In this guide you will find resources for North Carolina Practice Materials arranged according to fields of law.
Note: although some of the publications have older copyright dates, many of them are updated periodically with supplements or new chapters/pages—so if an older dated publication looks interesting, check for supplementation (often in a pamphlet in the back of the book).
Below is a subject index for the different practice areas of interest in this guide.
Practice Materials focus on specific aspects of legal practice rather than exploring the law from an academic, historical, or public-policy perspective. These resources come in many forms, and each resource has its own set of features. Although each source is unique, we can make broad generalizations about resources based on several categories. The following categories of publications are not the only types of practice materials available, and they are not formal, exclusive definitions. A resource may contain elements from all three of these categories, or none of them. However, knowing these broad generalizations can be useful in choosing a resource to explore.
You’ve probably run across non-legal manuals in your life, and might think of them as ‘how-to’ guides for a task or piece of equipment. Legal manuals can be thought of similarly. These practice-oriented books often contain a combination of legal information and practical, procedural information, arranged in logical order. Manuals often contain forms of various types as well.
Not all form books are alike, and they can be used in many different contexts. Form books may contain copies of actual fill-in-the-blank forms used by law enforcement or the court system. They may also contain sample documents—such as wills, contracts, or complaints—with “boilerplate” language that an attorney or law student may use as an aid in drafting their own legal documents. The forms may serve as templates for certain types of legal documents. Law students may find form books useful guides to what these legal documents look like, what sorts of clauses they contain, and what specific legal language or phrasing may be used to invoke a particular legal concept. Attorneys may find form books useful as a checklist or as a starting point for drafting documents to fit their clients’ needs. Some form books contain analysis in addition to the forms.
So named because they are meant to be kept close at hand (on a lawyer’s desk), these books are designed to function as a comprehensive guide to an area of law, highlighting causes of action and rules of law and construction on legal topics. Many also include forms.
In order to stay current on the law, attorneys are required to complete a certain number of education credits each year. The publications from those classes are often succinct and practical highlights of special topics in an area of law or changes in the law. These publications are not updated, but can provide a useful view of legal topics aimed at practicing attorneys.
