legal research review professor lisa smith-butler

Legal Research Review

Professor Lisa Smith-ButlerNova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law

CenterLaw Library & Technology Center

2007

Introduction Beginning your legal career means that you will need to know

how to cost effectively perform legal research as well as other types of research. Depending upon the type of practice in which you work, you may also need to know how to do medical, business, or scientific research.

When researching the law, you will need to locate both primary and secondary sources of law.

Primary sources of law constitute the law itself and can be used as a basis for legal decisions.

You will also encounter secondary sources of law which help explain and locate the law but do not constitute the law.

Introduction Today we will review:

research strategies; primary sources of authority; case finding tools; citators; & secondary sources.

Research Strategies Before beginning any research project, ask

yourself: Is a letter, memo, or brief required? What are the cost and time restraints? What is the issue in dispute? What research terms should be used? Is state or federal law involved? Is statutory or common law involved? Are cases, regulations or statutes needed? Did you update your research?

Research Strategies WorksheetPrepared by Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law CenterLaw Library & Technology Center

Client & Client Case Number: Supervising Attorney: Date Project Due: Cost Constraints: Time Constraints: Westlaw/Lexis/Lois Law Permitted: End Product: ( ) Opinion Letter ( ) Memo ( ) Brief ( ) Other

Background facts:

Issues to be researched:

Research terms to be used:

Type of information required:

� Federal or state or a combination:F Cases, statutes, or regulations or a combination:C Secondary sources;S Non-legal sources:

Primary Sources Utilized:

Secondary Sources Utilized:

Updated via:

Prepared by Lisa Smith-Butler



Background facts:




T Federal or state or a combination:F Cases, statutes, or regulations or a combination:C Secondary sources;S Non-legal sources:



Updated via:




Background facts:







Updated via:




Background facts:







Updated via:


Sources of Primary Authority In American law, there are three sources of

primary authority. They are: Cases

Statutes Regulations

Cases Cases are decided by the courts, the judicial

branch of the government. Courts construe the meaning of the common law

and interpret the disputed meanings of statutory and/or regulatory provisions.

The doctrine of Stare Decisis is vital to American law.

In the U.S., a dual system of state and federal courts exists.

Hierarchy of Federal Courts Federal courts are organized in three tiers:

U.S. District Courts U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal U.S. Supreme Court

Hierarchy of Federal Courts Trial courts are known as district courts.

These courts provide the entry level into the federal court system.

Here cases are tried with witnesses. Physical evidence is presented. Pleadings, answers, and motions are filed.

Fort Lauderdale is in the Southern District of Florida.

Hierarchy of Federal Courts U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal are the next

tier or level of the federal court system. Circuit Courts decide issues of law rather

than issues of fact. Florida is in the 11th Circuit Court of

Appeals. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is in Atlanta, GA.

Emory’s Federal Courts Finder

Hierarchy of Federal Courts The final court within the federal system is

the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court has both

appellate and original jurisdiction. The original jurisdiction is extremely limited.

Federal Courts Where can you find decisions from federal district

courts? Print decisions are published in the F. Supp. In Westlaw, these decisions can be found in the DCT

databases. In Lexis, these decisions can be found in the Federal

Legal US Library, District Courts file. On the Internet, some of these decisions can be found at

the Federal Judiciary site at http://www.uscourts.gov

http://www.uscourts.gov/

http://www.uscourts.gov/courtsofappeals.html

Federal Courts Decisions from U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal are

published in the following: Print decisions are published in the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d,

F.3d) series. In Westlaw, the decisions can be found in the CTA databases. In Lexis, the decisions are in the Federal Legal US library and

Circuit Courts file. On the Internet, use Emory’s Federal Courts Finder at

http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/ for cases from 1994 – 2003. After March 2003, use the 11th Circuit site at http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/index.php .

You can also check U.S. Courts/Federal Judiciary site at http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/ for decisions.

http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/

http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/index.php

http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/

Federal Courts U.S. Supreme Court decisions are

published in print in the following formats: initially as a single decision in a format known as

a slip opinion; in paperback books known as Advance Sheets;

and in the bound reporters known as the United

States Reports, U.S.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/photo8.html

Federal Courts U.S. Supreme Court decisions are

published in both bound and loose leaf services. The publications are: Supreme Court Reporter, S.Ct. United States Reports, U.S. (Official) United States Reports, Lawyer’s Edition,

L.Ed. United States Law Week, U.S.L.W. (Loose

Leaf)

Federal Courts Supreme Court decisions can be found in

Westlaw’s SCT database. Supreme Court decisions via Lexis can be

found in the Federal Legal US library and the Supreme Court Cases file.

Federal Courts Several Internet sites also provide access to the

U.S. Supreme Court decisions. These decisions can be found at: U.S. Supreme Court official site at

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ Cornell’s Legal Information Institute at

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/ Fedworld’s Flite database at

http://www.fedworld.gov/supct/index.htm Findlaw at http://www.findlaw.com/ Oyez, Oyez, Oyez at http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage/

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/

http://www.fedworld.gov/

http://www.findlaw.com/

http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage/

Florida State Courts Decisions from the

Florida Supreme Court and the District Courts of Appeal are initially published in the print source, Florida Law Weekly.

These decisions are later published in the regional reporter known as the Southern Reporter, S., S.2d, series.

Selected decisions from Florida’s trial courts are published in the Florida Law Supplement.

Florida State Courts On Westlaw, these decisions can be

accessed via the FL-CS database. On Lexis, use the FL library and select the

FLACTS file. On the Internet, Florida’s Supreme and

appellate court decisions can be located at http://www.flcourts.org/

http://www.flcourts.org/

State Courts Decisions from various states’ Supreme Courts can also

be found in various print and electronic sources. Print decisions are located in appropriate state reporters,

and they are also available in regional reporters. There are seven regional reporters: Atlantic Reporter (A., A.2d) North Eastern Reporter (N.E., N.E.2d) North Western Reporter (N.W., N.W.2d) Pacific Reporter (P., P.2d, P. 3d) South Eastern Reporter (S.E., S.E.2d) South Western Reporter (S.W., S.W. 2d, S.W.3d) Southern Reporter (S., S.2d)

State Courts Decisions on Westlaw are available in the

appropriate state database and in Lexis in the appropriate state library.

State court decisions are also available on the low cost Internet legal subscription services Lois Law and Versus Law.

State court decisions can also be found on Findlaw at http://www.findlaw.com or Washlaw at http://www.washlaw.edu/.

http://www.loislawschool.com/

http://www.versuslaw.com/

http://www.findlaw.com/

http://www.washlaw.edu/

Case Finding Tools As demonstrated, cases can be located in a

variety of sources, both print and electronic. Now that you know where cases are published, how do you find cases? You can locate a case by: Citation Party Name Subject

Citations If you have a citation to a case (531 U.S.

98), you can: pull the book off of the shelf; use the Get a Document command on Lexis; use the Find this Document by citation

command on Westlaw; or use the Official Citation field on Lois Law.

Party Names If you have a party name (Roe v. Wade) but

lack the citation, you can: use the Table of Cases in the appropriate

Digest volume to obtain a citation; use the Get a Document Command/Party

Name on Lexis; use the Field Segment, Title, with Westlaw; or use the Appellee/Appellant field in Lois Law.

Locating Cases by Subject If you have neither a party name nor a citation, you will

need to locate your case by subject. To assist you with subject searching, several print and electronic case finding tools exist. These include: American Law Reports Digests Shepard’s/KeyCite Legal Periodicals, including Indexes Legal Encyclopedias Words & Phrases Loose Leafs

Case Finding Tools (ALRs) The American Law Report series (A.L.R., A.L.R.2d,

A.L.R.3d, A.L.R.4th, A.L.R.5th, A.L.R. Fed): selects unique cases for publication; thus coverage is

selective rather than comprehensive; often includes an article or an annotation written by an

expert in the field; provides citations to similar cases throughout the U.S.; can be accessed with the A.L.R. Digest, A.L.R. Index, or

A.L.R. Quick Index.; can be updated with the A.L.R. Blue Book of

Supplemental Decisions or Shepard’s A.L.R. Citations; and is available in print and on Westlaw and Lexis.

Digests Digests are published for state, regional, federal and the

national reporter series. There are several publishers that publish digests;

however, West Group Publishers is the primary digest publisher.

West’s digests are unique in that they use a topic and key number system that allow a researcher to move from a regional to a federal digest, using the same topic and key number.

Once a researcher has his/her topic and key number in a West digest, he or she can move around in any West state, regional, federal, national, or specialty digest with that same topic and key number.

What is a Digest? Digests are essentially a detailed index that

provide you with: a brief abstract of a case; the case name; the case citation; and the applicable digest topics and key numbers.

How do you use a Digest? Essentially there are four ways to access a digest:

use the Table of Cases volume which contains an alphabetical arrangement of party names and provides citations;

use the Descriptive Word Index volume which works exactly like any other index encountered;

use the Words and Phrases volume for terms of legal significance; or

use the topical outline at the beginning of a topic.

Citators Citators serve two

purposes: they can be used to

locate similar cases on a subject; and

they allow researchers to ascertain the validity of their research by updating it.

There are two citator services: Shepard’s KeyCite

Shepard’s Shepard’s began as a print product in 1873

and was developed by Frank Shepard. It is now published by Lexis Publishing and is available exclusively on Lexis-Nexis. It now exists in three formats: print CD-ROM electronically

Shepard’s Over the years as

Shepard’s inundated the legal profession, law students became so familiar with the Shepard’s updating process that it became known as shepardizing.

Shepard’s provides the researcher with the following information about a case: parallel citations; subsequent history

citations; treatment of the case by

later cases; and citations to secondary

sources.

KeyCite KeyCite was developed by West Publishing

in 1996 to compete with Shepard’s. KeyCite is available in CD-ROM and

electronic formats but is not available in print.

KeyCite KeyCite provides you with:

the direct appellate history; the negative indirect history; cites to all cases available on Westlaw; cites to all cases that cite a federal statute or

regulation.

Legal Periodicals Legal periodicals can also provide both the

novice and experienced researcher with information about a subject as well as cites to cases, statutes and regulations concerned with the issue.

To obtain citations to periodicals, you can use either print or electronic indexes.

Legal Periodicals Print indexes for legal

periodicals are: Current Law Index which

provides coverage from 1980 to the present; and

the Index to Legal Periodicals which provides coverage from 1908 to the present.

To obtain citations to legal periodicals electronically (in addition to Westlaw and Lexis), you can use: Index to Legal

Periodicals Retrospective Index to

Legal Periodicals LegalTrac Wilsondisc

Legal Encyclopedias There are two national legal encyclopedias

that can provide researchers with background information as well as citations to cases. These are: American Jurisprudence (Am. Jur.) Corpus Juris Secondum (C.J.S.)

Words & Phrases Words and Phrases is a multi volume

series published by West. It functions as a case finding tool.

It contains words of legal significance, arranged in alphabetical order.

Under a particular phrase (i.e. res ipsa for example) are citations to cases that contain an extensive discussion of the phrase.

Loose Leafs Loose Leaf services are usually multi volume series that

devote themselves exclusively to a specific subject area that is heavily regulated, i.e., banking, securities or tax.

While every loose leaf varies, typically a loose leaf series will contain statutes, applicable regulations, citations to cases on the topic, and editorial analysis. Thus the loose leaf provides subject specialization and can also be used as a case finding tool since it contains citations to cases.

Loose Leafs In the past, loose leafs were published only

in the print format. Today, loose leaf services are available in print, CD-ROM, and electronic formats.

Both CCH and BNA are some of the largest and best known loose leaf publishers.

http://www.cch.com/

http://www.bna.com/

Legislation In addition to cases, statutes are also primary

sources of law. Statutes are enacted by legislatures to govern

behavior.

Legislation Statutes are published in print in the

following formats: initially a law is published as a slip law; next a session’s laws are bound and published in

a chronological arrangement of the law enacted by the particular legislative session.

Finally laws are published in a code which is a subject arrangement of the laws currently in force.

Legislation When a legislature passes laws in a particular

session (i.e. 2004-2006), the laws passed in the session are known as session laws. Session laws permit historical research.

Session laws are the chronological arrangement of the law. If you want to read the 1933 Securities Exchange Act as it was enacted in 1933, you would need to consult the federal session laws for 1933.

Legislation Federal session laws are published in print

format in the following sources: Statutes at Large (Stat.) (Official) United States Code Congressional

Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.)

Legislation To access federal session laws, you must

consult the index of the year of the session as indexes for session laws do not cumulate.

To access federal session laws on Lexis, consult the Federal Legal US library, United States Statutes at Large file or the Legislation and Politics Library, Legislative Histories file.

Legislation In Westlaw, consult the Legislative Histories

(LH) database or the United States Code Congressional Administrative News (USCCAN) database or the USCCAN Public Laws (USCCAN-PL) database.

The Library of Congress web site, Thomas, at http://thomas.loc.gov also provides limited access to legislative history materials.

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Thomas Thomas provides access to:

the full text of bills pending before Congress. This information is available from 1989-present;

bill summary and status. This information is available from 1973 onwards;

the full text of recently enacted legislation, i.e. public laws. This information is available from 1973 onwards; and

selected Congressional Reports from 1995 onwards; andthe full text of the Congressional Record from 1989 onwards.

Legislation To locate the laws that are currently in force, you

must consult a code. A code is a subject arrangement of laws presently in effect.

Federal laws currently in force are published in the following print formats: United States Code (U.S.C.) (Official) United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.)

Legislation You can access the U.S.C. via:

a descriptive word (subject) index; citation (i.e. 17 U.S.C. §701); or Popular Names Table.

Legislation On Westlaw, the U.S.C. can be found in the

USCA database. On Lexis, this service is available in the Federal

Legal US library, USCS file. The U.S.C. is also available on Lois Law. The U.S.C. can also be accessed via the Internet

at Cornell’s Legal Information Institute or GPO Access at http://www.access.gpo.gov/ .

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

http://www.access.gpo.gov/

Legislation Florida’s session laws can be located in the

print source, Laws of Florida. Print versions of Florida’s code can be

found in either: Florida Statutes (Fla. Stat.) (Official) Florida Statutes Annotated (Fla. Stat. Ann.)

Legislation Again, Florida’s code can be found on

Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, and Lois Law. On the Internet, these laws, as well as

pending bills, can be found at Florida’s On-Line Sunshine site at http://www.leg.state.fl.us/

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/

Executive A third and final source of U.S. legal authority is

promulgated under the auspices of the Executive Branch. Regulations are made by administrative agencies, operating under the power of the Executive Branch.

Administrative agencies are frequently described as having quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative functions. They publish rulings and issue orders.

Regulations can be described as filling in the blanks left by statutes.

Executive Federal regulations are published in print,

CD-ROM, and electronic sources.

Executive Federal regulations are first published in the

Federal Register (FR) which is published every business day. Like the Statutes at Large, the Federal Register is a chronological arrangement of federal regulations.

The Federal Register contains: proposed agency rules; final agency rules;& notices of agency meetings.

Federal Register Currently the present source of the Federal

Register is available at depository libraries in print format. It is also available at the Government Printing Office’s (GPO) Internet site at http://www.access.gpo.gov/

On Westlaw, the Federal Register is available in the FR database.

On Lexis, it is available in the Federal Legal US library, Federal Register file.


Regulations To locate final regulations that are presently in

force, you will need to consult the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) which is published annually.

The CFR is a subject arrangement of federal regulations and is analogous to the United States Code (U.S.C.)

The CFR contains both final regulations and Executive Orders of the President.

Regulations In addition to the print source, the CFR is

available at GPO’s Internet site at http://www.access.gpo.gov/

It is available in the CFR database in Westlaw, and it is available in Lexis in the Federal Legal US library, CFR file.


Updating a Federal Regulation Begin updating a federal regulation by consulting

the List of Sections Affected (LSA) which is published monthly. Check the most recently published LSA. Check for your

title and section to see if it has been superceded by a later rule published in the Federal Register;

For the months that the LSA is not available, check the List of Sections Affected in the back of the Federal Register issued on the last day of the month; and

Check the List of Sections Affected in the front of the Federal Register for each day thereafter.

Updating a Federal Regulation How does this work?

Suppose you want to update 26 C.F.R.§1.25 as of the date, Jan. 3, 2007.

Locate the LSA in the library. The most current issue of the LSA is June 2006. Pull this issue and check your citation.

Go to the last issue of the month (i.e. December 2006) of the Federal Register. Look in the back of each issue for the List of Sections Affected. It will list all CFR sections affected during these months.

Updating a Federal Regulation You then need to check the List of CFR

Sections Affected in the front of the Federal Register for Jan. 1 – Jan. 3, 2007.

Once this is done, you’ve updated your federal regulation.

Florida’s Regulations Florida’s regulations are published in the print

source, Florida Adminstrative Code Annotated. This source is available on Westlaw and Lexis as well as on the Internet at http://fac.dos.state.fl.us/ Decisions from Florida’s state agencies as well as state court decisions involving administrative law are published in the Florida Administrative Law Reports.

Links to the various Florida administrative agencies are available from the Florida Online Sunshine site.

http://fac.dos.state.fl.us/

Secondary Sources While secondary sources do not

constitute the law, they can help you locate primary sources on point. Secondary sources include: American Law Reports Legal Encyclopedias Legal Periodicals Loose Leafs Restatements of the Law Hornbooks.

Conclusion When you receive your research

assignment, remember to plan your research strategy.

If you have questions or would like suggestions, please call the Reference Desk at (954) 262-6201or send an email to [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]

legal research review professor lisa smith-butler

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