Teaching Legal Docs

What Is an Allocution Statement?

After pleading guilty, a defendant is typically offered a formal opportunity to address the court to express remorse, and explain personal circumstances that might be considered in sentencing. This is known as an allocution statement. These statements have a long and important history in the American legal system, serve a variety of functions, and, as “Teaching Legal Docs” explores here, produces an associated legal document.

Birth Certificates

Maybe yours is tucked in a box or filed for safekeeping. The odds are that you have one: a birth certificate. On any given day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 10,800 babies are born in the United States, or one birth every eight seconds. Most, if not all, of them will be issued birth certificates. A birth certificate is a document issued by a government that records the birth of a child for vital statistics, tax, military, and census purposes. The birth certificate is among the first legal documents an individual might acquire.

What Is an Executive Order?

One of the most common “presidential” documents in our modern government is an executive order. Every American president has issued at least one, totaling more than (as of this writing) 13,731 since George Washington took office in 1789. Media reports of “changes made by executive order,” or “executive orders to come” rarely explain what the document is, or other technical details, such as why, or how.

What is an Environmental Impact Statement?

By Tiffany Middleton

The environmental impact statement (EIS) is a government document that outlines the impact of a proposed project on its surrounding environment. In the United States, these statements are mandated by federal law for certain projects.

What Is “Expungement?”

It is not uncommon among juvenile court proceedings to encounter the term “expungement,” or find an expungement order issued by the court. What does it mean? Here, Teaching Legal Docs will explore an expungement order, and try to place the document in a larger context of law and culture.

Federal Firearms Licensing: An Overview

The Federal Firearms License (FFL) allows individuals to engage in business related to the manufacture of ammunition or firearms or the interstate or intrastate sale of firearms. Holding an FFL to pursue these activities has been a legal requirement in the United States since 1968, with the passage of the Gun Control Act.

Getting to Know the IRS W-2 Form

Near the beginning of each year workers in the United States receive from their employers a “Wage and Tax Statement” commonly known as the W-2, after the Internal Revenue Service’s classification of the form. This annual form is, as its name suggests, a statement of taxable wages earned and taxes paid throughout the previous year.

The Forensic Psychology Report

by Howard Kaplan

Forensic psychologists are commonly required to offer clinical evaluations of individuals who are “involved” with the legal system. This typically entails interviewing the individuals being evaluated and may require them to testify orally in court as expert witnesses. However, essential to these evaluations is also writing a forensic psychology report. “Reports are a major work product of forensic psychologists.

What Is an “Original” Magna Carta?

The editors of a recent collection of articles on Magna Carta assert “it is difficult to think of a legal docu­ment that exceeds it in historical impor­tance and breadth of legacy.” This arti­cle will focus on Magna Carta as a legal document. In so doing, it will also exam­ine its surviving material forms as rare, if not priceless, manuscripts and con­sider the question of what makes these manuscripts “original” Magna Cartas.

The Olympic Charter

In the world of international sports competitions and international sports law, one document stands out as a “constitution,” providing a blueprint for organizational structure and governing all aspects of play. The Olympic Charter is the compilation of fundamental principles, rules, and bylaws that establish and regulate the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its subordinate International Sports Federations, and the National Olympic Committees; as well as each Olympic Games and individual athletes competing in the Games

Presidential Veto Statements

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan told the American Business Conference, “I have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up. And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers. Go ahead—make my day.” This pithy borrowing of Clint Eastwood’s famous line in “Dirty Harry” frames the president’s veto power as a power, indeed, and highlights the role that Congress plays in facilitating the exercise of that power.

How to Read a U.S. Supreme Court Opinion

Reading a U.S. Supreme Court opinion can be intimidating. The average opinion includes 4,751 words, and is one of approximately 75 issued each year. It might be reassuring, however, to know that opinions contain similar parts and tend to follow a simi­lar format. There are also useful things to identify amid the pages to help focus reading. Here is a basic guide for read­ing a U.S. Supreme Court opinion.

Visas

A “visa,” which has Latin origins meaning “paper that has been seen,” is a conditional authorization issued by a country to visitors wishing to enter the country. A visa does not guarantee entry, but simply permission to enter. It’s often connected to a passport, either electronically or by a sticker or stamp inside a passport, and processed by customs officials upon attempted entry into the issuing country.