Katherine A. Currier - Introduction to Law for Paralegals: A Critical Thinking Approach

A Critical Thinking Approach

Eighth Edition

KATHERINE A. CURRIER

Professor Emeritus, Elms College

THOMAS E. EIMERMANN

Professor Emeritus, Illinois State University

MARISA SZABO CAMPBELL

Director, Paralegal Program, Meredith College

Copyright 2023 Katherine A. Currier, Thomas E. Eimermann, and Marisa S. Campbell

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or utilized by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information about permissions or to request permissions online, visit us at www.AspenPublishing.com.

Cover image: iStock.com/SerrNovik

To contact Customer Service, e-mail , call 1-800-950-5259, or mail correspondence to:

Aspen Publishing
Attn: Order Department
PO Box 990
Frederick, MD 21705

ISBN 978-1-5438-5847-1

eISBN 978-1-5438-5848-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data application is in process.

Aspen Publishing is a leading provider of educational content and digital learning solutions to law schools in the U.S. and around the world. Aspen provides best-in-class solutions for legal education through authoritative textbooks, written by renowned authors, and breakthrough products such as Connected eBooks, Connected Quizzing, and PracticePerfect.

The Aspen Casebook Series (famously known among law faculty and students as the red and black casebooks) encompasses hundreds of highly regarded textbooks in more than eighty disciplines, from large enrollment courses, such as Torts and Contracts to emerging electives such as Sustainability and the Law of Policing. Study aids such as the Examples & Explanations and the Emanuel Law Outlines series, both highly popular collections, help law students master complex subject matter.

Major products, programs, and initiatives include:

• Connected eBooks are enhanced digital textbooks and study aids that come with a suite of online content and learning tools designed to maximize student success. Designed in collaboration with hundreds of faculty and students, the Connected eBook is a significant leap forward in the legal education learning tools available to students.

• Connected Quizzing is an easy-to-use formative assessment tool that tests law students understanding and provides timely feedback to improve learning outcomes. Delivered through CasebookConnect.com, the learning platform already used by students to access their Aspen casebooks, Connected Quizzing is simple to implement and integrates seamlessly with law school course curricula.

• PracticePerfect is a visually engaging, interactive study aid to explain commonly encountered legal doctrines through easy-to-understand animated videos, illustrative examples, and numerous practice questions. Developed by a team of experts, PracticePerfect is the ideal study companion for todays law students.

• The Aspen Learning Library enables law schools to provide their students with access to the most popular study aids on the market across all of their courses. Available through an annual subscription, the online library consists of study aids in e-book, audio, and video formats with full text search, note-taking, and highlighting capabilities.

• Aspens Digital Bookshelf is an institutional-level online education bookshelf, consolidating everything students and professors need to ensure success. This program ensures that every student has access to affordable course materials from day one.

• Leading Edge is a community centered on thinking differently about legal education and putting those thoughts into actionable strategies. At the core of the program is the Leading Edge Conference, an annual gathering of legal education thought leaders looking to pool ideas and identify promising directions of exploration.

To our spouses and children
for their understanding and support

Katherine A. Currier, J.D., served as the Elms College Paralegal and Legal Studies program director for many years. She developed and taught many law-related courses, including Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing; Introduction to Legal Studies I and II; Law Office Computer Literacy; Law Office Applications; Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating; and Law and Literature. In addition to the three texts she has coauthored with Professor Eimermann, Professor Currier has publications in the areas of legal ethics as applied to paralegals and law office computing.

Professor Currier has been actively involved in the development of undergraduate legal education at both the regional and the national levels, particularly through her work with the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE) and the American Bar Association (ABA) Approval Commission on Paralegals. Professor Currier served on the national board of AAfPE, first as its parliamentarian and then later as the elected representative of four-year paralegal programs. She served many years as the AAfPE publications chair, charged with the final responsibility for overseeing the Journal of Paralegal Education and Practice and The Educator. Professor Currier frequently speaks at both the AAfPE Northeast regional meetings and the annual AAfPE conferences on topics as diverse as the use of computer shareware, paralegals and the unauthorized practice of law, creative teaching techniques, and conducting legal research on the Internet. Professor Currier also chaired the American Bar Association Approval Commission on Paralegals, the body charged with conducting site visits of paralegal programs that are seeking their initial ABA approval or reapproval. She also served on the Board of Directors of the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in business education.

Prior to teaching at Elms College, Professor Currier taught at Suffolk Law School and Western New England College School of Law. She graduated magna cum laude with her B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College, with her M.A. in Political Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, and with her J.D. from Northeastern University Law School.

Thomas E. Eimermann is Emeritus Professor of Political Science and a former Director of the Legal Studies Program at Illinois State University. Dr. Eimermann helped establish the paralegal program there in 1976 and served as director until 2005. He has taught the Introduction to Paralegal Studies, Legal Research and Writing, and Constitutional Law courses.

Professor Eimermann was a member of the American Association for Paralegal Educations Board of Directors from 1986 to 1993 and served as president of that organization from 1991 to 1992. He has also served in the Certification Board and Specialty Task Force of the National Association of Legal Assistants; p. ix p. x as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services; and as a member of the Hearing Board, the Inquiry Board, and the Oversight Committee of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. He was also a consultant for the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he designed its Uniform Law Clerk Training Program.