Introduction to Legal Research Jim Raines, Ph.D. Collaborative Health & Human Services

Case Research: Terminology ~ Case = decision= opinion ~ Published vs. unpublished ~ Mandatory and persuasive authority

Court Structure – Federal and State FederalState Court of Last Resort U.S. Supreme CourtCA Supreme Court Intermediate Appellate Court ↑ Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals CA Court of Appeals Trial Court ↑ U.S. District CourtCounty Superior Court

Law Library has these: While books are still useful for legal research, most students will want to use a database!

CSUMB ● EDU Start Here!

CSUMB ● EDU Scroll down to the L section Click on Lexis- Nexis!

CSUMB ● EDU Start Here!

CSUMB ● EDU First type a Topic, then click on Go

CSUMB ● EDU Note that LexisNexis automatically sorts multiple results from Newest (top) to Oldest (bottom). Click on the newest result.

CSUMB ● EDU Note that the first name is always the Plaintiff, the second name is the Defendant, so the case citation is Sierakowski v. Ryan (2000). This is the legal reference for the case.

CSUMB ● EDU Scroll down to read an Overview of the case and its Outcome. Core terms & Headnotes may give you other search term ideas!

CSUMB ● EDU You can also try the LII at Cornell University and search there.

CSUMB ● EDU Type in a search term and press go

CSUMB ● EDU LII will begin by showing the results from the U.S. Code

CSUMB ● EDU Choose the Federal Law that is most relevant. This page will also give you important citation and reference information. The correct citation will be the (Violence Against Women Act, 1994). The reference will also include: 42 U.SC. §13701 (1994)

CSUMB ● EDU Now click on the link called “Text of Legislation”

CSUMB ● EDU Since all bills go through multiple drafts, always choose the most recent PDF.

CSUMB ● EDU The PDF gives you the complete law.

CSUMB ● EDU After you have saved a copy on your computer, you can search for specific terms.

CSUMB ● EDU Clicking more than once on the search term will find all of the occurrences of your search term in the document.

CSUMB ● EDU You can then find the exact section that interests you in the law. Be sure to cite and reference it in your paper.

CSUMB ● EDU If you go back to the LII Search Result and scroll down, then you will also find Supreme Court cases (if any) on your topic. The blue bars show their level of relevance.

CSUMB ● EDU LII links you right to the Supreme Court decision.

CSUMB ● EDU Sometimes the LII will find your search terms in parts of the Code of Federal Regulations.

CSUMB ● EDU The link will take you directly to the CFR. Scroll down to find the correction section.

CSUMB ● EDU When you find the section you want, simply click on it.

CSUMB ● EDU