A recent article on effective brief writing in Fifth Circuit Civil News emphasized the value of employing outside counsel to assist with brief writing.  Most appellate cases and many important motions are decided on briefs.  Your brief is your best opportunity to persuade a court to decide a case your way.  Judges frequently complain briefs do not provide the needed assistance in deciding cases because lawyers often do not know what judges are looking for or lack objectivity in presenting their cases.  Other frequent problems for attorneys include lack of sufficient time to research and write a good brief and the lure of other more enjoyable parts of practice.  In clerking for Judge Henry Politz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, I gained invaluable experience in what judges and their clerks look for in briefs.  I can also provide the needed objectivity.  I enjoy both research and writing more than other aspects of practice, although I must admit I haven’t been able to instill that particular interest in the majority of  law students in my 15 years of teaching legal research and writing.

In terms of research, I can handle projects ranging from small matters taking only an hour or two to large projects, such as 50 state surveys of the law or compiling federal legislative histories, which might take a week or more of full time work.  I have access to nationwide primary materials including cases, statutes and digests covering all 50 states and federal jurisdictions.  My office is less than two miles from a large law school library.  I am very familiar with its available resources  as I served as its director for five years from 1995 to 2000.  So I have ready low cost access to more research resources than all but the largest of law firms in the United States.  I also have access to most law reviews and many legal treatises on a wide range of subjects.  When it is cost-effective and necessary, I can do online searching as well.  I am particularly good at using the Internet to find materials needed by attorneys including non legal material like one request I had for guidelines for operating hospital emergency rooms.  In 15 years as a law librarian, I’ve rarely been stumped by a research project or a reference question.  If the material is not available locally, I have an excellent network of colleagues at large law libraries throughout the nation who can supply what is needed.

During my years of teaching research, I emphasized both cost effective and efficient research strategies.  I also emphasized the importance of presenting a client's point of view persuasively.  I bring those skills to my contract work.  If you would like to talk with attorneys I’ve helped about the quality of my work, I’ll be happy to provide references.  A variety of writing samples are also available upon request.

Although professional conduct rules  prohibit claiming expertise, I’ve become widely recognized over the years as knowledgeable in the fields of cost effective research, copyright and Internet law.  These were my subject focus areas during 15 years as a law professor and law librarian.   I also wrote in these and other areas during law school as a member of the LSU Law Review. I graduated at the top of my class attaining membership in the Order of the Coif.  Although I have an added interest in these areas, I have not confined my work to any particular subject area.  Developing and grading new problems each year for legal research and writing and occasional advanced research courses honed my research, writing, and analysis skills in a wide variety of subject areas.  My work since leaving academia has also spanned a wide variety of subjects.
If you have projects, now or in the future, I could assist you with, please call me or email me.

Mary Brandt Jensen, Esq.
Advocate's Legal Research & Brief Writing Service
1907 Wolfe St.
Oxford, MS 38655-4523
voice (662) 236 3738 
fax (662) 236 3712

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