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Sourcebooks Content:
DISCIPLINES |
Welcome... The design of these sourcebooks are elementary and are, by no means, a comprehensive assessment of a particular legal discipline. They will, however, allow the reader to better understand the various disciplines of law. Hopefully, the use of these guides will lessen the personal inconvenience of attempting to look up the answers to legal questions. Additionally, these guides should reduce the amount of time the reader will ultimately spend with chosen legal counsel and, therefore, reduce to some degree the costs of legal services. On the other hand, these sourcebooks are also designed to bring to the legal community a better educated public. The massive amount of legal information that is available to the individual attorney would, without question, overwhelm a member of the public who is not trained to research and retrieve the information that would typically apply to a given legal subject. A competent attorney who is skilled in providing legal advice should welcome someone with a basic understanding of the subject matter. Therefore, the reader should feel comfortable in the fact that it will be possible to meet in the attorney's office with a greater understanding of the subject matter involved. An overview and basic understanding are provided through a question and answer format. Also included are some basic forms that most likely would be used in a given state. An attorney might employ these general forms in responding to client needs and court requirements. It is never recommended that an individual undertake his or her own representation in legal matters, even though most states do permit such activity. Any individual who is serious about the law would want to have capable legal assistance, and, in that regard, the reader is urged to contact a competent attorney who, as mentioned above, should welcome the fact that a client is arriving at his or her office with the information acquired from these guides.
It is not a conspiracy by the legal community to keep information from the general public. It is not because of the unique legal training received by attorneys that information is not readily available to the public. It is not because of the special features of legal language that the information about the law is not found in general reference. The bottom line is simply that there is so much information written in each state about the laws of that state. In addition, federal laws often apply, and the federal ramifications must be taken into consideration. Consequently, the body of law that relates to a given area, or as we call it in this publication "discipline" of the law, is so immense that even the most skilled attorney in a particular field, would have no way of memorizing or remembering all of the applicable law for that field of study in a single state. The training that an individual attorney receives allows him or her to readily find the necessary material and properly and skillfully represent the client. Of course, we're speaking of competent attorneys, and the public should understand that the majority of attorneys fall into that category. The vast body of law that is available to attorneys is often available to
the general public either through a public library in some instances or through
a law library generally situated at a law school, a major university or a major
corporation. Many times the
librarians of those facilities will permit members of the public to browse
through the legal information that is also available to attorneys. However, without appropriate training, members of the public
who are attempting to ascertain answers to even simple questions may find
themselves spending endless hours or days on a particular subject.
They may also end up misleading themselves if they allow their research
to take them in a wrong direction. Therefore,
despite what many people believe, there is a vital need for the legal community
and competent legal advice. On the
other hand, there is an equally vital need for the public to have access to
understandable legal reference material in order to be better informed when
contacting their attorney. The disciplines, or topics of the law, that have been chosen by LAWCHEK� are the disciplines that LAWCHEK� surveys indicate to be matters of most common interest. There are literally thousands of topics for research under the general body of law and hundreds of those topics break down even further into subtopics. Many of the topics and subtopics can be interrelated and essentially cross the paths of other topics depending upon a factual scenario that may develop in a given situation. For example, a corporation may have a contract with an individual and that contract, in turn, may be involved with financing through a particular bank that, in turn, may require certain collateral and a specific form of insurance. In this scenario, it is understandable that corporation law, contract law, the uniform commercial code, banking law, and insurance law might all apply, to name the most obvious. In a more specific area from the same scenario, it might be necessary for an appropriate application of a secured transaction to fall under the uniform commercial code and, in such cases, a particular form for filing with either a secretary of state or the local county recorder may come into the picture. It can be seen from this simple example that the various topics or disciplines of the law are so interrelated that an effort by your attorney to research the particulars under any one of those topics may be necessary. It is not the purpose of the LAWCHEK� information or legal sourcebooks to deal with any in-depth legal issues that would obviously involve the research of a competent attorney. This resource is exclusively designed to enable you to have an overview of a legal discipline before you consult with your attorney and/or before you decide whether you do or do not feel you should proceed with your case. The structure into the discipline method of reference explanations for the public is also provided to give the public an appreciation of the type of format that is used in presenting a legal document. By having an awareness of the forms as well as an awareness of the basic information about the discipline, you should be far better equipped to consult your attorney about the law. CODES, SECTIONS, AND SUBSECTIONS - Throughout the LAWCHEK� guides, references are made to legal codes, sections, and subsections (�). Examples of these references are: Massachusetts Code 231:85P, Section 3109.01 of the Ohio Revised Code, �4-27-301 of the Arkansas Code. Should you choose to research this legal information on your own, the information may be accessed at the law library of a major college or university. However, it should be noted that law libraries are not organized in the same manner as other libraries. Anyone attempting to undertake his or her own research should be prepared to confront a difficult, tedious task. It is advisable that an attorney or someone else familiar with legal research be consulted. TRADEMARKS/COPYRIGHTS - All material of LAWCHEK� is protected with appropriate trademarks and copyrights. Additionally, terms mentioned in this online sourcebook that are known to be or suspected to be the trademarks or service marks of other companies are capitalized. LAWCHEK� cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The use of a term in this sourcebook should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. |
