Practice Manuals
The Iowa State Bar Association has a variety of publications available to assist in your practice.
For free resources, please visit the ISBA's Law Practice Management Hub. The LPM Hub is the go-to source for starting, building, managing, protecting, and closing a law firm. The hub provides all the resources needed to support a law firm from beginning to end - all in one place.
ISBA members receive a deep discount on the purchase price of the following practice manuals. All are available both electronically and in a hard copy format:
Business Law Manual
This two-volume manual is a project of the Business Law Section Council of The Iowa State Bar Association. It has been prepared for use by attorneys who are authorized to practice law in Iowa and is not intended for use by lay persons. A sample of some of the topics covered include:
- Articles of Incorporation and Sample Bylaws
- Completing the Organization Under the Iowa Business Corporation Act
- Sample Provisions Shareholder and Sample Stockholder Buy-Sell Agreement
- Dissolution of A Corporation Pursuant to the Iowa Business Corporation Act
- Professional Corporations and Nonprofit Corporations (including Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws)
- Business Licenses
Electronic and hard copies are available for purchase in the ISBA Store.
Family Law Manual
Iowa practitioners have long relied on the ISBA Family Law Manual for procedural and substantive guidance on a full range of issues that arise in family law practice. This essential manual contains all the statutes and rules you need to handle all your family law matters in Iowa courts.
The manual provides comprehensive coverage of such topics as marriage, division of property, alimony and medical support, paternity, child custody, child support, qualified medical support orders, premarital agreements, common law marriage, domestic abuse, and mediation.
Electronic and hard copies are available for purchase in the ISBA Store.
Probate Manual
Properly used, this manual will reduce the amount of time in which an attorney must spend on the routine, repetitive matters present in the administration of every estate, and thereby permit the attorney to spend a greater proportion of their available time on those estate matters which require the exercise of judgment, experience, and legal training. Even more importantly, the manual provides checklists to alert the attorney to deadlines, elections, and alternate procedures in an effort to avoid problems in probating an estate.
Successful probate practice depends on sound office management, including the standardization of office procedures and efficient use of personnel. Many steps in a probate proceeding can be handled by non-lawyers in the office under the supervision of the attorney, saving lawyer time for more complex matters. While a single set of procedures can neither fulfill the requirements of all law offices nor meet the demands of all probate proceedings, this manual offers ways to streamline office procedures and to delegate routine work in probate practice. Not all the procedures and practical aids outlined will be new to the experienced practitioner. Deliberate emphasis is placed on matters that may plague the lawyer or assistant encountering a probate file for the first time.
Electronic and hard copies are available for purchase in the ISBA Store.
Real Estate Manual
The ISBA Real Estate Manual has been completely updated for the first time in more than a decade. The 2019 version is a one-volume, 700-plus page manual that includes detailed information related to real estate transactions in Iowa.
The manual, which comes in a high-end binder with pre-printed tabs, covers purchase agreements, responsibilities of real estate agents, abstracts, liens, drafting instruments, mortgages, and more. It includes numerous forms and examples. New chapters include stale uses and reversions, Iowa zoning, partition, and tax sale laws. Also included is a copy of the ISBA Title Standards as of December 2018.
Electronic and hard copies are available for purchase in the ISBA Store.
Criminal and Civil Jury Instructions
The purpose of jury instructions is to give the law to the jury in a language they can understand. The ISBA Jury Instructions Committee believes the best way to do this is to write jury instructions in plain English. With this in mind, the committee asked the Board of Governors of The Iowa State Bar Association to approve redrafting the Iowa Civil and Criminal Uniform Jury Instructions in plain English. The Board approved this request. It also approved the request to employ a communications specialist to help translate "legalese" into "plain English" and the committee accomplished just that. While the Iowa Supreme Court cannot give prior approval to the instructions, the court has unanimously approved, in principle, the plain English redraft of the Iowa Civil and Criminal Jury Instructions.
These instructions are available as a free download to ISBA members or for a $200 fee for non-members by visiting the ISBA Store.
Title Standards
This is the Eighth Edition of the Iowa Land Title Standards. The purposes of the Iowa Land Title Standards are to encourage consistency among examining attorneys within Iowa and to assist the examining attorney in the examination of abstracts of title. The Iowa State Bar Association appointed a committee in 1941 to formulate and recommend the adoption of title standards. There were 57 standards adopted in 1944. There are currently 99 standards. Title Standard 1.1 continues to be the most important title standard.
The Title Standards are available to ISBA members at a discounted rate by visiting the ISBA Store.
You can visit www.iowabar.org/practicemanuals to place your order or download an electronic version today.
