Legal Research July 2012

1. Legal Research:
The Basics
July 2012

2. Legal Research:
The Basics
 You will typically follow a broad two-step
process to research a legal issue.
 First, you need to find valid (i.e., not
outdated or overruled) primary authority.
 Second, you need to analyze your valid
authority to determine the degree to
which the authority relates to your factual
issue.

3. Legal Research:
The Basics
 The first step requires reliance on several
different means of finding primary
authority.
 The process of legal research is a fluid,
sometimes circular process.

4. Legal Research:
The Basics
 During your research,  In connection with
you will need to make your thorough review
sure that you of different research
exhaustively review sources, these sources
each source discussed will suggest additional
in the process research avenues that
suggested below. you did not cover the
first time you went
through the process.

5. Legal Research:
The Basics
 Of course, your review of the research
sources does not substitute for a careful
review of the primary authority itself.
 You should not rely solely on the
descriptions of the authority contained in
the research sources.
 For example, the case summaries
contained in digests and annotated codes
are by definition not complete or fully
descriptive.

6. Legal Research:
The Basics
 Thus, you cannot rely  You must review the
on any source’s cases and statutes
summary of the cases themselves to get a
or statutes. thorough and accurate
understanding of
the legal principles
relevant to your
research topic.

7. Legal Research:
The Basics
 The second step, analysis of the authority
you identified in your research, is outside
the scope of this session.
 However, your analysis of the primary
authority you identified as potentially
relevant will also require substantial effort.
 Your ultimate goal during research is
finding on-point primary authority.

8. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN FINDING
PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Step 1: Research Secondary Sources
You should almost always begin your research with
a secondary source.
You cannot do a good job of researching a narrow
legal issue without understanding the broader
legal context surrounding the issue you are
researching.
A secondary source will introduce you to overall
concepts relating to your research issue and will
help identify and clarify the issue that you need to
learn about.

9. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 A good secondary source also will
synthesize rules and principles
surrounding the legal issue(s) you are
researching.
 Because it is very easy to overlook and/or
misunderstand issues that are relevant to
the legal issue you have been asked to
address if you are not familiar with an
area of law, a secondary source will help
you avoid mistakes that will lead to an
incorrect or insufficient answer to your
problem.

10. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Step 2: Research Statutory Authority – Annotated
Codes
You need to research the annotated codes for two important
reasons.
First, you need to determine whether a statute governs your
research situation. If one does, you will need to review the
statutory language carefully to determine what rules the
statute provides that impact your research.
Second, you need to review the annotated codes to find cases
that apply the statute. Courts interpret statutes and apply the
statutory language to parties’ specific disputes. Thus, you need
to find cases interpreting the statute that are similar factually
to the issue you are researching.

11. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Step 3: Research Case Authority in Digests
Regardless of whether you are researching a
statutory or common law issue, you need to use
digests to help you identify pertinent case
authority.
One of your goals as a legal researcher is to find
cases that are as factually similar to your
research situation as possible.
Digests are an excellent means of identifying
relevant case authority.

12. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 STRENGTHS OF USING DIGESTS
Digests are organized by discrete legal areas.
Each legal area is given subheadings/topics
regarding specific issues within the broad legal
area.
Once you identify a pertinent topic heading, you
can find many cases that are relevant to your
research issue in one discrete, easily reviewed,
location.
If you are researching a statutory issue, the digests
may cite to additional relevant cases that were
not identified in the annotated codes.

13. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Weaknesses of Using Digests
Frequently, there is not a topic heading that relates
to the factual issue confronting you.
Sometimes, digest headnotes are vague or lack
factual specificity.
Digests are not necessarily comprehensive.

14. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Step 4: Computer-Assisted Research
Regardless of whether you are researching
the digests and annotated codes in print
or online, it is essential that you also use
computer-assisted research to find
primary authority that the digests and
annotated codes do not identify. This is
available through Westlaw, LexisNexis,
and Bloomberg’s Law.

15. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
Annotated codes and digests frequently will
not list all the pertinent authority that
relate to your research because they are
not completely comprehensive.
Thus, it is important to perform one or more
terms and connectors or natural language
searches in a computer database to
ensure that you have identified all of the
pertinent primary authority that relates to
your research issue.

16. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 However, typically you  In order to construct an
should not perform this effective search query, you
step until after you need to have a precise
understand your research understanding of the issue
issue very well. you are addressing as well
as a clear conception of
the key terms that cases
frequently use when
deciding your legal issue.
 It is almost always
impossible to have this
knowledge without having
done some, if not all, of
the steps listed above.

17. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Step 5: Shepardizing
Shepardizing serves two essential research
functions:
First, you must Shepardize® all cases and
statutes to ensure that the cases and
statutes you have found are still valid.
Second, you can use Shepard’s® Citations
Service to identify additional primary
authority.

18. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Example 1
Frequently, Shepard’s will
Assume you found some identify additional
cases using the digests. pertinent authority.
Of course, at some point in That additional authority may
your research you would identify different, relevant
Shepardize those cases to digest headnote numbers
make sure that the cases than the ones you
were still valid and also to previously reviewed.
determine whether there In that instance, you will
are additional cases that need to review the digests
are factually similar to again using the new
your research issue. headnote numbers
identified in the cases you
found using Shepard’s.

19. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Example 2
Assume the secondary source you reviewed identified a statute
that is relevant to your issue.
In reviewing the annotations under the pertinent statutory
section, you identify several cases potentially on point.
When you review those cases, the cases may identify a different
statute that creates an exception to the statutory rule
identified by your secondary source.
If this occurs, you will have to revisit the annotated codes to:
(a) review the statute to see if the exception articulated
applies to your research situation and
(b) review any annotations in the new section to find additional
relevant cases.

20. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Example 3
Assume you are requested to research whether a
police officer can sue a member of the public for
negligence because the person created a
hazardous situation where the officer was injured.
You have been asked to research whether there is
any affirmative defense potentially barring a police
officer from suing a member of the public for
injuries the officer suffered in the course of his
employment.
If you were researching affirmative defenses applying
to police officers, your first level of research would
be to look for cases specifically involving police
officers.

21. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
Example 3 – Con’t
However, if you found no cases involving
police officers, you would likely return to
your research and expand your search to
include affirmative defenses applicable to
other public employees.
Once you did so, you would find that many
jurisdictions follow a rule commonly known
as the “firefighters’ rule.”

22. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Example 3 – Con’t
Under the firefighters rule, a publicly
employed firefighter may not sue a person
who negligently started a fire.
The policy underlying this rule is that the
public has already paid for the firefighter’s
services indirectly through the payment of
taxes.

23. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 Example 3 – Con’t
It would be unfair to require the public to pay
damages to a firefighter when the public’s taxes
already provide compensation to the firefighter for
confronting the risk of being injured in a fire.
After you identified cases applying the firefighter's
rule, you would use them to argue that the
rationale underlying the firefighter’s rule applies to
police officers because the police are also paid by
taxpayer money to confront certain risks.

24. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE
IN FINDING PRIMARY
AUTHORITY
It is essential that you take
detailed notes regarding your
research process. Among other
things, your notes should
memorialize:

25. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
1. The sources you have reviewed.
2. Other potential topics or headnotes that you still need to
review within each of the sources.
3. The searches you performed in each of the sources you
reviewed.
For example, when you perform digest or annotated code
research, your notes should state the topic headings and
headnote numbers that you reviewed.
Similarly, when you do a terms and connectors or natural
language search, you should write down the exact searches
that you conducted.
4. The cases and statutes you identified in each search.
5. Whether you have ShepardizedTM the case(s) and statute(s)
you have identified as potentially relevant.

26. MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE IN
FINDING PRIMARY AUTHORITY
 FLUID/CIRCULAR NATURE OF THE
RESEARCH PROCESS
Research is not a linear process.
You may need to return to one of the
research sources that you previously
reviewed in light of new issues identified
by a later step in your research process

27. Review
Start/
Research
Continue/
Issue(s) &
End
Research
Process Research Process
Follow
Steps 1-5
in
. Research
Process

28. Learning How to Research
 Those new to legal research begin with books and
websites designed to teach legal research. These
types of books help the new researcher learn how
to think about their legal problem and define their
issues using the correct legal terms.
 Legal research guides are useful for helping the
beginning researcher decide what court,
government agency, or jurisdiction has the power
to hear and decide his or her legal problem. Is
the legal problem presented one that federal,
state, or local law governs (or perhaps a
combination of any or all of those laws)? These
resources also provide a good introduction to the
types of sources available to the legal researcher.

29. Learning How to Research
 Many of the university libraries and county law libraries will
have some of the print resources listed below to help the
beginning researcher understand the research process.
Other good online sources are also listed for those of you
who live in an area where accessing a law library is difficult.
 Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (11th
ed. 2003, Nolo Press)
 How to Find the Law (1989, West)
 Locating the Law: A Handbook for Non-Law Librarians, With
an Emphasis on California Law (4th ed. 2001, SCALL).
Available in print and online at
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/locating.htm
 How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-
Lawyers. Available online at
http://www.aallnet.org/sis/lisp/research.htm

30. Finding Definitions for Legal "Language"
 As you begin your research, you may
come across words that are unfamiliar and
abbreviations that are strange.
 Libraries have materials available to help
you with the terminology and
abbreviations used in the law.

31. Finding Definitions for Legal "Language"
 Some print and online sources for you to consult when
struggling with the words and abbreviations used in the law
are listed below:
 Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004, West)
 Law Dictionary for NonLawyers (1985, West)
 Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (5th ed. 2001, Hein)
 Nolo's Everybody's Legal Dictionary available online at
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/dictionary/wordindex.cfm
 FindLaw's "Search the Legal Dictionary" available online at
http://dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/
 Peter Martin's Basic Legal Citation available online at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/

32. Other Starting Points (Encyclopedias, Practice Guides,
Loose-Leafs)
 Legal encyclopedias
 Researchers use encyclopedias specific to law. They
work just like the encyclopedias you may be familiar
with in your public library, although they are located
only in the larger law libraries in the state. If you are
not successful in finding a self-help book on your
particular problem, you may want to consult a legal
encyclopedia for a broad overview of your topic and
references to cases and statutes.
 For coverage of law on a nationwide basis consult
American Jurisprudence 2d or Corpus Juris Secundum.
Georgia law is covered in an encyclopedia titled
Encyclopedia of Georgia Law.

33. Other Starting Points (Encyclopedias, Practice Guides,
Loose-Leafs)
 Practice Guides and loose-leafs are the books you
will find in a library with a legal collection.
 These books detail the law, the forms, and the
information needed to pursue a specific type of
case through the courts.
 The information in these books is updated
frequently and often they are referred to as
loose-leafs as they are in binders designed to be
updated frequently by the insertion of new
material.
 Major publishers of such books are CEB, Rutter
Group, West Group, CCH, and Lexis/Nexis.

34. Looking for Codes (Statutes) and
Constitutions
 The terms codes, statutes, and legislation are
often used to describe the same thing.
 Codes are the enactments of a governmental
body, be it a legislature, congress, or city council.
 Codes are generally arranged by subject, and
numbered with sections and/or titles. All are
indexed and many are annotated.
 Annotated means that the codes contain not only
the text of the law, but also brief summaries of
judicial opinions that interpret the codes,
legislative history and analysis, cross references,
and more.

35. Looking for Codes (Statutes) and
Constitutions
Finding United States Code sections:
 In print
United States Code Annotated (West)
United States Code Service (Lexis)
United States Code (official, government
publication)
 Online
United States House site at
http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm
Cornell's Legal Information Institute at
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
GPO Access at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html

36. Looking for Codes (Statutes) and
Constitutions
 Finding Georgia Codes:
 In print
Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Lexis)
 Online
Georgia Code online at
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/htdig/search.
htm

37. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 The legislative  These same
branch of agencies also have
government the power to hear
delegates powers disputes and
to government enforce their rules
agencies to enact and regulations.
laws and
regulations known
as administrative
or regulatory law.

38. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 Think of agencies such as the Social
Security Administration or the state
Department of Motor Vehicles.
 Many of the laws that come out of these
agencies are not found in the codes listed
above.
 Instead they are published in the form of
codes of regulations or administrative
codes.

39. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 These administrative codes are indexed by
subject and organized by either subject or
title number and then section.
Examples are provided below.
 Finding Georgia's state administrative
code:
 In print
Official Compilation of the Rules and
Regulations of the State of Georgia
(Secretary of State)

40. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 The online version is essentially identical
to the print version.
 It may be searched by agency, table of
contents, keyword search, or by section
number and title.
 http://sos.georgia.gov/rules_regs.htm

41. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 Finding Federal administrative law:
 In print
Code of Federal Regulations
Federal Register
Various print reporters of administrative opinions
 Online
Code of Federal Regulations at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html
Federal Register at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
Links to Federal Agency opinions at
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/govdocs/fed_decision
s_agency.html

42. Finding Administrative (Regulatory) Law
 The Federal Register is a daily publication
of regulations and rules made by federal
agencies.
 The Code of Federal Regulations codifies
what is first published in the daily register.
 The code is in 50 titles with section
numbers and it is updated quarterly.

43. Finding Cases
 Where do you find case law?
 If you are looking for print cases, you will likely
find them only in libraries with legal materials.
 Cases are located by using a number of tools.
 If you know the name of the case you can locate
a table of cases that will list the cases
alphabetically and give you the volume, page and
book where the case is located.
 If you have the citation you can simply find the
correct set of books, pull the volume and turn to
the page.
 If you are looking for cases by topic you will want
to use a tool known as a digest.

44. Finding Cases
 Digests are indexes to case law and also a way to
find cases by topic, name, or subject.
 They are organized alphabetically by subject with
numbers that classify the law into topics and
subtopics.
 Digests are published by commercial publishers
who analyze cases and write brief abstracts of
cases and points of law.
 In Print
West's Georgia Digest 2d
West's Federal Practice Digest

45. Finding Cases
Many online services (both pay databases and the
free internet) act as digests of case law.
Some are mentioned below as finding tools for
cases.
Finding Georgia case law:
In Print
 Georgia Reports
 Georgia Appeals Reports
 West's South Eastern Reporter: Georgia Cases
 West’s South Eastern Reporter

46. Finding Cases
Online
 Georgia cases from (LexisNexis) available at
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/
 FindLaw also contains Georgia cases from at:
http://www.findlaw.com/gacases/index.html

47. Finding Cases
 Finding Federal Case law:
 In Print
United States Reports (United States Supreme
Court)
Supreme Court Reporter (United States Supreme
Court)
Lawyer's Edition: United States Supreme Court
Reports (United States Supreme Court)
Federal Reporter (1st-3d) (Federal Circuit Courts
of Appeal)
Federal Supplement (1st-2d) (Federal District
Court opinions)

48. Finding Cases
Finding Federal Cases
Online
United Supreme Court opinions use FindLaw (back to
1893), Cornell's Legal Information Institute, or the
Official Supreme Court website. Findlaw is at
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
Cornell's site is at
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
Official Supreme Court site is at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.
html
Federal court opinions (circuit courts of appeal and
trial level district courts).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/

49. Legal Research
After completing your review of all of
the above-mentioned steps, you
should have an idea of the statutes
and cases that relate to your legal
problem.

50. The Importance of Updating Your Research
 When doing legal research you can never
overlook the fact that the law changes rapidly
and often.
 You may find a perfect case and find that it was
later overruled.
 The statute you are relying on may have been
amended or repealed.
 You must always find a way to update your
research before you represent to any court that
the law you are relying on is still "good" law.

51. The Importance of Updating Your Research
 The main way of updating codes, cases,
and regulations is through use of an online
service such as West's KeyCite or
Lexis/Nexis' Shepard's Citations.
 Print versions of Shepard's are available at
many libraries with legal collections.
 These types of legal research resources
help the researcher find out prior and
subsequent history of cases and statutes.

52. When to Stop Your Research
 No one can really tell you when you reach
the comfort level you need to stop your
research.
 Many sources suggest that when you read
the same legal rule over and over again
you have found your answer.
 Also, if you are unsure of where your
research has led you, you may always
consult with an attorney that is
experienced in the legal topic you are
researching.