence such as
illustrations, animations, anatomical models and computer presentations.
-
Zagnoli
McEvoy Foley Ltd. www.zmf.com
provides jury
selection experts and a database of over 25000 voir dire questions
in 200 or so legal categories, for a fee of course.
-
Global
Deposition Service www.globaldeposition.com/
provides imaging, scanning, coding, digesting, and transcription of
depositions, for a fee.
-
Legal
Investigators www.njar.com/
depending on the case, one may need any number of legal investigators
to do asset or background checks, to set up surveillance, or to investigate
matters from the domestic to the corporate arena. Listings of local
investigators can be found in the Legal Pages, cited above, but try
this on-line source too.
-
Best
People Search www.bestpeoplesearch.com/
fee-based source that promises to find people fast using names or
social security numbers or VINs; will also provide investigative reports.
To locate people and businesses for free, try www.switchboard.com
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Forms
& Documents
Many forms are court-specific
and software can be purchased at a relatively low cost to handle most
litigation needs. RVCC uses WordPerfect Legal Suite
www.corel.com that
allows the user to create templates within the system or utilize prepared
templates like HotDocs. Microsoft Word has a Pleadings Wizard within the
system that allows all users to create a pleadings template. To access
this, open
Word. From the File menu hit New, then the tab
marked "Legal Pleadings", then the Pleading Wizard.
The wizard creates the template by asking a series of questions of the
user.
- Federal:
www.uslegalforms.com/federal/federal-court-forms.htm
is a site for federal district court-related form documents such as
summons, civil cover sheet, etc. No complaint forms are available at
this site. www.ca3.uscourts.gov
has similar
forms available for the federal circuit courts of appeal.
- NJ
State: www.judiciary.state.nj.us/forms.htm
is an excellent NJ-specific site for forms in the area of civil practice.
Sample forms include the civil case information statement, model judgments,
special civil part & small claims complaints, affidavits of service
and various appellate forms. Some of these forms are interactive &
can be filled out right on your computer; others must be printed and
filled out the old-fashioned typewriter way.
-
LexisNexis Research for Small Firms:
http://www.lexisone.com/store/catalog?action=rootFreeCategory
This site has available over 6000 free forms in various areas of
practice, and a lot more forms you can pay for! Check out the different
areas, including litigation & personal injury, and the state sources
too. The general practice forms section provides retainer agreements,
client interview sheets, and many other forms needed in litigation
practice.
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Tutorial
for RVCC Students
You must be a currently
enrolled RVCC student with an assigned WebCT ID and Password to access
this secure area at http://webct.raritanval.edu/SCRIPT/tops/scripts/serve_home.
After logging in to
the Home page, please use the icon labeled "Litigation Practices".
For technical support, please contact online@raritanval.edu.
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Litigation Practices