Legal Office Procedures, 7th edition
Published by Pearson (May 2, 2006) © 2007
Joyce Morton

Title overview

A market-leader, Legal Office Procedures, Seventh Edition offers a logical, step-by-step introduction to the terminology, basic legal concepts, and legal procedures required to work in a contemporary law office. Using input from practicing legal professionals, the text discusses various areas of the law, contains the most up-to-date forms, emphasizes technology-driven innovations and includes new photographs and illustrations throughout. In-text projects, cases and assignments give readers practice with document preparation, contemporary procedures, and order and sequencing. An accompanying CD-ROM and Web site support the text and help prepare and train students for their career as competent legal office professionals.  

A logical, step-by-step organization–that has made this text a market leader.

  • Provides consistent and balanced coverage of law topics and demonstrates how topics build on one another. 
  • Offers a predictable chapter order that includes objectives, chapter text, summary, vocabulary, student assessments, and student assignments. 

Practice sets–appearat the end of selected chapters.

  • Help readers gain practical experience preparing a client’s case in the areas of personal injury, probate (testate), corporation, unlawful detainer (eviction or a tenant) and criminal law.
  • Are based on actual court cases and train students how to prepare a case from beginning to end and how to improve their own legal competence.   

Internet legal research projects–appear in Chapter 14.

  • Acquaint students with the vast amount of resources available on the Internet.
  • Train students to use search engines to find information on the Internet that relates to the law. 

Illustrations of legal forms–are provided for each section of the law.

  • Contain samples of the most up-to-date and commonly used legal forms relating to each section of the law.
  • Show students how to select documents appropriate for a particular situation and the order and sequence that should be used when preparing a legal case.  

An accompanying CD-ROM–contains legal forms and documents and is packaged in the back of the text.

  • Gives students one convenient source for many of the legal documents needed to complete in-text projects. 
  • Familiarizes students with numerous legal forms and makes it easy to edit saved documents, create a new document, print a hard copy or save a copy to the disk.

New! Revised chapters on The Legal Office ( Ch. 1), Office Duties ( Ch. 2) and Getting a Job (Ch. 15)–reflect changes in the office environment and legal procedures.

  • Includes new information on technology, workplace telecommunications ( e-mail, faxes), computers, digital cameras, computerized research etc.
  • Reflects the technology-driven innovations present in today’s legal offices. 

New! Updated documents and photographs–appear throughout the text.

  • Gives a realistic picture of what the modern law office and legal professional look like.
  • Prepares students for the forms, equipment and technology they will encounter their first days on the job.

Table of contents

PART I: The Law Office

1.      The Law Office

2.      Office Duties

3.      Computers and Office Systems

4.      Preparing Legal Correspondence

 

PART II: GENERAL INFORMATION

5.      The Court Structure

 

PART III: LITIGATION PROCEDURES

6.      Preparing Legal Documents

7.      The Lawsuit: Preparations for Trial

8.      The Lawsuit: Litigation and Discovery Procedures

 

PART IV: SUBSTANTIVE LAW

9.      Family Law

10.  Wills, Trusts, and Probate

11.  Business Organizations

12.  Real Estate

13.  Criminal Law

 

PART V: LEGAL RESEARCH

14.  Legal Research

 

PART VI: GETTING A JOB

15.  Getting a Job

 

APPENDICES

1.      Forms of Address

2.      Sample Captions of Court Documents

Author bios

Joyce Morton is a dedicated teacher, leader, and author in the field of education.  She has taught for many years at Fullerton College and served as Assistant Dean of Students and was the Department Coordinator for the Office Technology Area.  She is presently teaching a computer classes at Saddleback College and has developed the Office Skills Program which features self-paced Distance Education computer applications classes.  This program enrolls over 400 students each year.

 

            She has presently revised the 7th edition of the book she has authored entitled Legal Office Procedures, published by Pearson Prentice Hall.  Legal Office Procedures has been widely adopted throughout the United States and has received a 5-star rating from reviewers on Amazon.com.  This book is used in colleges and legal professional training courses throughout the United States, and seven foreign English-speaking countries.

 

            She is the recipient of the following honors and awards:

 

Listed in Outstanding Educators in America

Recipient of the USC Education Alumni Award

Recipient of the FullertonCollege Emeritus Teacher’s Award

Cited for teaching excellence by the Fullerton College Staff of Distinction Award

Attended USC on the Trojan Junior Auxiliary Scholarship

 

            She was the recipient of the Staff of Distinction Award at Fullerton College and was cited for teaching excellence, campus leadership, and contribution to one’s field.  She has also received the Fullerton College Emeritus Teacher’s Award.

 

            She has served a president of many professional organizations and presented workshops and given speeches at community and educational organizations.  She has consulted and provided computer training for various businesses and industries.  She is involved in various volunteer organizations and  recently served as Vice President of Trojan League of Orange County.

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