1L - First Year Lesson Topics

This lesson is an examination of the constitutional law aspects of Family Law. It builds upon lessons which provide a review of Constitutional Law in the Family Law context, but is much more detailed. It is intended as a supplement and review of constitutional doctrine as it occurs in specific Family Law areas such as marriage, divorce, parenting, procreation, sexuality, the rights of minors, and end-of life issues.

The purpose of this lesson is to review basic doctrines and theories of individual rights covered in Constitutional Law courses. The lesson covers the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the First Amendment, as they apply in the Family Law context.

This lesson is intended as an overview of Constitutional Law principles that are important in Family Law. It can be used at the beginning of the Family Law course as a refresher of Constitutional Law. It can also be used during the course to clarify general constitutional doctrine. This lesson is related to two other lessons regarding constitutional aspects of Family Law.

This is the third in a series of lessons on injunctions against speech. This lesson focuses on injunctions against invasions of privacy. The lesson is intended for students who have studied this material in class and who seek to refine their knowledge.

This lesson was removed at the end of 2013. It is outdated but is currently being revised. CALI

This lesson addresses the enforcement provisions of the child custody jurisdiction statutes. It also addresses the international aspects of child custody enforcement. The lesson should be worked after completing the lesson on Child Custody Jurisdiction.

Most students do all right with commas, periods, sentence fragments, and verb agreement. But what about colons, dashes, passive voice, and parallelism? This lesson covers several advanced topics in grammar and punctuation for the legal writer who is ready to move beyond the basics.

This lesson covers the basics of both spousal and child support jurisdiction. It is intended as an introduction to the materials and it can also be used for review.

This lesson provides an overview of the branches of the U.S. government and how each branch makes law.

This lesson teaches you about the operation of Marketable Title Acts which are also known as Marketable Record Title Acts. The focus is on statutes based on the Model Act. You should already be familiar with recording acts before attempting this lesson.

The definition and location of customary international law is a difficult research task. This lesson begins by defining customary international law and placing customary international law into context through historical examples. Two research strategies for locating custom will be introduced. The first strategy is to locate pre-defined custom using a source that discusses state practice that has risen to the level of custom. The second and more complex strategy involves searching directly for evidence of customary international law.

This lesson gives the basics of copyright and trademark research, including historical background, statutes, regulations, cases, secondary sources, international materials, and current awareness tools.

This lesson will introduce the student to researching legal ethics. 

We are all aware of the perils of poor electronic legal research skills. And, we have all heard of ways the misuse of electronic legal resources has challenged those engaged in legal practice. Though Westlaw® and Lexis® provide us with sophisticated functionality that can ease the pain of legal research, these systems do not necessarily provide the most cost efficient means of conducting research.

This lesson will provide students with some general background on U.S. immigration law and will give an overview of tools students can use for immigration law research. Students should have a fundamental knowledge of legal research tools but do not need to have any background in immigration law to proceed with the lesson. The lesson would work best while also taking a class about immigration law.

This lesson is intended to be used as both an introduction to Child Custody Jurisdiction and as a review for students who have already studied the material.

This lesson demonstrates the ways in which internet searching can provide access to internal administrative agency materials.

This lesson will provide an understanding of the language, mechanics, and process of conducting research of U.S. treaties: the major sources of treaty texts (both official and unofficial), major indexes and finding tools, resources for updating treaties, and a basic strategy for treaty research.

This lesson introduces the student to the doctrine and processes involved in interpreting state and federal statutes. Statutes are a critical part of every substantive area of the law, so this is important background for every student, legal professional, lawyer and judge.

This lesson provides an introduction to research using primary sources of Maryland law, including case reporters and digests, statutes, legislative history, agency regulations and decisions, and attorney general opinions.

This lesson will outline some of the most common online news sources sought and how to find them.

This is an introduction to federal and state attorney general materials.

This lesson is intended to familiarize the reader with Georgia legal research materials. The lesson focuses on Georgia's primary source material including cases and digests, citators, statutes, administrative materials, court rules and ethics.