I. INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Instructor: Alan B. Stover is an attorney admitted to the bar in Maryland and DC. He has a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center (1975) and currently practices law as a sole practitioner, primarily in the fields of construction law (he is also a licensed architect), contracts, business and nonprofit organizations.
Mr. Stover has taught as an adjunct at Montgomery College since 1997. In 2004, he received his Master's Degree in Distance Education from the University of Maryland University College, an entirely online degree program. At Montgomery College, he also teaches online sections of LA 101, Introduction to the Legal System, and LA 103, Legal Writing.
Email: alan.stover@montgomerycollege.edu. Please include "LA102" in the subject line and be sure that your email program identifies you by name. Also, include your name in your email message.
II. GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION
MC Catalog Course Description: This course focuses on the importance of legal research as a skill that is part of a legal assistant's tools. Explores the principles of an organized approach to legal research, kinds of law books, components of a law book, citations, reading and finding constitutional law, regulations, case law, and statutory law. Students will read and brief statutes and cases. In learning various legal research tools, students will use indexes, digests, Shepard's citators, and treatises to establish authority to support a position. Other sources of research include federal and state codes, reports, and administrative regulations.
Prerequisite: LA 101.
Additional information: This section of LA102 differs substantially from the face-to-face version of this course offered on campus. This course is delivered through the WebCT distance learning interface. As an online course, it will concentrate on performing legal research online rather than by looking up printed materials in a law library. However, not all legal information resources are available online, and the principal online legal research tools, Westlaw and Lexis, require a subscription (Westlaw access is provided free to paralegal students at Montgomery College). Most online materials are based on their printed predecessors. Thus, it will be important for students to understand the printed materials that are the basis for traditional legal research. There will be some assignments that require the student to perform research using books and materials in a law library. Montgomery College does not have a law library, and the legal materials at public libraries are limited.
Students will be required to attend in-person orientation sessions at the Montgomery County Judicial Center law library for library research, and at Montgomery College for Westlaw research. These sessions will be scheduled after class begins. Because the County law library is not open after regular business hours, this may require students who work at day jobs to arrange to take time off from work. Sessions at Montgomery College will be scheduled outside of normal business hours.
III. OUTCOMES AND OBJECTIVES (from standard LA102 Syllabus)
On completing this course successfully, the student will be able to:
IV. TEXTS
V. GRADING POLICIES AND STANDARDS
Students will be required to complete weekly research assignments, contribute to the online discussion board postings, and complete periodic online quizzes, texts and exams. Each assignment will be worth a specified number of points. The total number of points that a student can earn will be approximately 110%. Timeliness is critical in the legal field: points will be deducted from late assignments.
Grading scale:
A = 90% and above
B = 80 - 89%
C = 70 - 79%
D = 60 - 69%
F = less than 60%
VI. CLASS POLICIES
Students are expected to visit the course site three times per week to check for announcements, email and class discussion postings. Students are required to submit at least one substantive posting each week to the online discussion board.
B. Withdrawal from Class
Students who are not able to maintain the pace of the class are encouraged to withdraw. The deadline for withdrawing with a refund is Sunday, February 12. The deadline for withdrawing with a "W" grade is Sunday, April 16. A student who does not participate in the class and complete the required homework assignments, and fails to withdraw, will receive a grade of "F."
C. Academic Integrity
Students are expected to perform their own work on all assignments. Do not share elctronic files. Do not copy the work of another student or allow another student to copy your work. Students should be aware of the academic dishonesty policy at Montgomery College.
D. Support Services
Any student with a disability should contact the Disability Support Services office at Montgomery College. The student should then contact the instructor to discuss authorized accommodations.