The "cartwheel" is a technique designed to assist paralegals in acquiring the skill of using indexes and tables of contents in law books. The "cartwheel" is a method of developing the habit of phrasing every word involved in the client's research problem at least ten different ways. Using a legal thesaurus, such as Ballentine's Legal Dictionary and Thesaurus, is helpful in developing this skill.
For example, if you researched the issue of the validity of a client's marriage that took place in Barbados, you would "cartwheel" the term marriage and begin your research using terms such as wedding, annulment, divorce, separation, celebration, ceremony, formality, wedlock, contract, religion, betrothal, minister, name change, jurisdiction, and prenuptial.
Please "cartwheel" each of the following problems and provide at least ten other terms that you would use in beginning a research project involving each of the following hypotheticals.
1. Your office's client, Ms. Ivana Goe, has recently been arrested for trespass. It seems that Ivana was attending an NFL football game, and during halftime she used the "Men's Restroom" at the stadium because the line to the women's restroom was, in her words, "excessively long." She was charged with trespass under a municipal ordinance. Please cartwheel this problem.