CALR Project
INTRODUCTION
Attorneys delegate legal research assignments to paralegals on a daily basis. Therefore, paralegals must be able to use CALR systems, such as Lexis, WESTLAW, and the Internet, to quickly and efficiently retrieve legal information. This graded project will test your skills in this critical area. Read the description of each legal research assignment and complete each assignment using the Internet or Lexis-Nexis.
INTERNET
Use the Internet for sections I, II, and III of this project.
I. Build a Judge Profile
Your firm has a case coming up for trial. Your supervising attorney needs you to profile the judge using the Internet. The judge’s name is*****’Malley, a federal district judge in Ohio. Print your research results.


II. Perform Company Research
Your attorney has signed on a new client, Dell Computer Corporation, and wants to learn more about Dell’s business operations. Print two (2) company profiles from independent sources.

III. Evaluate Internet Information Quality
Go to
http://www.whitehouse.gov
and
http://www.whitehouse.net
and compare and analyze the two Web sites. Write a few paragraphs evaluating the content of the information in the two sites.
LEXIS-NEXIS
Use Lexis-Nexis for sections IV,V, VI, VII, and VIII
of this project.


IV. Formulate a Search Request
Your supervising attorney is representing a drug manufacturer that has designed a new arthritis drug. During clinical trials, volunteers who took the drug experienced heart palpitations and nervousness. The drug manufacturer has asked your firm if it must disclose the side effects of the drug to potential
patients. The client needs an answer to this research question as soon as possible to determine if it should seek FDA approval in order to release the drug to the public.

Formulate two queries for the research assignment using (A) natural language
and (B) terms and connectors
. Use Federal and State Caselaw as your source. Print just the first page of your research results in the Cite list format for each search query. Be sure your search requests are visible.


V. Search and Retrieve Primary and Secondary Legal Materials
A.
Retrieve and print the first two pages of the following case by citation:
17 Cal. 3d 425.
B.
Retrieve and print the first two pages of any case involving the following party name:
Trump Wilshire Associates
C.
Retrieve and print the first two pages of the following
case by docket number:
B018788
D.
Explain the three different ways to display your research results and how to view the results. Print a sample document in each display type (for a long document, you may print only the first two pages to save paper).
E.
Describe the types of secondary materials that are available on Lexis-Nexis, and name five specific sources.


VI. Verify the Accuracy of Caselaw and Statutes Your supervising attorney has given you the following citations:
• 217 B.R. 598
• 523 U.S. 574
• Fed. R. Civ. P. 26
She wants you to validate the legal materials to find out if they’re still good law. Carry out the assignment and print your research results. It’s OK to print out only the first few pages if you get a lot of hits. (Note: For the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure select your first hit Exact Match and print out the first page.)


VII. Company and Financial Research
A.
Locate the company headquarters, address, and telephone number for eBay, the online auction house. Print samples of your research results.
B.
Print the first two pages of the latest quarterly (10Q) report for Dell Computer Corporation.


VIII. Retrieve Public Records
A.
Your attorney needs to find expert witnesses on the effects of drug interactions for a liability case. Print information on two individuals with expertise on the
subject of drug interaction.
B.
Your attorney needs to find tax information for properties owned by Allianz Properties Partnership Ltd. in Texas. Find and print the address of the partnership, and the property records for the properties.