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Category: Research Guide

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Legal Ethics: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post is coauthored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, legal reference specialists. Everyone has a favorite lawyer joke. Robert encountered his favorite in the waiting room of a law office. Sitting on a table was a book titled, “Lawyer’s Book of Ethics.” It was blank. Notwithstanding this perception, the reality is that law is …

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An Introduction to Animal Law

Posted by: Robert Brammer

This is a guest post by Ashley Sundin who was an intern with the Law Library’s Public Services Division this summer. Animal law is a rapidly growing area of law, especially in the past decade.  The human-animal interaction comes in a variety of forms including companionship, agriculture, and science.  As a result, animal law extends …

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Family Law: A Beginner’s Guide – Part 2: Child Custody, Support, and Adoption

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post is coauthored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, legal reference specialists. In Part Two of our Family Law Beginner’s Guide, we are shifting our focus to what the law says about children’s roles in the family—focusing on their custody and care.  Below, please find information and resources for legal researchers regarding child custody, …

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Foreclosure Defense: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Robert Brammer

This post is coauthored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, legal reference specialists   The loss of a home to foreclosure can be devastating financially and emotionally. In this guide, we hope to provide you with resources that can aid you in researching a defense to a foreclosure action. Please keep in mind that foreclosure …

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An Introduction to Water Law

Posted by: Margaret Wood

Although I grew up in an arid western state, my first real awareness of the complicated rules governing water usage came when I saw the movie The Milagro Beanfield War in 1988.  The action in the movie centers around the accidental and illegal diversion of water by Joe Mondragon, which brings down the wrath of the state government …

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Discovery: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post was co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, Legal Reference Specialists. We receive a wide array of questions here at the Law Library of Congress—from detailed foreign legal research, to tracing U.S. federal legislation, and everything in between—but one area of legal research on which we consistently receive requests for assistance is the …

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Preparing Witnesses For Trial: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Robert Brammer

This post was co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, Legal Reference Specialists. When discussing the use of witnesses at trial, attention often focuses on the use of witnesses in criminal actions, such as how eyewitness identifications are made or whether improper behavior, like witness tampering, has affected the outcome of a trial. However, witnesses …