Legal Method: A Guide for Paralegals and Law Students

This book describes - not rules of law but - rules about law; the tools that lawyers use to lawyer.A law school education is more one of learning about the law than learning the law. No one person can know all the law, but most can learn the tools that lawyers and judges use to analyze, interpret and apply a law; any law. Knowledge of the rules about law distinguishes the way a lawyer approaches a problem from the way a layman would approach that problem. A law student or paralegal needs a foundation of knowledge about the legal method - the tools - that are used regardless of what area of law is involved.The object of this work is to show how judges and lawyers - well - judge and lawyer. More specifically, it covers the intrinsic and extrinsic guides to statutory construction, the guides for analysis and use of case law, and the intrinsic and extrinsic guides to contract interpretation. Its primary purpose is to explain the fundamental method of analysis of any legal issue by discussing the tools for extracting meaning from legal texts.About the author: The author practiced law for over 35 years. During his tenure as Counsel with a major financial services corporation, he was responsible for its law department's paralegals and paralegal development program. Those duties led him to develop the three foundation courses that are now available in book and digital form: Legal Logic, Legal Method, and Legal Promise.