Reference no: EM131203167

Fact pattern: You are a paralegal in a Maryland general practice law firm. The intake paralegal who screens new client phone calls has set up an appointment for a prospective client to meet with your supervisory attorney later in the day. All you know about the case is this: the client is an elderly woman whose son, Johnny, was found guilty in federal court of several crimes involving possession and distribution of narcotics. He was sentenced to confinement for 10 years but plans to appeal his conviction. His mother wants to know if it's possible for Johnny to be released on bail pending appeal. She told the intake paralegal that Johnny told her that he might not get bail pending appeal if the court determines that he is a danger to the community.

Research question: Your supervisory attorney wants you to research secondary legal authority to get some idea of what constitutes a danger to the community when a judge has to decide whether to release someone convicted of narcotics offenses on bail pending appeal.

Note 1: This is a federal court issue so make sure you use federal cases. It is best to use cases from the U.S. Supreme Court case or a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Do not use unpublished cases, cases from the Federal Appendix, or memorandum opinions or orders.

Note 2: You may not use the same case for both parts. You'll see that A.L.R. usually provides far more cases and discussion in annotations than AmJur2d does in its sections, so you may have to rethink which case you'll use for Part 1 to ensure there is no duplication with Part 2.

Part 1 - American Law Reports

1. Provide the title, author and publication data (ALR series, volume #, start page) for one ALR annotation that has information directly relevant to the research question. Do not simply copy the citation to the annotation - give me (a) the series; (b) the volume #; and (c) the start page.

2. Within this annotation, what are the title(s) and number(s) of the most directly relevant section(s)? Why is/are these section(s)directly relevant to the question?

3. Give the name of one federal court opinion referenced in one of these sections that appears to be relevant to the question. Why do you think it is relevant based on the information in the annotation?

4. Retrieve the full court opinion you referenced in #3. Explain why this opinion is relevant to your question using a quote from the summary or syllabus or the introductory part of the opinion that shows that the opinion is relevant to your question.

5. For the court opinion you referenced in #3, state where that opinion is published (reporter, volume number, start page), what court wrote the opinion, and what year was the opinion decided. Do NOT simply provide the case citation.

Part 2 - American Jurisprudence 2d

1. Provide the title of a topic title in AmJur2d and the section number and section title of the sections within that topic title that have information directly relevant to your question. Why are these sections relevant?

2. Give the name of one federal court opinion referenced in one of these sections that appears to be relevant to the question. Why do you think it is relevant based on the information in the encyclopedia article?

3. Retrieve and read the full the court opinion you referenced in #2. Explain why this opinion is relevant to your question using a quote from the summary or syllabus or the introductory part of the opinion that shows that the opinion is relevant to your question.

4. For the court opinion you referenced in #2, tell where that opinion is published (reporter, volume number, start page), what court wrote the opinion, and what year was the opinion decided. Do NOT simply provide the case citation.