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New Mexico Specific Resources

The Trial Practice section’s first priority is in offering education and training on New Mexico trial practice (both state and federal).  We will be building this portion of the website out in the future, but in the meantime, here are a few resources on New Mexico law specifically; the historical (not specifically legal) texts below have each been cited by the New Mexico Supreme Court:

  • Divorce in New Mexico by Sandra Morgan Little et al. (2015) (a handbook on state divorce law meant mostly for a lay audience)
  • Evidence Handbook: New Mexico and Federal by Lisa K. Curtis (3d ed.) (a rule-by-rule comparison of federal and New Mexico evidence law)
  • Family Law in New Mexico by Barbara L. Shapiro & Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (2d ed. 2009) (a handbook on state family law intended primarily for a lay audience)
  • Forty-Seventh Star by David V. Holtby (2012) (a modern single-volume text on New Mexico’s struggle for statehood)
  • The Leading Facts of New Mexican History by Ralph Emerson Twitchell (1911) (a highly influential two-volume treatise on early New Mexico history)
  • Legislative Drafting Manual of the State of New Mexico by the New Mexico Legislative Council Service (Sept. 22, 2015) (a drafting manual meant for use by legislators as they draft legislation, but when can be helpful for any lawyer facing a statutory-interpretation argument)
  • Life Planning in New Mexico by Merri Rudd (1992, with periodic updates)
  • Mass Communications Law in New Mexico by Steve Pasternack (1992) (a handbook on free-speech, open-meetings, and public-records laws in New Mexico, which, while out of date today, can provide valuable historical context)
  • Mining, Oil, and Mineral Laws of New Mexico by Charles H. Fowler & Sterling B. Talmage (1941) (an early summary of the state oil-and-gas laws)
  • Misdemeanor Driving While Intoxicated and Domestic Violence Prosecution in New Mexico by Cynthia M. Armijo (2017) (a pithy guide to prosecuting these most common of misdemeanors in the state)
  • New Mexico Child Welfare Handbook by Corinne Wolfe (2014) (a >500-page treatise on state child-welfare law)
  • New Mexico Criminal Practice Manual by Barbara E. Bergman (1992) (a now-dated practice guide to New Mexico criminal procedure by a much-beloved UNM law professor; a new second edition is reported to be in the works)
  • New Mexico Discovery Practice Manual by Charles W. Adams & Bruce Hall (1995) (single-volume treatise on state civil discovery)
  • New Mexico DWI Benchbook by the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM (Oct. 2010) (if you handle DWIs, you should know that many judges who hear those cases carry this with them)
  • New Mexico Employment Law Desk Reference by the Rodey Law Firm (2010) (a handbook on New Mexico employment law)
  • New Mexico Family Law Manual by the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM (Jan. 2011) (a family-law manual written for judges and practitioners)
  • New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act Compliance Guide by the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General (8th ed. 2015) (an authoritative guide to New Mexico’s all-important public-records law, IPRA, written by the agency responsible for enforcing it)
  • New Mexico Judicial Ethics Handbook by the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM Law School (Apr. 2011) (a judicial-ethics guide for judges)
  • New Mexico Juvenile Justice Handbook by Corinne Wolfe (Apr. 2011) (a single-volume treatise on the state juvenile-justice system)
  • New Mexico Legal Ethics by Charles A. Armgardt (2010) (a single-volume treatise on the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct)
  • New Mexico Magistrate Court Criminal Procedures Manual by the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Court and the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM (Mar. 2014) (this official guide is heavily relied upon, particularly when one bears in mind that state magistrate judges in New Mexico are not required to have law degrees)
  • New Mexico Municipal Court Manual for Judges and Staff by the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM (2009) (a guide for municipal judges)
  • New Mexico’s Quest for Statehood: 1846-1912 by Robert W. Larson (1968) (a history of New Mexico’s process of moving from territory to state, which has been cited and relied on by the Supreme Court for determining historical context and original meaning of certain documents and state-constitutional provisions)
  • New Mexico Sexual Assault Benchbook by the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at UNM (Mar. 2008) (a guide provided to state district judges)
  • The New Mexico State Constitution by Charles E. Smith (2011) (a single-volume treatise on the state constitution)
  • Office of the Attorney General of the State of New Mexico: History, Powers & Responsibilities by Hal Stratton & Paul Farley (1990) (an excellent history and dated-but-still-influential policy guide for the Attorney General’s Office)
  • Oil and Gas Manual by the New Mexico State Land Office (2023) (a guide to certain aspects of New Mexico oil-and-gas law (most notably state leases) written by the office charged with administering that body of law)
  • PELRB Practice Manual by the PELRB Staff (Mar. 18, 2014) (a New Mexico labor-law practice manual)
  • Piecemeal Amendment of the Constitution of New Mexico by the New Mexico Legislative Council Service (Dec. 2016) (an excellent, periodically-updated description of the amendment history of the state constitution)
  • Trial Handbook for New Mexico Lawyers by J. Duke Thornton (1992, with annual supplements still published by West Thompson) (a single-volume (with supplement) treatise on New Mexico trial law)
  • Walden’s Civil Procedure in New Mexico by M.E. Occhialino (2d ed. 1996) (a dated but excellent state-specific civil-procedure treatise from the UNM law professor who may have possibly taught Civ Pro to a majority of the lawyers in the state)