Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Legal research in the United States

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"Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation."

Contents

This article focuses on the process of finding legal documents issued by courts, legislatures and other government entities in the United States. Finding legal information in the United States can be challenging. Many lawyers use electronic databases such as LexisNexis or Westlaw to access legal information. However, these resources may not be accessible to all. Special focus is given in this article to finding free legal materials on the Internet. As this article discusses a process, it is somewhat informal in tone.

The next section of this article provides necessary background for understanding the process of legal research. Concepts such as law, legal authority and jurisdiction are taught to law students during their first year in Law School. The process of legal research is then discussed, followed by discussion of the primary sources of law (cases, statutes, and regulations).

Although this is a process oriented article, there is no one right way to do legal research. There are however practices that have proven to be more efficient and cost effective. There is an overall "game plan" that is taught in the first year of Law school. The details vary according to the textbook, but a general search strategy might be:

  • frame the Issue (try to figure out what the case is about/ what legal issue or issues you will need to research)
  • brainstorm search terms (think up synonyms - assisted suicide? right to die? euthanasia?)
  • determine jurisdiction and time frame (do you have a lot of time to research this? Usually not. You may have to make do with a quick and dirty resource instead of an in-depth, ever so scholarly one)
  • decide which format to use (print or electronic- this often just depends on what you have access to)
  • locate, read, and update secondary sources
  • locate read and update primary authority (cases, statutes, and regulations)
  • look up rules of procedure, ethics, non-legal and other materials if needed
  • repeat the above steps, as needed, depending on your search results.

    • Adapted from The Process of Legal Research by Christina L. Kunz et al.

    The legal research textbooks below are good resources for finding out more about legal research and research strategies):

  • Robert C. Berring and Elizabeth A. Edinger. Finding the Law. (12th Ed., West Group Publishing, 2005).
  • Roy M. Mersky and Donald J. Dunn. Fundamentals of Legal Research. (Foundation Press, 2002).
  • Morris L. Cohen and Kent C. Olson. Legal Research in a Nutshell. (9th Ed., Thomson West, 2007).
  • Morris L. Cohen, Robert C. Berring, and Kent C. Olson. How to Find the Law. (West Publishing Company, 1989).
  • Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind. Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law. (14th Ed., Nolo Press, 2007).
  • Christina L. Kunz et al. The Process of Legal Research. (7th Ed., Aspen Publishers, 2007).
  • Mark K. Osbeck. Impeccable Research: a Concise Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills. (Thomson West 2010).
  • Amy E. Sloan. Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies. (3rd Ed., Aspen Publishers, 2006).

    • A very good search strategy is to find a legal research guide with a search engine such as Google before you leap. Your local library will probably have research guides on a wide variety of topics.

    Another challenge is figuring out how to cite to items, or how to decipher a legal citation once you have encountered one in a primary or secondary source. The main problem with online cases is that they may or may not have the official print pagination required by the major legal citation systems. The vendor neutral citation movement has made some inroads here, so there are provisions for citing to "web sources." However, it is by far easier to work with the official cites.

    References

    Legal research in the United States Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA