This document provides an overview of researching U.S. legal sources. It outlines the U.S. court system and discusses secondary sources like American Jurisprudence 2d and American Law Reports. It also explains how to find and understand U.S. case citations and search for case law on Westlaw, Lexis, and free sources. Additionally, the document reviews searching for U.S. federal and state legislation on annotated codes and free sources like Cornell's LII.

1. U.S. Legal Research
Jennifer Warburton
Singapore Management University

2. Agenda
 Basics of U.S. Court System
 Using U.S. Secondary Sources
 Understanding U.S. Case Citations
 Finding U.S. Federal and State Case Law
 Finding U.S. Federal and State Legislation

3. U.S. Court System - Basics
U.S. Courts
Federal Courts
U.S. Supreme
Court
13 Circuit
Appellate
Courts
Federal
District
Courts
Specialty Courts:
-Bankruptcy
-Tax Court
-Federal Claims
-Intl Trade
-Armed Forced
-Veterans Claims
State Court System for Each of 50
States
State
Highest
Court
State
Appellate
Courts
State District
Courts

4. Federal Circuit Courts
Circuit Courts numbered 1 to 11, Federal Circuit, and DC
Circuit
http://www.uscourts.gov/Court_Locator.as
px

5. Secondary Resources
 Encyclopedias
 AmJur 2d – American Jurisprudence 2d
 CJS – Corpus Juris Secundum
 ALR – American Law Reports
 Cornell’s LII WEX Legal Encyclopedia
 Journals/Books
 Limiting to U.S. Law Reviews in Westlaw and
Lexis
 SSRN
 Google Scholar

6. American Jurisprudence 2d – AmJur 2d
legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.c
om
 Legal Encyclopedia
 Start with the Index
 Provides summary of the law topic
 Will refer to key cases and relevant
legislation
 Available on Lexis and Westlaw
 Selective in citations provided in the
entries, not comprehensive for all cases on
a subject
 Strong on federal legislation

7. AmJur 2d on Westlaw
When using
Westlaw
Intl, start by
locating the
United
States
Collection

8. AmJur 2d Westlaw Search
Limit by fields. Use PR field to
search the information above
the main text of the entry.
Search tips are here
in Scope Information.

9. AmJur 2d Search Help in Scope Info
Click on AMJUR
link to return to
search window.

10. AmJur 2d Table of Contents
Option to browse
Table of Contents
rather than search.

11. AmJur 2d Table of Contents
From within Table of Contents,
can use Ctrl-F to find main
subject terms.

12. AmJur 2d Entry

13. AmJur 2d Related Info Tab
Toggle between full-text
and Table of Contents

14. AmJur 2d Correlation Table
References from older
editions are correlated to
current edition.

15. AmJur 2d on Lexis

16. AmJur 2d on Lexis
Multiple access points into encyclopedias.

17. AmJur 2d on Lexis
Can limit to only searching
Table of Contents

18. Corpus Juris Secundum - CJS
 Legal Encyclopedia
 Start with the Index
 Provides summary of the law topic
 Will refer to key cases and
relevant legislation
 Available on Westlaw
 More comprehensive than AmJur
in case citations provided, but that
can make the entries less
readable.
 Heavy on cases, light on
legislation legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.c
om

19. CJS Finding it in Westlaw International

20. CJS Search
Same options as in AmJur.

21. CJS Table of Contents

22. CJS

23. American Law Reports - ALR
http://law.sc.edu/library/tour/images/01_11a-alr.png

24. ALR
 More thorough and comprehensive encyclopedia
 Multiple ALR series in the print volumes
 ALR, ALR 2d, ALR 3d, ALR 4th, ALR 5th, ALR 6th, Federal,
and Federal 2d.
 All series and volumes are kept because not all entries
have been updated from original entry so the index may
refer to an older ALR series.
 There are at least eight different indexes for the print
series – it’s complicated.
 Entries are officially called Annotations.
 Print volumes updated annually.
 Online ALR
 Updated weekly
 Comprehensive search through all series

25. ALR Coverage on Westlaw online

26. ALR on Westlaw International
When using
Westlaw Intl,
start by
locating the
United
States
Collection

27. ALR Westlaw Search
The Index to Annotations is a very
helpful guide. To find the index on any
subject, include PR search with phrase
―index to annotations‖

28. ALR – Backdoor to Table of Contents

29. ALR Search Tips in Scope Info

30. ALR – Table of Contents
This ToC is not linked.
To use this information,
copy the heading, return
to search window, and
search on the copied
terms.

31. ALR Using the Index
To use the index, copy
the heading and return
to search screen.

32. ALR Searching the Index Heading
After copying the title from the Index, paste it into the search window. Use a TI title
search to limit search for terms in article titles. Also add a PR field limiter with phrase
―index to annotations‖ to only retrieve the very helpful index listing for this title.

33. ALR Index to Annotations
Index to Annotations is
a helpful listing of all
the articles within this
subject.

34. ALR Annotation
32 page Annotation. Starts
with outline of the
annotation…

35. ALR Annotation

36. ALR Annotation

37. ALR Annotation

38. Cornell’s LII - www.law.cornell.edu

39. LII Directory

40. LII WEX Legal Encyclopedia
Options to search
or browse.

41. WEX Legal Encyclopedia
Browse leads to
alphabetical listing
of topics.

42. LII WEX Entry
Cites primary legislation
Cites primary cases
Provides summary
of the legal topic.

43. Journals & Books
legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com
 Nothing different about searching
for U.S. journals and books.
 Can limit journal searches to U.S.-
only databases, if needed.
 Many free sources available
online.

44. U.S. Journals on Westlaw International
Limit search to U.S. law reviews by selecting LAWREV-PRO on World Journals
tab.

45. U.S. Journals on Lexis
Limit search to U.S. law reviews by selecting the U.S. Law Reviews and
Journals, Combined database that is listed on the Secondary Legal page.

46. Journals on SSRN
Free access to legal research on SSRN, located at
www.ssrn.com

47. Journals on Google Scholar
Search for articles on Google Scholar at scholar.google.com
Click the down arrow
leads to Advanced Search
options

48. Journals Google Scholar Advanced Search
If the term search returns too many results, can limit to law review articles by
including phrase ―law review‖ in the ―published in‖ field.

49. Journals Google Scholar
Clicking the PDF link on the right may offer an free full-text version even when the
title link does not.

50. Case Law
 Understanding Citations
 Mandatory or Persuasive
Authority
 Searching
 Westlaw
 Lexis
 Cornell’s LII Directory
 Google Scholar

51. U.S. Case Citations
Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Volume of Reporter
Reporter Abbreviation
First Page of Case
Year of DecisionCase Name

52. U.S. Case Citations – Parallel Citations
Smith v. Chaney Brooks Realty, Inc., 10 Haw. App. 250, 865 P.2d
170 (1994)
Parallel Citations:
Parallel Citation
Bright v. Los Angeles Unified Sch. Dist.,
18 Cal. 3d 450; 556 P.2d 1090; 1976 Cal. LEXIS 364; 134 Cal. Rptr. 639; 2 Media L. Rep. 1175 (
Because of the number of reporters, it can look very complicated:
Parallel Citations

53. Case Law – Mandatory or Persuasive?
 Federal Courts
 United States Supreme Court—Mandatory authority in all
courts, federal and state, when the decision covers federal law
issues.
 United States Courts of Appeals—Mandatory on district courts
and other lower courts within the circuit. Persuasive authority
in other circuits and in state courts.
 United States District Courts—Mandatory on specialized lower
courts within the appellate jurisdiction of the district court.
 State Courts
 State Supreme Courts, on decisions of state law—Mandatory
authority for all lower courts in that state, and when federal
courts hear state law cases under diversity jurisdiction.
 State Appellate Courts, on decisions of state law—Mandatory
on all lower courts in the state.
 State Trial Courts—Mandatory only if the trial court has review
authority over a lower court's decisions.

54. U.S. Case Law on Westlaw International

55. Case Law - Westlaw

56. Case Law - Westlaw
 To limit a search to a specific court
 Use a Field Limiter – CO
 Examples:
 To search only Ninth Circuit cases
 CO(9)
 To search only Arizona Appellate cases
 CO(ariz.app)
 To search only highest court in the state of Arizona
 CO(az AND high)
 To search only highest court in multiple states:
 CO(ia ks mo AND high)
 To search only New York Family Court OR New York District Court:
 CO(n.y.fam.ct OR n.y.dist.ct)
 To search only the First District of the Ohio Court of Appeals
 PR(―first district‖) AND CO(ohio.app)
 For more Westlaw court abbreviations, go to:
http://static.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/product_files//wes
tlaw/wlawdoc/wlres/caselaw7.pdf

57. Case Law - Lexis

58. Case Law – Lexis

59. Case Law – Lexis Search by Circuit

60. Case Law – Free Online Resources
 Legal Information Institute (LII)
 Excellent directory to free online resources
 www.law.cornell.edu
 Google Scholar Legal Documents
 scholar.google.com
 Federal Cases from Federal Court Websites
 www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts.aspx
 Another Court Website Index
 http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html
 State Cases from State Court Websites
 www.ncsc.org

61. Case Law- Cornell’s LII Directory

62. Case Law – LII Directory

63. Case Law – LII Federal Opinions

64. Case Law – LII Directory of Circuit Opinions

65. Case Law – LII Directory by State

66. Case Law – LII Directory of State Cases

67. Case Law - Google Scholar
Currently has:
-U.S. Supreme Court cases
since 1791;
-U.S. federal district, appellate,
tax, and bankruptcy courts
since 1923, and
-U.S. state appellate and state
supreme court cases since
1950.

68. Case Law – Google Scholar Courts
Can limit search
to specific courts.

69. Case Law – Google Scholar Case Search
Search for cases by key terms.

70. Case Law – Google Scholar Case
Official page numbers
are provided for citation
needs.

71. Case Law – Google Scholar Case Search
Smart enough to return the original,
full-text case as first item in the results list
even just using a simple name search.

72. Legislation
 Westlaw
 USCA –Annotated Version
 Lexis
 USCS – Annotated Version
 LII Directory

73. Legislation on Westlaw
U.S. legislation is available many places online. If you have Lexis and Westlaw acces
take advantage of the valuable information in the annotated versions of the U.S. Code

74. Legislation – USCA Search
Specific
citation
search.
Or access code
through the Index.

75. Legislation - USCA Index

76. USCA Entry
Entry starts with the
text of the statute.

77. USCA – Benefits of Annotated Version
Entry includes valuable information such as recommended law review articles that
discuss this section of the statute.

78. USCA – Benefits of Annotated Version
Entry also includes references to CJS entries that discuss this statute.

79. USCA – Benefits of Annotated Version
Entries include links to relevant ALR annotations.

80. USCA – Benefits of Annotated Version
Cases and Case Points of Relevancy
Links to relevant cases on various aspects of this statute.

81. Legislation on Lexis

82. Lexis - USCS

83. Lexis - USCS Index

84. Lexis – USCS Index

85. USCS Entry

86. USCS – Benefits of Annotated Version
USCS provides similar additional
information, such as links to
AmJur articles on this statute.

87. USCS – Benefits of Annotated Version
Links to relevant
law review articles

88. USCS – Benefits of Annotated Version
Discussion with links to relevant cases.

89. Legislation - LII Resources
Again looking at Cornell’s LII website at law.cornell.edu
Provides links to state legislation, organized by topic.
Helpful for research and comparative analysis.

90. Legislation – LII State Statute Topical Index
Directory of
state legislation
organized by
subject.

91. Summary – Page 1 of 2
 Court System
 Helps determine what is mandatory law
 Secondary Resources
 Encyclopedias
 AmJur
 CJS
 ALR
 Journals/Books
 Can limit to U.S. only in Westlaw and Lexis
 SSRN
 Google Scholar

92. Summary – Page 2 of 2
 Case Law
 Citations
 Use tables in Bluebook or other tables online to understand court
abbreviation.
 Searching
 Westlaw and Lexis
 Cornell’s LII Directory
 Google Scholar – Legal Documents
 Legislation
 Many free sources for U.S. legislation. If have Westlaw or
Lexis, use annotated versions
 USCA – Westlaw Annotated Code
 USCS – Lexis Annotated Code
 Cornell’s LII Directory
 Many free legal resources available at law.cornell.edu

93. Additional Resources
 The Bluebook
 KF 245 .B58
 Basic Legal Research by Amy E. Sloan
 KF240 .S585
 Principles of Legal Research by Kent C.
Olson
 KF240 .O57

94. Research Guide

95. Thank You.