This eight-step guide designed to help students effectively research legal authority for their memos and briefs was recently posted on the Legal Scholarship Network.
The guide sets forth the following steps that students should follow in their research:
- Start your research for any new legal issue with a broad secondary source, like a legal encyclopedia, treatise, law review article, or American Law Reports (ALR).
- If your issue is – or could be – covered by a state or federal statute, then use the annotated code for the controlling jurisdiction.
- After you find the relevant statutory provision, determine the statute’s effective date and whether it has been amended.
- For each statute, review the annotations in the code for cases in the controlling jurisdiction.
- Use the West Digest System to search for cases addressing your issue in the controlling jurisdiction.
- Use Lexis or Westlaw to find additional cases in the controlling jurisdiction.
- If your research of law in the controlling jurisdiction does not fully address your issue, then you may look for primary persuasive authority from other jurisdictions.
- Update each authority with Shepard’s or KeyCite.
Click here for the full paper.
