Legal Research is Easy!

So, I had a lady come into the library yesterday.  She was stomping all over and whining (that's right, whining) about how hard it was to find anything in the law library and why can't he find anything and why is it legal research is so #%@^@^@#$!@!!@#$!!! hard?!?  The fact is, as I pointed out, legal research is no harder than any other research; you just have to follow the #1 rule of legal research: always ask the law librarian first.  That's right, come and talk to me and most of your troubles will dissolve away in seconds (because I do this legal research stuff all the time and I know what you need probably before you realize you need it).

For instance, after this young lady settled down she tells me that she had been sued for failing to pay on his credit cards (i.e. breach of contract) and he needed to file an answer.  Before she could blink twice, I walked her over to American Jurisprudence Forms of Pleading and Practice and California Civil Practice: Procedure, (both of which can help her prepare an answer).  Because I work in California, another great resource is the California Judicial Council Forms which have all sorts of civil and criminal forms already to use and fill-out.  Finally, I led her over to the California Codes to see the laws on contracts (look in the civil code for information relating to contracts).  See, easy peasy.  In less time than it took to build up all that steam, I was able to ease this lady's pain, calm her down to a low roar, and hand her answers to all her problems.  ALL of them.

So, next time you find yourself in a legal quandary and don't know what to do, what do you think you should do?  That's right - save yourself a whole heap of grief and just go to your friendly neighborhood law librarian and ask for help.  We know all the answers and know what you need long before you think you even think you need it.  Yeah, we are that good!