Law Refresher The Final Chapter Part IV – April 30

Today’s Agenda Types of primary legal sources Review of federal legal documentation Comparison of Westlaw and LexisNexis KeyCite Your questions

Primary Sources Cases – Briefs Statutes Regulations

Federal system of government Federal v. state Federal law is supreme 51 separate legal systems – 51 court systems – 51 legislatures – 51 executives

Federal Courts United States Supreme Court – U.S., L.Ed., L.Ed.2d, S.Ct. U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal – F., F.2d, F.3d U.S. District Courts – F.Supp., F.Supp.2d

Federal Statutes U.S. Code (U.S.C.) United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) – Princeton does not own

Federal Regulations Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Federal Register (Fed. Reg.)

Electronic Availability All published federal and state case law since 1789 (even some unpublished) Nearly all codified federal and state statutes since about 1990 Federal regulations since 1981 All federal laws since 1789 Nearly all law reviews since early 1990’s – Major law reviews since first volume (Hein)

Major Legal Databases LexisNexis Academic LexisNexis (commercial version) Westlaw Campus Indexes - various Hein Online

Why Use Print? Statutory research Case Digests Legal encyclopedias

Putting It All Together Inexperienced Researchers – Let secondary sources guide researcher through cases and statutes – Secondary Sources Legal encyclopedias Law Reviews and Journals Experienced Researchers – Statutes and Regulations – Then Cases

Lawyer Jokes You're trapped in a room with a lion, a rattlesnake and a lawyer. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do? You shoot the lawyer. Twice.

Lawyer Jokes, again What do you call 20 lawyers skydiving from an airplane? Skeet.