Legal Research & Writing Resource Month

February is Legal Research & Writing Resource Month at the Harris County Law Library. Whether you are an attorney drafting a motion or a self-represented litigant navigating the court system, writing is a necessary component of your legal work. Visit the Law Library all month long to find resources on display that you can use to improve and enhance your legal research and writing skills.

To improve your legal writing skills, look for the following: 

To improve your legal research skills, look for the following:

Latest & Greatest - Unbundled Legal Services: A Family Lawyer’s Guide

By Forrest S. Mosten and Elizabeth Potter Scully

Published by American Bar Association

KF 299 .D6 M67 2017

Using the prevalence and proliferation of self-representation as an impetus, authors Forrest S. Mosten and Elizabeth Potter Scully have embarked upon the advancement of a method of legal representation known as unbundled legal services, or as it also called, limited scope representation in their book, Unbundled Legal Services: A Family Lawyer’s Guide. Broken down into its simplest terms, unbundled legal services refers to the practice of offering various legal services and allowing the client to select the “discrete lawyering tasks” he/she wants the lawyer to perform. The authors have identified seven categories into which these tasks fall and have provided a framework through which such unbundled services can be delivered, thereby allowing a family lawyer with the flexibility to offer full service court representation or become a non-court family lawyer offering limited scope services. Each chapter focuses on the various roles that a family lawyer is typically called upon to assume and explains how such roles can be transformed into one unbundled service. For instance, in many cases, lawyers are, at the same time, dispute resolution managers, negotiators, document drafters, and litigators for their clients. However, according to the authors, each of these roles can be unbundled and offered to the client as separate tasks as opposed to the typical all-or-nothing approach that most full service representation presents. Thus, the client can hire the attorney for those tasks for which he or she might need the most assistance. At the end of most chapters, the authors have provided their readers with practice tips for putting the presented models into play. Also, the authors have set forth the ethical considerations involved with unbundling and possible malpractice “minefields.”

If the idea of the unbundled legal services approach is new to you or if you have not yet considered it as an option for your law practice, come to the Harris County Law Library and have a look at Unbundled Legal Services: A Family Lawyer’s Guide. Who knows? It might be the right plan for you.

Latest & Greatest – Wills Road Map: Practical Considerations in Will Drafting

By Steve Akers, Bernard E. Jones, and R.J. Watts, II

Published by State Bar of Texas (Texas Bar Books)

KFT 1344 .A94 2017

Continuing with Wills and Probate Law Resource Month, the Harris County Law Library is pleased to have available the new edition of Wills Road Map: Practical Considerations in Will Drafting. Now in its third edition, Wills Road Map outlines the fundamental concepts that attorneys need to consider when preparing a will and when upholding the validity of such will. The authors begin with a discussion of the basic requirements of a will, including those that are statutorily-mandated and those that have been derived from years of case law. They provide examples of some specific will provisions and their purposes, including those that identify the testator, his/her family, and the property being disposed under the will, and some other miscellaneous provisions, such as definitions, in terrorem clauses, and the attestation clause. The authors also provide some insight into the substantive laws that affect the disposition of assets under a will, such as those regarding extraneous references and integration, and legal doctrines that may affect specific bequests, such as ademption and abatement. They round out their discussion of practical considerations by addressing trust planning, fiduciary powers and trust administration, and revocation of a will.

With both the general practitioner and the wills and estate planning specialist in mind, the authors have prepared a guide that not only covers the law surrounding the preparation and execution of wills but also the practical aspects in drafting them. In the appendixes, you can find a checklist for will review, client information questionnaires, and some samples of basic will forms. Next time, you are visiting the Harris County Law Library, have a look at Wills Road Map: Practical Considerations in Will Drafting. Just ask for it at the Reference Desk.

Latest & Greatest – Texas Probate Forms & Procedures

By M. Keith Branyon

Published by James Publishing

KFT 1244 .A6 B73

January is Wills and Probate Resource Month here at the Harris County Law Library, so we are featuring various resources to assist you with your wills drafting, estate planning, and probate administering needs. In this regard, we are pleased to announce the acquisition of a new title: Texas Probate Forms & Procedures. Featuring more than 200 sample forms, this book covers the steps of the probate process from the initial client interview and engagement through the closing of the administration and so much more. The author begins by discussing the considerations involved in choosing the appropriate types of proceedings and administrations as well as the proper venue and court. He pays particular attention to the various administrations that exist here in Texas, such as temporary, independent, and dependent administrations and explains the steps involved in the process from the preparing and filing of the initial application to the hearing and the attendant duties that fall upon the representatives in each type of administration. The author also focuses upon other proceedings and probate alternatives, such as: muniment of title, determination of heirship, small estate affidavits, and orders of no administration. You can also find chapters devoted to emergency procedures, such as emergency applications prior to probate and examination of documents, the procedures involved with probating a foreign will, the handling of creditors and their claims, tax considerations, and will contests.

Be sure to have a look at Texas Probate Forms & Procedures and all of other wills and probate law resources the next time you visit the Harris County Law Library.

Latest & Greatest – Friedman and Smith on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property

By Milton R. Friedman & James Charles Smith

Published by Practising Law Institute

KF 670 .F7 2017

With the recently-released, Friedman and Smith on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property, author and editor James Charles Smith took on the monumental task of revising one of the key treatises in the area of real estate law. Ever since its first publication in 1954, the original Friedman on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property, written by the late Milton R. Friedman, has been an authoritative reference resource for real estate attorneys and has been a reliable source for instructing lawyers as to what they should and should not be doing.

Divided into three volumes, Friedman and Smith explores practically every aspect of a real estate transaction from the contract of sale to the closing process and everything in between. Featuring over 140 sample forms, clauses, and checklists, Friedman and Smith also includes in-depth discussions of issues such as misrepresentation, mortgages and other encumbrances, marketable title and title examination, adverse possession and prescription, easements, covenants, and remedies for defaults. The text does not focus merely on one party to the transaction, but rather provides information that is useful to both buyers and sellers.

Before you take part in that next, or perhaps your first, real estate transaction, have a look at Friedman and Smith on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property. It may just have all of the essential information you need.