Let’s talk about things that are not treatises, specifically form books and practice guides. There are two types of legal practice:
1) Transactional practice or out of court practice; and
2) Trial Practice
Transactional practice involves the drafting of contracts, wills, and other documents and advising clients of compliance with the law; and on deal making, etc. There are all types of transactional practice material out there. There’s no point in you re-inventing the wheel if you don’t have to. Transactional practice material provide collections of sample legal forms that use boiler-plate language. Often you can get multiple types of a form. For example, a longer, detailed form or a shorter form. Forms can operate as a checklist to ensure that you do not forget to include something or show you how something is formatted. Particularly useful are the annotated form sets which will tell you why certain clauses are necessary and let you know whether it is pro-purchaser or pro-seller, etc.
One thing to keep in mind any time you are looking to use a form is that you don’t want to just take a form off the shelf and use it. You’re going to need to change and adapt it to your jurisdiction and circumstances.
NOTE: These resources are only available to UC Law students and faculty.
Bloomberg Law is a great resource for transactional forms. Search for forms across content, or check out some specific collections, like ALI-ABA or PLI forms, both linked from thetransactional research resources or the DealMaker Documents and DealMaker Clauses.
NOTE: These resources are only available to UC Law students and faculty.
Lexis Practice Advisor is a Lexis product that provides a comprehensive portal for specific transactional practice areas. It provides model forms and agreements with annotations (these forms can be downloaded into Microsoft Word); relevant secondary source materials; practice tips and checklists; emerging issues information; and selected cases and codes. From the Lexis Advance search screen, select “Lexis Practice Advisor” from the red "Research" drop-down menu in the upper left corner.
American Jurisprudence Legal Forms: Business Organizations
Arranged alphabetically, each title contains form drafting guides, notes on use, and sample forms.
West's Legal Forms
Provides extensive forms for the drafting of any legal document, including expert guidance on related law and procedure from practicing attorneys. Offers detailed commentary, analysis, and checklists, and is functionally organized around major topics of law.
Fletcher Corporation Forms Annotated
This multivolume set is divided into some 32 categories that cover all aspects of corporate law. It also includes unofficial forms for every transaction that may occur in the life cycle of a corporation as well as thousands of practice-proven state and federal forms.
Couse's Ohio Form Book
Volume One includes chapters on business entities including limited liability companies, commercial transactions & general business dealings. Volume Two addresses family law, estate administration, wills & trusts. Volume Three covers legal practice, professional relationships & real property.
Current Legal Forms with Tax Analysis
Covers practically every area of civil non-litigation law, including corporate; commercial; intellectual property; domestic relations; employment; computer agreements; e-commerce and Internet agreements; estate planning; employment; and real estate.
Ohio Forms and Transactions
Civil transactions in Ohio.
Ohio Transaction Guide: Legal Forms
Includes business and commercial law and forms.
Midwest Transaction Guide in print
This 14-volume state-by-state guide to business, wills and trusts, commercial, real estate and personal transactions covers Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Midwest Transaction Guide summarizes state and federal law, relevant statutes, important regulations and secondary legal sources. The practice guide sections include discussions of current business practices, tips for drafting and reviewing documents, a procedural guide and a rich collection of forms for each state.
NOTE: These resources are only available to UC Law students and faculty.
Search across content type for forms. You can also set a pre-search filter to specify forms under the content types drop-down. You can also go to Browse Sources > Search Sources > and search "forms" in the box to see what form databases are available.
There are numerous subject specific form databases.
NOTE: These resources are only available to UC Law students and faculty.
From the initial WLN screen, click on forms to go to the form finder,
Available to Law Students only (see a reference librarian if you do not have a CALI activation code).
