Legal Writing & Research

• Video Assessment

Students will be able...

Advanced Search

1. to practice constructing terms and connectors searches  

Citators

2. to analyze negative treatment of a point of law in a case by considering factors such as jurisdiction, court level, and depth of discussion of the citing source.
3. to use a citator to identify additional cases that support your legal argument.
4. to explain the process of using a citator for statutes.

Jordan is a dog handler who lives in Solana Beach, California. Sydney, a rival handler from Mission Viejo, does not handle losing to Jordan well.

• The last four times Sydney was waiting when Jordan arrived at Solana Beach Dog Grooming. Each time Sydney watched Jordan enter before driving away laughing.
• Jordan has received 17 phone calls with only the sounds of dogs barking on the other end.
• After losing again, Sydney yelled across the course, “I will end this one way or another!” When confronted by the host Sydney said, “It’s not like I was threatening to kill him.”

Does what Sydney did count as a credible threat for criminal stalking in California?

1. Preliminary Information
   • Jurisdiction: California
2. Issue statement
   • Does what Sydney did count as a credible threat for criminal stalking in California?
3. Search Terms
   • credible threat
   • criminal stalking
4. Secondary Sources
   • e.g., 6 California Criminal Defense Practice § 142.11A (2024)
5. Primary Sources
   • Statute: California Penal Code § 646.9
   • Cases: People v. Zavala, 30 Cal. Rptr. 3d 398 (2005), People v. Lopez, 192 Cal.Rptr. 3d 585 (2015), People v. Itehua, 173 Cal. Rptr. 3d 614 (2014) and many more.
6. Advanced Search and Citators

Legal research is iterative, you often need to repeat steps...

1. Terms & Connectors
2. Citators: Using Keycite for Validity
3. Citators: Using Shepard's for Validity