Legal Research  

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Spring Semester 2012

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Legal research is very different from doing the usual literature search that is common in other disciplines.  But once you understand how it works, it's easy to do. This guide will help you navigate the sources and research methods.

Before you begin, here are some points to keep in mind when doing legal research:

• Each legal resource documents a stage in the legal process.  To understand what you're reading, it's important to know what step in the process your source is covering.  The "Legal Process Timeline" section in this guide will help you.

• Legal writing relies heavily on citation of other legal material and utilizes a citation "shorthand" method to convey this information.  The "Legal Citation" section will help you understand this method.

• When looking at a statute, regulation or a court case, there are certain features to help understand the history of that law and how it relates to other laws.  The "Statutory Law", "Regulatory Law", "Case Law", Shepard's and "Using LexisNexis" sections will help you identify these features.

• When using primary legal sources online, keep in mind that the legal profession often does not recognize the validity of an online source so when citing one, care must be taken to also cite the corresponding print version.  The "Using LexisNexis" section will help you with this.

• Online databases have made legal research fast and convenient but they can be bewildering and disorderly.  The "Using LexisNexis" section will help you to navigate this particular database.

• Finally, legal research can seem overwhelming to the novice.  If you need more help than this guide can offer you, please use the "Additional Research Help" section or contact me.