1. LA-8 Effective Legal Research Instructor Steve Lewengrub Class 2 February 22, 2006

2. Class Exercise
Class Website
How a Bill Becomes a Law

3. Research Strategy - A Suggestion
Step 1
Determine The Area of Law
Subject Area or Topic You are Researching.
Determine the Jurisdiction
Step 2
Narrow the Search
If this area of the law if new to you, it may be helpful to read a general summary of the area to get some ideas for a starting point, key words, and/or a better understanding of the law you are researching.
Step 3
Classify the Issues
Federal/State
Civil/Criminal
Procedural/Substantive
Step 4
Determine Sources &
Key Words
Determine what sources you will need to review (statutes, case law, administrative regulations, etc…)
Choose key words that relate to the legal area and some of your facts.
Step 5
Research Primary Sources
Statutes (hint: annotated statutes may assist you in finding the two sources below
Regulations
Case Law – Start with Digests & Keys
Step 6
Check Your Research
Key Cite and Shepard’s serve two purposes.
Confirming your authority is still good law.
May help you find additional cases or authority for your project.

4. Governing Law Jurisdiction Precedent
Authority of a government body to exercise control over a matter
Authority of a court to hear a matter
Precedent
Holdings Defined
Stare Decisis = lower courts must follow the decisions or precedents of higher courts IN THEIR JURISDICTION

5. Hierarchy of Authority
Chain of Command
E.g. Federal = USSCT-CTAPP-DCT
Currency
Levels of Courts

6. Types of Authority Mandatory – Persuasive Conflicting Authority
Mandatory/Binding = A decision by a higher court or authority in the same jurisdiction
Persuasive = A decision by a higher court or any other court in another jurisdiction
Other issues
Federal versus state = depends on which law governs the case
State versus state = the law of another state is merely persuasive
Dicta = part of the case that is not an issue directly presented by the parties. Dicta is the courts opinion, but not binding
E.g. Court describes how it would have decided the case if a certain fact was different
Conflicting Authority
State and Federal laws may be different on the same subject (e.g. minimum wage)
In most cases, federal or state law will govern and will say which applies
In some cases, US Constitution mandates that Federal Law is Supreme

7. Is a Case Mandatory or Persuasive A Checklist
What jurisdiction applies to your case
What court decided the case you are reviewing.
Hierarchy of courts
Level of court deciding the case you are reviewing.

8. Types of Authority
Primary
Secondary
SEE CHART ON PAGE 26

9. The Legal System
Sources of Law in the United States – Primary Authority
The U.S. Constitution
Federal Statutes and Treaties (Statutory Law)
Executive Orders
State Constitutions
State Statutes
Local Ordinances
Rules and Rulings of Agencies (Fed, State, Local)
Decisions by Federal and State Courts (Common Law)

10. Some Key Terms Encyclopedias (AmJur and CJS) Secondary sources
Present background information for broad subjects
Restatements of Law/Treatises
Uniform Codes/Laws
Legal dictionaries
Defines terms relevant to law
E.g., Black's Law Dictionary
Digests
Provide subject access to cases which are published chronologically in case reporters
Do not have critical analysis
Very Basic
Citators
Listing of Cases
Annotated code
A version of a code (a subject compilation of laws) with references

11. In Class Exercises – Chapter 2
In Class Exercise (Page 29)
Chapter Exercises (Pages 30-32)
2, 5 & 6 18
19 & 21

12. Court Decisions Reporters Case Law West’s National Reporter System
Slip Opinions = 1st Printed Version of a Case
USSCT
PACER =
USLW =
US SCT Website
Advance Sheets
Pamphlet has actual pagination of where case will be in National Reporter
Bound Reporters

13. West Reporter and Digest System
Reporters
Federal
Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F3d) = Courts of Appeal
Federal Supplement (F.Supp., F.Supp.2d) = District Courts
Regional
See Pages (62-63)
Digests (Covered in More Detail in Chapter 4)
each legal topic is divided into subtopics and assigned a key number.
subtopics are referred to by both topic and key number.
there are specific digests for state and federal statutes.
there are both state and regional digests.
Each digest set includes:
a descriptive word index.
a table of cases.
a table of statutes.
an outline of the laws and list of topics at the beginning of each volume.

14. In-Class Exercises – Chapter 3
Page 74
1, 3, 4