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Introduction to Paralegal Studies: A Critical Thinking Approach, Eighth Edition

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Authors
  • Katherine A. Currier
  • Thomas E. Eimermann
  • Michelle M. Smith
Series / Aspen Paralegal Series
BOOKMARK
Book length
640 pages
Publication Date
2026-02-02
Edition
Eighth Edition
Description
Table of contents
Preface

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on Casebook Connect, including academic lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes practice questions, an outline tool, and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes.



Introduction to Paralegal Studies: A Critical Thinking Approach, Eighth Edition, consistently connects the study of law to the real-world work and duties of today's paralegal. Coverage of concepts and practice are framed within the authors’ trademark approach, which uses examples, discussion questions, and hypotheticals to develop the essential skills of critical analysis and legal reasoning. 

New to the Eighth Edition: 

  • Coverage of the expansion of non-lawyers’ ability to provide some legal services directly to the public 
  • A fresh look at the role of stare decisis, and the place of precedent in our legal system 
  • The importance of the shadow docket in the U.S. Supreme Court and of significantly expanded use of Presidential executive orders 
  • The prevalence of online legal research and the emergence of artificial intelligence in legal research and law office management 

Professors and students will benefit from: 

  • Complete course coverage logically organized into four parts: 1) Paralegals and the American Legal System; 2) Substance of the Law; 3) Legal Analysis and Research; 4) Paralegals and the Work World 
  • Hypothetical Cases on topics relatable to students and based on real cases 
  • Discussion Questions and Legal Reasoning Exercises that challenge students to synthesize and analyze what they have read 
  • Paralegal Profiles that provide context and real-world perspective 
  • Practice Tips that inform and advise, connecting theory to practice 
  • Ethics Alerts that highlight the potential conflicts and responsibilities of the paralegal in a variety of contexts 
  • Definitions of key terms in the margins 
  • Review Questions that reinforce students’ memory and understanding of content
  • NetNotes that provide links to online sources 
  • The U.S. Constitution and a brief guide to the Fundamentals of Good Writing in the Appendix
  • Strong ancillary materials that support teaching and formative assessment  
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Table of contents

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Contents 
List of Illustrations 
Preface
Acknowledgments 


PART 1 Paralegals and the American Legal System 
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study of Law and the
Paralegal Profession 
Chapter 2 Functions and Sources of Law 
Chapter 3 Classification of the Law 
Chapter 4 Courts 
Chapter 5 Civil Litigation and Its Alternatives 
PART 2 Substance of the Law 
Chapter 6 Torts 
Chapter 7 Criminal Law 
Chapter 8 Criminal Procedure 
Chapter 9 Contract Law 
Chapter 10 Specialized Practice Areas 
PART 3 Legal Analysis and Research 
Chapter 11 Finding and Interpreting Enacted Law 
Chapter 12 Finding and Interpreting Court Opinions 
Chapter 13 Finding the Law 
Chapter 14 Applying the Law 
PART 4 Paralegals and the Work World 
Chapter 15 Legal Ethics 
Chapter 16 Interviewing 
Chapter 17 Evidence and Investigations 
Chapter 18 Computers and Case Management
Appendix A The Constitution of the United States 
Appendix B Fundamentals of Good Writing 


Glossary 
Table of Cases 
Index 

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Preface
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About the authors
Katherine A. Currier
Elms College

Katherine A. Currier, J.D., served as the Elms College Paralegal and Legal Studies program director for many years. Currently, she coordinates the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies. She has developed and taught many law-related courses, including Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing; Introduction to Legal Studies I and II; Law Office Computer Literacy; Law Office Applications; Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating; and Law and Literature. In addition to the three texts she has coauthored with Professor Eimermann, Professor Currier has publications in the areas of legal ethics as applied to paralegals and law office computing.

Professor Currier is actively involved in the development of undergraduate legal education at both the regional and the national levels, particularly through her work with the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE) and the American Bar Association (ABA) Approval Commission on Paralegals. Professor Currier has served on the national board of AAfPE, first as its parliamentarian and then later as the elected representative of four-year paralegal programs. She served many years as the AAfPE publications chair, charged with the final responsibility for overseeing the Journal of Paralegal Education and Practice and The Educator.

Professor Currier frequently speaks at both the AAfPE Northeast regional meetings and the annual AAfPE conferences on topics as diverse as the use of computer shareware, paralegals and the unauthorized practice of law, creative teaching techniques, and conducting legal research on the Internet. Professor Currier also chaired the American Bar Association Approval Commission on Paralegals, the body charged with conducting site visits of paralegal programs that are seeking their initial ABA approval or reapproval. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in business education.

Prior to teaching at Elms College, Professor Currier taught at Suffolk Law School and Western New England College School of Law. She graduated magna cum laude with her B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College, with her M.A. in Political Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, and with her J.D. from Northeastern University Law School.

Thomas E. Eimermann
Emeritus Professor
Illinois State University

Thomas E. Eimermann is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Illinois State University where he started their paralegal program in 1976 and served as its Director until 2004. During those years he taught the Introduction to Paralegal Studies and the Legal Research and Writing courses, as well as constitutional law and administrative law. Professor Eimermann was a member of the American Association for Paralegal Education's Board of Directors from 1986–1993 and served as president of that organization in 1991–1992. He has also served on the Certification Board and Specialty Task Force of the National Association of Legal Assistants; as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services; and as a member of the Hearing Board, the Inquiry Board, and the Oversight Committee of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. As a consultant for the Illinois Department of Corrections, he designed their Uniform Law Clerk Training Program.

In addition to the three paralegal texts he has coauthored with Professor Currier, Professor Eimermann's publications also include Fundamentals of Paralegalism, Fundamentals of Criminal Practice: Law and Procedure (coauthored with Thomas McClure), and journal articles on paralegals, jury behavior, and free speech issues. He earned his B.A. in Political Science at North Central College. He went on to receive an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign campus. Professors Currier and Eimermann have also authored Introduction to Paralegal Studies: A Critical Thinking Approach and The Study of Law: A Critical Thinking Approach.

Michelle M. Smith

Michelle M. Smith, J.D., is an Associate Professor at Washburn University and serves as the Legal Program Director in the Criminal Justice and Legal Studies Department. She has taught a variety of legal studies classes since 2016, including Intro to Paralegal, Intro to Law, Legal Research I and II, Legal Writing, Criminal Law, Intro to Contracts, Wills and Estates, Interviewing and Investigation, Law and Literature, and Legal Studies Capstone. She has also supervised and mentored students participating in the Washburn Honors Program.

Professor Smith remains an active faculty member, regularly serving on university and departmental committees, some of which have included faculty search committees, faculty tenure committees, large grant committees, and online task force committees. She has also served on Faculty Senate and the Honors Advisory Board. She is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and has served as an Executive Counselor for the Law and Public Policy section. She has spoken on the regional and national level on topics relating to the law and criminal justice.

In addition to this text, Professor Smith has coauthored textbook chapters about ineffective assistance of counsel and victimization of boys. She coauthored a journal article on the ineffective assistance of counsel in Lee v. United States and authored an article on the need for diversity in state appellate courts, highlighting the scarcity of former public defenders on the bench.

Prior to teaching, Professor Smith worked as a research attorney from 1998-2014 in the Kansas Appellate Courts, serving in chambers for Judge M. Kay Royse, Justice Carol A. Beier, Justice Fred N. Six, and (now) Chief Justice Marla J. Luckert. In addition, she served as the Kansas Supreme Court Motions Attorney from 2014-2016. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and her J.D. from Washburn University School of Law.
Product Information
Edition
Eighth Edition
Publication date
2026-02-02
Copyright Year
2026
Pages
640
LLPOD
9798894103372
Connected eBook (Digital Only)
9798894103358
Connected eBook with Study Center + Paperback
9798894103341
Subject
Introduction to Paralegal Studies
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