The Researcher’s Law Dictionary potx

Although a company can be affected by a web of federal, state, and local agencies, much of this information is found in the Code of Federal Regulations CFR, which is available in the le

A legal dictionary with emphasis on the tools and resources of legal research, of particular interest to researchers, students, and librarians, with definitions more in-depth than found in any other dictionary

Copyright 2010 by Edward B Sadowski All rights reserved

abbreviation Citations in primary and secondary sources and documents use

abbreviations of case reporters, codes, courts, law reviews, and

other legal resources Proper forms of abbreviations are required by courts for all submitted legal documents Abbreviations of courts and publications used in legal citation are often completely inscrutable, akin to trying to decipher hieroglyphics Before you can track down a publication in a citation, you need to figure out its complete title

There is not a standard set of abbreviations used by all law reporters and reference guides Such sources as Shepard’s, Black’s

Law Dictionary, and citation manuals such as The Bluebook may

vary in their forms of abbreviations

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation has a section in the

back of the book with the most common abbreviations of legal

publications The blue pages in the middle of The Bluebook has the proper citations for the various states The front of the state Digests has the abbreviations for that state’s courts Black’s Law Dictionary

is also a helpful resource, with a section on abbreviations.There are reference books devoted exclusively to legal abbreviations

There is an excellent British website for legal abbreviations in the English language (including US): the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations at www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk Another site:

www.legal-abbreviations.org An online list of abbreviations and links to additional abbreviation resources is at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legal_abbreviations

act Another term for a law After a bill is sent from the House of

Representatives to the Senate, it may be referred to as an act After

enactment by the Senate, the act becomes law, and still may be

referred to as an act

action A lawsuit, or litigation

actionable Grounds for legal action; based on facts in the complaint, sufficient

cause for a lawsuit; a filing of a lawsuit that meets legal requirements

adjudication The final decision, or final judgment, of the court that ends,

terminates the case A case is adjudicated in favor or against a plaintiff or defendant

administrative

agency

A government body, also known as a regulatory agency, or government agency, may have the name administration, board, commission, corporation, department, office, service Agencies are

usually created by statute to implement or enforce the law

Agencies have regulatory functions and the power to promulgate rules, issue decisions, opinions, and adjudicate disputes

Administrative agencies are generally an independent part of the executive branch of the government, but may also be part of the legislative or judicial branch, or not part of any branch Examples of agencies are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Accounting Office, National Labor Relations Board, United States Postal Service, US Commission on Civil Rights

Administrative agencies may publish annual reports discussing the operation and activities and accomplishments of the agency

Before accepting a company as a client, a law firm may need to know what administrative agencies affect the company’s operations Although a company can be affected by a web of federal, state, and

local agencies, much of this information is found in the Code of

Federal Regulations (CFR), which is available in the legal

databases and is free on the Web at gpoaccess.gov/cfr By browsing the various titles of the CFR the researcher can locate the agencies that could affect the client A research tool, the

Congressional Quarterly’s Federal Regulatory Directory, provides

profiles of agencies, including background information and responsibilities, legislation administered by the agencies, and where

to locate rules and regulations enforced by the agencies The appropriate agencies are located using the index of terms that identify the different areas of responsibilities or functions of agencies

administrative

decision

Administrative rules and regulations are enforced by administrative judicial tribunals, created by Congress, who issue decisions through administrative hearings The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), enacted by Congress in 1946, sets forth administrative law procedures to comply with Constitutional due process

administrative

law

Laws made by administrative agencies, including rules,

regulations and quasi-judicial decisions Also known as

administrative code Collectively these can be referred to as regulations, and are created both on the federal, state, and local levels

Statutes cannot cover every detail of every aspect of legally defined behavior of individuals and entities These additional rules and regulations of societal behavior are left to administrative agencies Administrative law—the rules, regulations and codes—are issued by governmental agencies at all levels—municipal, county, state and federal These rules and regulations are directed to the general public, businesses and other agencies Some of the better known agencies whose regulations get into the public spotlight are the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Federal government agencies are usually part of the executive branch, also called executive agencies Some agencies are part of the judicial and legislative branches Sometimes agencies are referred to as the “fourth branch of the government.” Regulations have the force of law under the mandate of legislative statutes, in

other words, statutes establish or limit agency powers Federal agencies are authorized by Congress to promulgate rules and regulations Administrative regulations are enforceable, with penalties for violations handed out through decisions by administrative judicial tribunals

Federal rules and regulations made by government administrative agencies are available in print, microfiche and on the Internet First,

regulations are issued daily, chronologically, in The Federal

Register, then codified topically in the Code of Federal Regulations

(CFR) Some federal regulations and procedural rules are included

in some of the primary sources of federal statutes, such as the US

Code Congressional and Administrative News Service (USCCAN)

and the US Code Service (USCS)

Federal regulations on the Internet are available from the government websites at GPOAccess.gov and FirstGov.gov, as well

as agency home pages Also useful are websites such as FindLaw.com and The Cornell Legal Information Institute at

www.law.cornell.edu State regulations may be harder to find Many states publish regulations included with statutes, as well as in the form of

“administrative codes” and are available on the Internet by combining “administrative code” with the name of the state Many states publish state versions of the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations State websites also have links to

administrative codes which may be available centrally or from individtopual departments and agencies

couple of weeks of case opinion or enactment of statute Advance sheets are also issued for administrative opinions Court opinions may be revised or withdrawn before their reporter is published

West Regional Reporter advance sheets are published weekly Other advance sheets are published biweekly, monthly and semi-monthly Advance sheets of statutes are preceded by the

publication of slip laws, while case decisions are first printed as slip opinions

Advanced sheets are placed next to the hardcover volumes they relate to and are discarded when a permanent hardcover volume is published with the identical information and same volume number and pagination Some libraries keep advance sheets behind the Reference Desk to prevent theft

West reporter advance sheets feature a subject index, a key number digest, and a cumulative table of words and phrases

construed in the cases reported Lawyers ’ Edition, 2d advance

sheets for the US Supreme Court Reports feature a “table of

classifications to the U.S Supreme Court Digest” and a table of statutes cited in the cases reported

advisory

committee

A group set up to study an issue for the government and may issue special reports or annual reports

affirm A higher court’s confirmation, as valid, a lower court’s decision; to

uphold a lower court’s judgment or actions An appeals court affirms

a lower court’s decision

amendment A change to a bill, law, or Constitution Laws get amended over

the years, meaning that parts of statutes or regulations are

changed, added to, or deleted The amended version of the law is the most current Part of a law that has been changed is also known

as a statutory amendment

American Bar

Association

The American Bar Association (ABA) (www.abanet.org), founded in

1878, is the nation’s major association for lawyers, a voluntary professional association organized to promote improvements in the American justice system and to provide guidelines for the

advancement of the legal profession and legal education Its membership of over 400,000 consists of practicing and non-practicing lawyers, judges, law professors, and administrators (but only half of the nation’s lawyers are members) Other legal

associations are state bar associations as well as organizations based on specialty and ethnicity

The ABA publishes books, manuals, and, through its ABA Journal,

articles on legal topics The ABA has formulated rules of professional conduct, responsibility, and ethics and has participated

in the development of model acts The ABA provides accreditation

to law schools and paralegal education The ABA cannot discipline lawyers nor can it enforce its rules

The word “bar” in the association’s name derives from the bar in the courtroom—the railing that serves as a physical barrier between the spectators and judge, attorneys, defendants, and court staff

American Law

Reports

The American Law Reports, or ALR, published by West, contains

selected (that is, significant, leading, but not all) state and federal

appellate cases and comprehensive essays on legal issues, as well

as typical illustrative cases This differs from the general legal

encyclopedias that cover all legal topics

ALR is a primary source in that it contains cases, albeit in a

selected, not comprehensive collection of law, although it does cover a wide range of topics, with a narrow focus ALR is most

valuable as a secondary source as a finding tool as well as for its

outstanding annotations ALR also covers practice issues with cross-references to practice manuals and the American

Jurisprudence Legal Forms books Supposedly ALR is quoted and

cited more than any other secondary authority

ALR is valuable not so much for text of cases (case reports are also

published in a number of other resources) but for in-depth essays (annotations) of high caliber that follow each case The annotations are written by staff lawyers and not by prominent scholars, thus ALR

is not to be used as persuasive authority, but as a help to understand the law Its annotations include discussions of a topic in different jurisdictions, following different rules and approaches,

using key facts, bringing together relevant authorities Some ALR

annotations are 150 pages long! Most of the latest annotations

cover new topics not covered in previous volumes Some of the recent annotations cover topics found in earlier volumes, thus superseding the earlier annotations

“Annotation” is a misleading term for ALR content in that its

annotations are very detailed and lengthy articles, unlike the annotations in digests, which are one-sentence summaries of

cases The ALR includes scope notes, summaries, practical practice

pointers, outlines of cases, in-depth index, sample terms for electronic searches, and table of cited statutes and cases Probably

the best starting point in ALR is the index to locate a topic If a key

primary authority is known, annotations discussing that authority can

be found in the tables in the ALR Index or ALR Federal Tables

volumes Pocket parts should always be checked as they may indicate if annotations have been superseded, also indicated in the Annotation History Tables

The American Law Reports, started in 1919, is published in two

separate collections ALR covers state cases while ALR Federal covers the federal cases There are five separate series of ALR

Each series is a separate collection of material, not cumulative in other words, each subsequent series does not replace the previous

series, unlike encyclopedias Six to ten ALR volumes are published

each year for each current series, with each volume containing about ten annotations

There are helpful cross-references to other sources that discuss the

specific issues, such as legal encyclopedias, treatises, practice

manuals, law reviews, and digests and indexes There is a

separate Shepard’s Citations for ALR

Starting with volume 111 (in the year 1993, which is the first year of the fifth series) cross-references are made to West’s key number

system and electronic queries for Westlaw online searching The

complete ALR is only available electronically on Westlaw

ALR has a telephone hotline for case updates for cases not yet

include summaries of cases that interpret or discuss particular

sections of the code The notes also contain references to other relevant statutes, cases, law review articles and other resources

Annotated codes are published for federal and state laws, but

generally not for regulations

annotation A description, explanation, or overview of a topic in the form of a

note, editorial comment or summary that helps explain statutes and

cases is an annotation Annotations have cross references to

related primary sources and secondary resources Annotated

statutes contain “case blurbs” explaining sections of statutes

Annotations in digests summarize case decisions Digest

annotations in West digests summarize a subtopic (identified by key

number) under a larger topic The American Law Reports (ALR)

annotations, on the other hand, are lengthy and detailed essays on points of law

Annotations in codes delineate statutes within a legal context of how the statute has been interpreted by the Judicial branch and enforced

by the Executive branch Code annotations include a “Historical Note,” providing legislative history of dates when the law was originally enacted and amended; cross-references to related Executive branch regulations; “Notes of Decisions” summarizing court cases interpreting the statute; and references to secondary resources, such as law review articles, treatises, or encyclopedias that discuss the particular law

appeal A legal proceeding where an appellant, or defendant, requests that

a case decision be reviewed and reversed by a higher court The

losing party in the court of appeals can attempt to appeal the

decision to the United States Supreme Court through a “writ of

certiorari.” The Supreme Court may decide not to hear the case Most court cases are not appealed, especially because they are time-consuming and costly

appellant The party, formerly a plaintiff or defendant in a lower court,

requesting that a higher court review actions of a lower court

appellate brief A written legal argument submitted to an appellate court asking

that a trial court decision be upheld or reversed Appellate briefs

are very helpful in understanding legal issues raised in a case on behalf of a plaintiff or defendant Unfortunately, only briefs for the

US Supreme Court are regularly published Selected full-text briefs

are available in the Landmark Brief series Summaries of briefs for all US Supreme Court cases reported are found in the Supreme

appellee The party, formerly a plaintiff or defendant in a lower court,

against whom an appeal is taken to a higher court

appendix A supplementary section at the end of a law book or legal

document The appendix of a law book often includes statutes, rules, charts and tables An appendix in an appellate brief often

includes parts of the record, such as the opinion

highest-Attorney general opinions usually come out in slip form, then are bound, and are indexed quarterly, semi-annually or annually

Attorney general opinions are available on some state attorney general websites Attorney general opinions are available online on Findlaw (www.FindLaw.com) and in the legal subscription

authority A legal writing or resource stating the law, such as a judicial

opinion, which also can influence or bind a court (Generally, a case that has been reversed on appeal cannot be cited as authority.) Authorities are citations in primary and secondary

sources of statutes, regulations, decisions, and scholarly writings (particularly treatises and law review articles) that support a legal argument Thus one “cites an authority.” Binding is done by a

mandatory authority, while influencing is rendered by a persuasive authority

The extent of legal accessibility to public records varies from state to state, yet generally a significant amount of public information is available One method of obtaining information—“pretexting”—is uniformly prohibited by federal law: the use of false pretexts to obtain unlisted phone numbers, financial information, credit history, medical records, and other types of personal information Disclosure

of certain personal information is restricted by federal law, obtainable only under specified conditions with required notification

to the consumer

Free resources start with online phone directories such as switchboard.com and AnyWho.com Reverse phone lookups are available at sites such as AnyWho.com Using Google, Yahoo! and other search engines can yield significant information for some individuals News articles from current and archived files can also

be useful These news sources are available from Google, newspaper websites, and library subscription databases

Fee-based resources containing public records databases, for contact and background information about individuals and companies, include Accurint, AutoTrackXp, ChoicePoint, Merlin, as well as LexisNexis and Westlaw These database provide

information on asset ownership of real estate property, motor vehicles, airplanes, and boats Also available from these services are criminal and court records, including bankruptcy filings, judgments and liens Business information includes UCC filings, corporate and Ltd partnerships, and small business ownerships Professional license information for various occupational and business fields are available from individual state agencies

Vital (birth and death) and marital information are also available free from government sources such as the various state vital records departments and the Social Security Death Index

(http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com) Military records are available free at

www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/veterans_service_records.html Fee-based services for military records include

www.MilitarySearch.org and www.MilitaryUSA.com/us_locator.html

bad law When a law’s positive value to support an issue has, through

subsequent history and treatment, becomes undermined and invalidated Statutes, regulations, and rules can be modified

amended, repealed or otherwise treated negatively (criticized) by

courts and other authorities Cases can be modified and overruled

in the appeal process, as well as invalidated or treated negatively (criticized) by courts and other authorities The issue of whether a

law is constitutional can come into play

A case-in-hand becomes bad law when it is (a) modified or reversed

on appeal; or (b) criticized, distinguished in a decision in a different later case In addition, if (c) a case on which the case-in-hand relies

on is over-ruled, criticized, distinguished in a later case Or (d) if a case on the topic, which is neither the case-in-hand nor a case on which the case-in-hand relies, is over-ruled, criticized or

distinguished in a later case Or if (e) a subsequent statute, regulation, or rule enacted by a legislature states a rule contrary to

or different from the rule in the case-in-hand (over-turning the rule) These case history developments can be generally researched

through the use of citators, primary and secondary authorities

Citators are not foolproof tools to catch all instances of bad law, and cannot be relied upon solely in all of these situations Relying on additional research tools (such as secondary authorities) will prevent shortcomings of a citatory For instance, citators will miss situation d A citator may miss situation e unless it is indicated in a citating case Situation c can be caught by using the citator table-of-authorities (A table-of-authorities feature is part of LexisNexis and Westlaw This function acts as a reverse citator, citating cases referred to in a case-in-hand.)

bar The word bar refers to attorneys as a group, or the profession of

law

As a verb, to bar means to nullify, defeat, prevent a claim or action The word “bar” in a bar association’s name derives from the bar in the courtroom—the railing that serves as a physical barrier between the spectators and judge, attorneys, defendants, and court staff

belief A subjective feeling or conviction about an idea or fact, but not

based on concrete knowledge or verifiable information

bill Proposed legislation introduced into the House of Representatives

A bill must be passed (enacted) by both houses of Congress or the

state legislatures to become law, signed by the President (federal)

or governor (state), or passed over a veto of the President or governor Bills may be private or public, and when passed, become

public or private laws

Bills are designated by HR (House of Representatives) number or S (Senate) number, depending on the chamber in which they were first introduced

Examining bills is part of researching legislative history

Bills and pending legislation are listed in the US Code and

Administrative News, as well as on the Internet

well-of books on legal subjects, from Antitrust to Wills, that identifies and summarizes the rules of law that apply to various cases

blawg Shorthand for blog (weblog) Denise Howell is credited by some for

coining the term blawg

The most recent news and cutting edge legal analysis, as well as practical advice and guidance from experts, before it reaches journals and other publications, can be found in blawgs, and can be very instructive for practitioners and students alike

Subject directories of blawgs include abajournal.com/blawgs and

blawgs.com, Blawg subject areas that can be accessed include those specific to lawyers, paralegals, and librarians, and by practice area

Specific blawgs for legal research include Legal Research Plus legalresearchplus.com, LLRX.com llrx.com, Legal Research Blog law.onecle.com/archives, Legal Research 101

albanylawlibrary.wordpress.com/category/legal-research-101

The Bluebook The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the best-known and

most-used guide for proper citation forms and abbreviation rules for

preparing legal documents The Bluebook has been issued by the

Harvard Law Review Association and other law reviews for over three-quarters of a century It was created by the law-student editors

of four Ivy League university law reviews to show how to cite law review articles

The Bluebook helps you make sure you use the right legal

abbreviations, capitalization, and that you space it right For the

correct abbreviations of case reporters, codes, and so on, go to the shaded pages at the end of The Bluebook For specific citation forms for various states, go to the blue pages in The Bluebook

A LexisNexis online product, Shepard’s Brief Suite, with its

Shepard’s BriefCheck feature, automatically checks for Bluebook

citation formatting errors

boolean

operators

Using Boolean logic, the same principles used in algebra and computer programming, searching can be enhanced with databases and search engines to add precision to searching using the

operators and, or, not (or and not), and proximity operators such as

near, to connect search terms or keywords entered into the search

text box Other search features included expanders, such as wild

cards, universal characters, where adding a symbol such as a * or !

to the root of a word will find variations of a word based on the root Every database and search engine varies in the extent that Boolean operators are made available as options in searching Some

databases and search engines use and, or, and not as the

operators, while others may use other wordings and typographical

symbols The Westlaw database calls the operators connectors and

allows extensive variations of setting parameters for searching using the various connectors

bound

volume

A hardbound, or hardcover, book Advance sheets are temporary softcover (unbound) copies of case decisions that later are printed with others in bound volumes, such as bound reporters

brief A written argument prepared by counsel for a case, submitted to

the court A brief contains the history of the proceedings, a

summary of the facts and legal issues of the case, the relevant laws

and authorities that apply to the facts of the case, and relief

sought A brief is most often used as part of the appeal process and

is called an appellate brief A lawyer may argue that the lower court made mistakes on ruling on objections, resulting in prejudicial

error, requiring a new trial A brief submitted to a trial court is

somewhat less formal, often called a memorandum of law

A brief is also a summary and analysis of a case used for study in law school “Briefing a case” is done by a student, following a certain form, for discussion in the classroom

calendar A schedule, or agenda, of judicial or legislative business A judicial

calendar includes dates set for trial and oral arguments A

legislative calendar contains legislative business such as action taken on bills, committee hearings scheduled

caption At the beginning of a case opinion, the parties, citation, dates

case A lawsuit Also, the written opinion of a court Case can also refer

to the evidence in support of a legal position

case in point A judicial opinion covering a similar situation being researched,

substantiating a legal argument

case finder A resource that is used to locate relevant cases Digests are a

primary tool to locate cases Other useful case finders are

Shepard’s, online cite checking, annotated statutes, encyclopedias and ALR Indexes in digests and reporters, e.g., Words and Phrases, are also useful as case finders

case law The body of law consisting of the written opinions of judges

collected in reporters In contrast to statutory law, which is the

codified law of statutes and regulations

Case law is created reactively by criminal proceedings and civil

litigation Case law is established by appellate court interpretations

of statutes, regulations, constitutions and other cases Case law

is based on judicial precedents, binding or persuasive, sometimes

referred to as “common law.” Case law develops out of

interpretations of clear as well as vague and general constitutional provisions and from interpretations of clear as well as ambiguous statutory law

case name The names of the parties of a case, e.g., Roe v Wade Also called

case title The case name consists of the names of the plaintiff (listed first) and defendant, also: appellant v appellee, petitioner v respondent

Case names are listed in tables of cases found in the various digests and reporters

case number A number assigned to individual court cases The number is useful

for looking up cases on court websites See also docket number

case reporter Case reporters, or court reporters, or reports, are the published

case law, printed in hardbound copies or CD-ROM The decisions, rulings, opinions by various courts that are published are “reported.” Reported Federal and state cases go back to 1789

Reporters mainly contain state and federal appellate and supreme court cases, as well as rulings by administrative agencies One federal reporter covers some of the district court decisions Federal jurisdictions also have their own reporters by area of the law, not by geographic region

Most reported state and federal court decisions are published in

reporters by West West publishes state appellate and supreme court cases in its regional reporter system, and also published most

of the Federal reporters Most trial court decisions are not published Not all state and federal appellate decisions are published Because not all cases are published, unreported cases do not carry much persuasive weight

See also National Reporter System

casebook A legal textbook used in law schools with excerpts, reprints of legal

opinions accompanied by comments and questions

certiorari A writ (order) issued by an appellate court, typically the US

Supreme Court, ordering that a case be brought before it from a lower court Often abbreviated “cert.”

An appeal for review is made by applying to the higher court for a writ of certiorari, which is either granted or denied, based on the court’s discretionary certiorari jurisdiction

Certiorari is granted when at least three members of the US Supreme Court believe the appealed case has issues sufficiently significant for the public interest on a federal level warranting a review By denying the appeal, the court states that the lower court decision, or precedent, should stand

In a few cases, the law provides for a jurisdictional appeal to the court, rather than by a review of writ or certiorari (for example, for cases under the Voting Rights Act.) Instead of a writ of certiorari, a

“jurisdictional statement” is submitted by the party seeking the review, with the opposing party filing a “motion to dismiss or affirm.” The court then can decide to review the case, entertain a full briefing and argument, and can affirm or reverse the lower court judgments Summary affirmances and reversals have precedential value; dismissals are like denials of certiorari

chronological

publication

Chronological publication refers to statutes and cases that are compiled and published (“reported”) shortly after they become law in

the order that the statutes are enacted or the cases are decided

Each volume of chronologically-published laws are numbered consecutively, with the highest volume numbers having the most

recent enacted or decided laws This contrasts with topical

publications Advance sheets (softcover publications) are issued

temporarily for the chronologically-arranged laws until the hardcover volume is printed

Statutes that are compiled and published in the order that they are enacted by legislative bodies include state session laws, federal public laws (statutes at large), and federal administrative rules and regulations For instance, US public laws are first published by the

government chronologically as slip laws and advance sheets, as

well as pamphlets in the United States Code Congressional and

Administrative News These US public laws are published annually

by the government in chronological order in an official series of

books called the Statutes at Large

Case reporters (Pacific Reporter, US Supreme Court Reports, etc.)

compile cases chronologically as the decisions are rendered, while

case digests are topically-arranged later

circuit courts

of appeal

See US Court of Appeals

citate To find authorities referring to a source, e.g., to citate American

Law Reports annotations or Restatements in Shepard’s or

KeyCite

citation See also parallel citations (Also shortened as “cite”) A brief

reference, in abbreviated form, in a document or discussion of the law, to a legal authority and in which publication the authority is found The reference identifies a primary or secondary source and the source location Citations to primary sources are source locations of cases, statutes, constitutional provisions, regulations, and court rules Citations to secondary sources include law review articles, treatises, encyclopedias, and the American Law Reports The citation follows a consistent format of abbreviations,

capitalization, spacing, according to rules found in a citation

manual such as The Bluebook or ALWD

Citations for cases are listed in Shepard’s Citations (print and online) and Westlaw KeyCite (online); and found in primary sources such as annotated statutes and cases; in various secondary

sources such as Digests, American Law Reports (ALR), encyclopedias, law review articles, and legal news articles

Court decisions are usually cited by case name, volume number, reporter, page number and date More specifically, these five elements of a case citation are: (1) the name of the parties involved (plaintiff, defendant, appellant, respondent, etc.); (2) the case reporter series in which the case can be found; (3) the volume number, within the series, in which the case can be found; (4) the page number on which the case begins; (5) the year of the decision

An example of a case citation is Roe v Wade, 410 US 113 (1973)

The case was adjudicated in 1973, published in volume 410 of the

official United States Reports, beginning on page 113

Federal and state codes are cited by title and section An example

of a federal statute code, for copyrights, is 17 USCS 101, meaning Title 17, section 101 in the United States Code Service (an unofficial series published by LexisNexis) Citations to the federal Statutes at Large are by volume and page number, as 106 Stat 3384 (The Statutes at Large contain the laws arranged by Public Law numbers Tables in these resources convert Public Law numbers to code citations.)

See also parallel citations

An online citation tutorial: www.law.cornell.edu/citation

citation

manual

Citation manuals are guides for providing precise references to legal resources These guides supply proper citation forms and

abbreviation rules for preparing legal documents Some courts have their own citation protocols that have to be followed Legal citation style may seem a more chaotic and less logical departure from citation formats of the other academic fields The two most widely

used citation manuals are the Bluebook and ALWD

The Bluebook for the longest time has been the most-used and best-known citation guide Alternatives to the Bluebook have been created to simplify the existing Bluebook rules, and include the

University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation, ALWD Citation Manual, and the American Association of Law Libraries AALL

Universal Citation Guide (www.aallnet.org/committee/citation/ucg/index.html)

A LexisNexis online product, Shepard’s Brief Suite, with its

Shepard’s BriefCheck feature, automatically checks for Bluebook

citation formatting errors

The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation is also referred

to as The Maroon Book and is edited by the University of Chicago

Law Review and the University of Chicago Legal Forum It is one of the few widely used legal citation guides besides The Bluebook It

was created as a practical alternative to The Bluebook setting forth

general guidelines and encouraging people to merely use common sense when devising citations not explicitly listed

An alternative citation guide that is gaining popularity for its

ease-of-use, and preferred by some states, is the ALWD Citation Manual: A

Professional System of Citation (ALWD), published by the

Association of Legal Writing Directors (www.alwd.org) The ALWD

Citation Manual closely follows the Bluebook-prescribed format but

provides more examples and requires more complete bibliographic information for some sources

citator A service, print and online, that provides cite checking Cite

checking through citators tracks the development of a case or

statute, showing other authorities that reference the statute or

case A citator has a dual function as a finding tool as well as a validating tool, to examine the history as well as treatment of a case

A citator also provide parallel citations The main citators are the print Shepard’s Citations and the online Shepard’s in LexisNexis,

Keycite in Westlaw, and GlobalCite in Loislaw

As a finding tool, a citator tracks cases, statutes, or regulations that are mentioned in other cases, statutes and resources such as ALR and law review articles As a validating tool a citator lists the most current citation of a case, a way of updating your research Thus one can see, for instance, if a case has been affirmed, overruled, or distinguished A citator identifies a “good law,” a case or statute that

is still valid for a particular issue, meaning that it has not been

superseded or modified (negative history) The positive history of a

case validates a case as a precedent

Using the electronic citators provided by LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Loislaw are easier to use and are more current than using the print Shepard’s—changes to the law are updated online within 24 hours

A couple of online services provide Shepardizing and Keyciting of

cites uploaded from a newly-created document: LexisNexis

Shepard’s Brief Suite and Westlaw’s WestCheck

Despite all the features, citators are not foolproof tools to catch all

instances of bad law, and cannot be relied upon solely in all

situations where a case is subsequently invalidated or undermined

(For more specific explanation of these failings, see bad law.)

The two major citators—Shepard’s and KeyCite—do not always completely agree in their cite checks of the law Often one citator will include a citing authority not included by the other citator The two services also do not always agree on the validity of a case Shepard’s, for example, may tag a case with a caution (yellow triangle), while for the same case KeyCite may indicate a green C (no direct or indirect negative history) Using both citators, therefore, can be advantageous

“Shepardizing” or “cite checking” is often the terminology used for

the process of using Shepard’s Citations or databases to update a

case, or law (See also cite check)

How do the above citators differ and which one is the best? Each citator differs in features and may have strengths and weaknesses

in comparison to the other citators With time the citators may be modified and redesigned that may make a judgment invalid and obsolete Shepard’s is sometimes referred to as “the gold standard,” reflecting some researchers’ respect and preference for that

citatory.For updating cases, Shepard’s has more positive feedback signals and might be more up to date Some researchers prefer KeyCite for finding secondary sources and for updating statutes and regulations (KeyCite is supposed to be more up to date) For cases, KeyCite claims to include more sources than Shepard's A chart comparing Shepard’s and KeyCite is at

http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/oncite.html

cite check Cite-checking is a two-fold process in producing a valid legal brief or

argument:

First, verifying that the laws and cases cited are up-to-date and

“good law.” This process of validation of primary authorities is done through “Shepardizng”—through the print and online (LexisNexis) Shepard’s Citations, or online through Westlaw’s KeyCite

(keyciting) Also called citating

Second, ensuring that the citations’ format meets Bluebook rules for citation form (abbreviations, capitalization, spacing, etc.)

cited case A case that is a type of cited reference

cited

reference

A document or authority, such as a case, statute, article, that is

cited, meaning it is mentioned, referenced, such as in a reporter, code book, or in periodical articles or other books The document to

which a citing reference refers The citation entered into a citator,

resulting in a list of citing references referring to the citation

citing case A citing reference A citing case is the case, such as one found in

a reporter, or from results obtained through citating, that refers to another case (the cited case) Thus if one “Shepardizes” or

“KeyCites” a case one will get a list of cases (citing cases) which

will refer to the case in question

citing

reference

Citing reference is a document, authority (case, statute,

regulation, law review article, treatise, brief, etc.) that cites, or refers to, the document, authority, whose citation you have entered into the citator

Note that the terms “citing reference” and “cited reference” are relative terms A cited reference in one context may be a citing reference in another, and vice-versa (just as a person can be one relative’s brother and another relative’s uncle simultaneously) (reword)

civil action A case involving civil law, a lawsuit, civil litigation Civil actions

are claims for debt, for damages arising from motor vehicle accidents, divorces, adoptions, matrimonial property actions, foreclosures, and administration of estates following a death The persons involved in a civil action are called the parties

civil case A case involving civil law

civil law The law of private rights and relationships between individuals, and

individuals and entities, such as corporations Civil law applies to contracts and breach of contracts, property rights, injuries due to negligence, and individual freedoms based on constitutional rights

A civil action, or lawsuit, is brought about by a party (a litigant, or

plaintiff) who has been injured or has suffered a loss, with a claim

for compensation sought as a remedy A civil case may not go to trial if the parties involved reach a settlement, because civil actions are very costly and time-consuming

Civil law contrasts with criminal law The standard of proof in a civil

case is a preponderance of evidence, a weaker standard than what

is required in a criminal case, which requires an absence of reasonable doubt

Civil law also refers to the legal system used in Louisiana, continental Europe and many countries outside of the English-speaking world, which contrasts with the Anglo-American common law system The civil law system was developed from the law of the Roman Empire, based on the code of the Emperor Justinian

claimant A party initiating a legal action, asserting a right, making a claim for

money, property, title A plaintiff in a personal injury suit is also

known as the claimant A party claiming damages A plaintiff,

complainant A claimant can also be a party requesting benefits or

payment, such as regarding insurance

code A collection of statutes found in sets of books (code books), such

as the United States Code, state statutes, or administrative Code

of Federal Regulations The overall body of statutes for a

jurisdiction Generally the terms codes and statutes are used

interchangeably In some states “code” can also refer to a separate group of statutes under a subject, such as penal code or probate code

These codified laws or regulations are grouped by subject matter, arranged topically by title or major subdivision and section Enacted

Congressional bills are first published as Public Laws, arranged in chronological order, not by subject matter, then published topically

as the US Code after the Congressional session Bills in the state

legislatures are passed as Session Laws, then topically published

as codes in the state statute books

Code of

Federal

Regulations

Administrative rules and regulations are created by government

agencies and are chronologically compiled in the Federal Register,

then topically arranged (by subject) in The Code of Federal

The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government It

is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis

 Titles 1-16 are updated as of January 1st

 Titles 17-27 are updated as of April 1st

 Titles 28-41 are updated as of July 1st

 Titles 42-50 are updated as of October 1st

Each title is divided into chapters, which usually bear the name of the issuing agency Each chapter is further subdivided into parts that cover specific regulatory areas Large parts may be subdivided into subparts All parts are organized in sections, and most citations

in the CFR are provided at the section level A list of agencies and where they appear in the CFR may be found in Appendix C of the U.S Government Manual

www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html

The state equivalents are called codes of state regulations

codify To arrange enacted laws and regulations by topic, published as

codes and statutes Shortly after enactment, Federal and state laws

are first issued chronologically without topical arrangement, as slip

laws, advance sheets and session laws Subsequently, a year or

so after, these laws are compiled by subject in the Statutes at

Large (federal) and as statutes and codes (state)

common law A term used loosely referring to “case law” (“judge-made law”)

rather than statutes More specifically, the basis of the

Anglo-American legal system, common law is substantive law originated

in England as unwritten law given judicial interpretation based on established customs, rather than enacted through legislation

Developed over hundreds of years, common law is based on prior

judicial decisions and precedent stare decisis (“let the decision

stand”) applied to cases with similar fact situations as opposed to using legislative definitions, or statutory law In the twentieth century much common law, which was conservative in nature, was

displaced by statutes passed by Congress and state legislatures In

contrast, other countries use the civil law system

competent

evidence

Legally valid or admissible evidence that gives weight to a dispute

or issue in a case: in a murder case, a weapon with a defendant’s fingerprints, or a credible eyewitness; in a lawsuit, reliable

information that affirms an argument

complainant Plaintiff In criminal cases, the complaining witness; or in civil

cases, an individual or entity (a party or parties) initiating a lawsuit

or civil action in a court

fee-Traditional print legal research is giving way to the online world of

fee-based services such as LexisNexis (the first such service, introduced in 1973) and Westlaw, as well as to the free Web

Subscription services LexisNexis and Westlaw started off clunky and difficult to use in the 1970s, but have made great strides as viable alternatives to the print world of information Other online legal database services, geared to smaller law firms include

Loislaw, VersusLaw, Casemaker, and FastCase

Available electronically on the Web, free and for a price, are a vast array of legal and general resources General resources such as Web sites and databases provide information such as statistics, facts, and news in all disciplines that may relate to legal issues, including business, medicine, and science

There are advantages and disadvantages to using online and print legal resources Online research can be faster or slower depending

on the type of search and experience of the searcher, but also can

be more expensive when using subscription databases versus the print approach Online legal information is for the most part available

in a more timely manner than print (changes in the law are made available in hours online versus days and weeks) Print legal resources still shine for their wealth of annotations and background information, which the free Internet lacks in great part

For certain kinds of legal research, especially for background information in unfamiliar territory, print resources are often easier to use and more “user friendly.” Browsing through unfamiliar areas of the law is often easier with print materials Of course, this assumes one has found the right resources to work with Different resources use different terms for the same areas of the law, which can be a stumbling block both in print and online searching

Computer searches can be slow and difficult, necessitating error search string composition, if one doesn’t use the right

trial-and-keywords or search terminology, which compounds the cost factor

of using the online services “Natural language” searching—the use

of plain English rather than a controlled vocabulary of pre-set terms—can ease the search process

Many legal professionals miss the traditional print resources, even though they are increasingly forced to use computer-based methods, which they do not always find satisfactory

constitution The fundamental laws and principles of the nation and states—“the

supreme law of the land”—establishing the form of government, its powers and limits, and the rights and liberties of its citizens The US Constitution is the world’s oldest written constitution still in force Two major components of the United States Constitution include the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) and enunciation of the separation of powers among the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial)

Constitutional law is different from statutory law in that constitutional law is higher than statutory law, governing all other laws District and appellate courts can rule certain acts and laws as

unconstitutional, being contradictory to the basic principles of the constitution

The US Constitution has 27 amendments (additions) and has been designed to make it difficult to make changes Each state has its own constitution, which must harmonize (not contradict or clash) with the federal constitution State constitutions are included in the state codes

constitutional

controlling

authority

Controlling authority, or controlling law, is precedential law,

mandatory authority, the on point authority, the relevant law, that

answers a legal question A legal question is ultimately and ideally answered “yes” or “no” by a controlling authority, a definitive statute

an inexperienced user or even an experienced user researching

information unfamiliar areas of the law Questions and conflicts arise over how

much of the costs should the law firm absorb, and how much should

be passed on to the client

Representing oneself in court without a lawyer (pro se, or also called pro per), is being increasingly embraced by the public ever since a Supreme Court decision in 1975 gave litigants and defendants the right to do so in state courts This trend of self-representation is motivated by several factors, including the obvious impediment of the extremely high cost of legal counsel The growing availability of free and low-cost legal resources has become a boon

to pro se litigants and in no small way boosting the spread of representation

self-The same free or cheaper legal resources that pro se litigants are using can also benefit the law firm With the pressures of escalating costs of legal services, including the cost of fee-based online legal research, free and low-cost resources are increasingly becoming attractive alternatives for practitioners The key to taking advantage

of alternatives is being familiar with the many free and low-cost resources and becoming a savvy user who knows the tricks and techniques of tapping these resources

There are a number of principles to be understood and strategies that can be employed to lower the costs of legal research

(1) Not all legal research requires the heavyweights LexisNexis or Westlaw: much research can be done using

lower-cost legal databases, community law libraries, and

the free Internet legal resources

(2) Using LexisNexis or Westlaw when one is not well-versed

on an issue can be inefficient and wasteful (use alternative resources for preliminary research)

(3) If inexperienced using one of the major legal databases and

do not have a flat-fee subscription, take advantage of the support desk for assistance in searching; in some instances

a search will be conducted for you

(4) If you are inexperienced in a particular area, consider using legal research and document preparation services

counsel Legal advice Also, lawyers in a case or transaction In-house

counsel is an attorney or legal staff employed within a company

court of

record

The trial court in a legal proceeding

When the word “Court” is capitalized in a document, it generally refers to the United States Supreme Court or a specific court (10thCircuit Court of Appeals, United States District Court, etc) Lower case “court” refers to courts in a general sense

court order A writ or court ruling in a case directing a specific course of action

A court order, for example, may define the payment of child support

A court order may establish courtroom or administrative procedure

The United States Supreme Court may issue orders regarding

pending cases or rehearings, granting or denying writs of certiorari

or mandamus

court record A written account of the rulings and proceedings in a case, retained

in court documents This record includes all pleadings, evidence,

and exhibits submitted in the course of the case A civil court record includes bankruptcies, divorces, liens, and judgments

Criminal court records include filings and rulings

court rules Rules and procedures regarding litigants, attorneys and the judiciary

in various jurisdictions for conducting the business of the court

Some court rules are statutory, created by legislative bodies and published with the codes or as supplements Other court rules are created by the judiciary, and are found in separate publications Federal and state rules include civil and criminal procedure, evidence, and bankruptcy, as well as court cases that interpret the rules Federal and state procedure manuals cover civil, criminal, courts, and procedural law

criminal law As opposed to civil law, criminal law violations (felonies and

misdemeanors) are acts against persons, property and society that violate criminal codes and are prosecuted by the state, punishable

by fines or imprisonment

cumulative An index, pamphlet, pocket part, etc., that at stated intervals

combines new items and items in previous issues to form a new unified compilation For instance, West’s Digests have cumulative pamphlets that replace previous pamphlets This is in contrast to supplements, which are additions to something previously issued, and do not replace the previous issue As an example, West’s Digest pamphlets supplement the main (bound) volume, and also supplement the pocket parts

decision See judicial decision

defendant The party against whom a criminal or civil action is brought in a

court of law, the party accused or being sued, the respondent An action against a defendant is brought by a claimant, complainant, or

plaintiff

In a case name (indicating parties in a case), the defendant is listed second, as Wade in Roe v Wade

deference A judicial court’s acceptance of a government agency’s

interpretations of its own regulations and authorizing statute

digest Court decisions are published in case reporters in chronological

order, as they are released by the courts The reporters do not have overall indexes to find the cases by topic Digests allow you to find a case by topic The majority of digests are published by West

Publishing The foremost case-finding tool, a summary index with annotations and citations to cases published in reporters, digests cover Federal jurisdictions as well as state cases There are also digests for decisions by administrative agency tribunals

Digests are organized alphabetically by topic similar to encyclopedias, and may be subdivided by jurisdiction and court Digests contain brief paragraphs, or abstracts (summaries) of court rulings on points of law, which are identical to the headnotes in the reporters, and provide topics and key numbers Given points of law

on the same issues have exactly the same topic and key numbers for different cases in every state and federal jurisdiction A case cannot be argued based on a digest abstract—the researcher must

go to the text of the case found in the reporters

Selecting the right digest

 When using a digest to locate a case, first determine in what jurisdiction the case was adjudicated: state, federal, or special court, and use the specific digest for that jurisdiction If you do not know the jurisdiction, or a case is elusive, you can use the more general digests that cover a wide range of jurisdictions

 State court: Use a West’s state digest or regional digests for group of states (Atlantic, Northwestern, Pacific, or Southeastern There are no digests for the Northeastern, Southern, or

Protection Board Digest; US Claims Court Digest (formerly US Court of Claims Digest)

 Federal court (when jurisdiction not clear or you want to use a single all-inclusive digest): Use the Federal Practice Digest, which covers the U.S Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, district courts, Claims Court, bankruptcy courts, Court of Military Appeals, the Courts of Military Review, and other federal courts

 When you do not know the jurisdiction, or for hard-to-find case, search all state and federal cases using the all-inclusive American Digest System (usually search the most recent cases first, in

reverse chronological order): General Digest for the latest cases in the Decennial Digests (the General Digest serves as a pocket part);

the Decennial Digests grouped into 10-year periods, going back to 1897; Century Digest, 1658-1896

Search strategies for accessing the digests:

Searching digests can be done through a number of approaches: by name of case; by subject/topic; by word or phrase; or by popular name Do not forget the pocket parts and supplements for the latest cases and updates

 Search by name of case: Go to Table of Cases volumes, at end

of digest set Search alphabetically by plaintiff or defendant

Looking under plaintiff name in table of cases (rather than defendant-plaintiff table) provides all the topics and key numbers for that case Case name listing provides the citation and subject key words and key numbers in West digests to access similar cases

 Search by “popular name”: If you know the popular name, go to Popular Name Table volumes at end of set, for alphabetical popular name listing of case

 Search by descriptive word: Go to Descriptive Word Index volumes at end of set and search by words likely to be relevant to your case Index words will refer you to the key word and key number sections for the relevant cases

 Search by “words and phrases”: If a definition of a word or phrase

is important to your research, go to the Words and Phrases volumes at the end of the set The alphabetical listing of words and phrases will identify cases that have defined these terms

 Search by topic outline: If you are familiar with the topic, or are having difficulty finding a case, check the topic outlines at the front

of each topic chapter in the main digest An appropriate topic chapter identifies relevant cases

Online searching

An online legal database, loosely speaking, is in a sense an overall digest The above-described print searches can be more or less rendered online through keyword searches that will yield relevant cases

Westlaw

More specifically, the West digest system is available on Westlaw Relevant cases by topic and key number can be retrieved from Westlaw This can be done by starting with a known case through a keyword search or entering a citation, or by browsing through the Westlaw West Key Number Digest Outline (each digest topic is translated by Westlaw into a number for online searching)

Accessing from a known case After locating a case by doing a Find

This Document by Citation search,click on the topics and key numbers in any relevant headnote The resulting search screen will allow you to find other cases with the same topics and key numbers

Topic/key numbers entering a headnote topic and key number into

a database search box Example: 115k101

Use field searches to find specified information classified according

to specific fields, which can also be combined with search terms, as shown below:

field (to) restriction to combine topics Example: to(162 /p 409)

Topic field/terms Combine topic field and terms Example: to(81 /p

residen! /p tuition fee)

Headnote field/terms Combine headnote and terms He(right free!

/5 travel)

Digest field Use the Digest field (di) to restrict information found in

the topic plus all the headnotes in a case This helps prevent retrieving cases with irrelevant terms with multiple meanings

direct history A term used by Westlaw to indicate the prior and subsequent history

of a case through trial and appellate court proceedings—the appellate line of a case Direct history can be used loosely as the

same as history In contrast to full history, which includes cases

outside of the direct history line, which may have a positive or negative impact on a case in the direct history line Direct and full history are viewable in online legal databases such as Westlaw (What is termed as direct history in Westlaw, is termed as history by

Shepard’s Citations Westlaw’s term indirect history is called

treatment by Shepard’s.)

dissenting

opinion

A judge’s disagreement with the majority opinion of a court, provided in writing with the other opinions, explaining the reasons for the disagreement

distinguished When a court singles out another case in its opinion for significant

points of law relevant to the case being decided, the case being brought into the discussion is said to be distinguished The print version of Shepard’s, when listing cases citated, places a small “d”

in front of a citation that so distinguishes the citated case

Earlier cases may be distinguished from a current case by a court

on the basis of a small difference in a factual or legal issue This

way a court can in a sense ignore a precedent without outwardly

overruling a previous case The more differences in facts and issues that can be brought to light between cases, the less precedential weight an older case will carry, and the more exceptions to a previous ruling can be carved out

docket

number

A unique number assigned sequentially by the court clerk to every case when the petition, jurisdictional statement, or other initial

pleading is filed Lacking a citation, which is yet unpublished, the

docket number is used by a court and others to track a pending

case as it travels through the legal system Not to be confused with

another number assigned to cases, the case number

If a researcher has only a docket number or case number, the case may be found on a court Web site or through LexisNexis or

Westlaw, or sites such as dockets.justia.com and legaldockets.com

The docket number appears on every brief filed in a case For

cases within the US Supreme Court’s certiorari or appellate jurisdiction, the first two digits of the docket number indicate the filing date of the petition or initial pleading, with the remaining numbers assigned sequentially depending on the date of the filing

due process A provision in the US Constitution (14th amendment) guaranteeing

every citizen a fair and impartial trial—“…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

(3) Syllabus—a brief editorial summary of the court opinion

(4) Headnotes with key numbers—Itemized editorial summaries of the points of law discussed in the case, with topic and key number Each numbered headnote corresponds to numbered sections of the body of the opinion These summaries are also found in the West digests

(5) Attorneys—names and cities of attorneys and the names of their clients

(6) Judge—the name of the judge at the beginning of his opinion (7) Body of the Opinion—contains most or all of the following:

(a) facts of the case;

(b) prior proceedings briefly summarizing or detailing the previous

case leading up to this case;

(c) issues of the case;

(d) rule of law governing the issues, such as a statutory or

constitutional provision or common law principle;

(e) holding of the court’s application of the rule of law to the facts of

the case;

(f) reasoning explaining how or why the rule of law applied to the

issues which determined the decision;

(g) disposition/relief granted —includes resulting order of the court

that affirms or reverses the trial court’s decision If reversed, the case is remanded to the trial court to comply with the appellate court’s judgment or order, or directing a new trial (retrying of the case);

(h) concurring or dissenting opinions that present different or

additional opinions by other judges, but not affecting the majority holding

en banc “Full bench,” “on the bench.” When all of an appellate court’s judges

hear a case A full bench—a court en banc—can consist of 12 or more judges

En banc hearings are sometimes granted to reconsider a prior decision by a panel of the court or cases that have unusual significance Courts rarely hear a case initially with a full bench

enact To pass a law—such as statutes enacted by the US Congress and

state legislatures, or ordinances by city councils Legislation sent to the President or governor is signed into law by the executive, or vetoed (rejected) Vetoes may be over-ridden by legislators with a two-thirds vote

enrolled bill A bill passed by Congress sent to the President for signature

et seq Judicial opinions and legal documents often cite statutes to indicate

the start of a statute at a specified section, continuing through an unspecified number of sections, as 16 U.S.C 1361 et seq Also indicates the first number of continuing pages or lists (Latin abbreviation for et sequitur, et sequentes, or et sequential, meaning

“and the following.”) Use of et seq is not approved by the Bluebook

Executive orders first appear in the Federal Register as well as in the US Code Congressional and Administrative News, then in the

Code of Federal Regulations Selected orders and related statutes

are published in U.S Code Annotated and U.S Code Service

The Federal Reporter covers cases from the US Courts of Appeals The Federal Supplement covers a small percentage of US District

Court cases The Federal Rules Decisions interprets Federal Rules

of Civil and Criminal Procedure Other Federal reporters include those for bankruptcy courts, claims courts, and tax courts Reporters

that cover cases dealing with a certain topic/area of the law are called topical reporters

The reporters are as follows, with Web sites:

Appeals: 13 circuit courts each with a court of appeals

(Federal Reporter (F, F.2d, F.3d), Federal Appendix)

http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html

Appeals for Armed Forces: www.armfor.uscourts.gov

Appeals for Veterans Claims: www.vetapp.gov

Bankruptcy courts: (Bankruptcy Reporter [B.R.] and

Bankruptcy Law Reporter)

http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html

Claims Courts: (Federal Claims Court Reporter, since 1982)

www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/opinions.htm

Customs Courts—now called the United States Court of

International Trade: (Federal Supplement, [F Supp.])

www.cit.uscourts.gov

District Courts: 89 in all states, 94 including territories

(Federal Supplement (F Supp.), Federal Rules Decisions

(F.R.D.) straylight.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html

Patents: US Patent Quarterly (includes intellectual property)

Patent Appeals Court: (Federal Supplement [F Supp.])

uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/bpai

Rules Decisions: (Federal Rules Decisions and Federal Rules

Service and in various case reporters covering the issuing

court)

uscourts.gov/rules

Supreme Court: (United States Reports [U.S.], The United

States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition [L.Ed,

L.Ed.2d], Supreme Court Reporter [S Ct.])

straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html

Tax Courts: (Tax Court Reporter and Tax Court Reports)

USTaxCourt.gov

(Some leading, significant federal cases are also reported in

the The American Law Reports [ALR] Various other sources

publish US Supreme Court decisions, such as the looseleaf

service United States Law Week The Digest for these

reporters—other than Supreme Court—is West’s Federal

Practice Digest, an overall digest of federal cases.)

federal law Laws that apply equally to all Americans regardless where they live

in the United States (as opposed to state laws) Federal laws are defined by statutes (statutory law), regulations, court cases (case

Administrative rules and regulations are created by government

agencies and are chronologically compiled in the Federal Register,

then topically arranged (by subject) in The Code of Federal

Regulations

Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents The official Federal Register site

is www.gpoaccess.gov/fr A helpful search tool is the Regulation Tracker at Justia.com (http://regulations.justia.com)

Federal

reporters

See federal court reporters

finding A court’s determination of facts necessary for a decision

finding tool Any work or resource that leads to sources of information is called a

finding tool or finding aid In legal research, finding tools are used to find primary authority such as cases and statutes Case finding tools

include secondary resources such as digests and American Law

Reports

follow A newer case follows older case law if it is in agreement By not

following a prior case, the new decision will differ in some way, on some or all points or issues, and may criticize or even reverse the prior case

Following a case is considered to be positive treatment, similar to being affirmed or approved In its listing of cases, the print version of

Shepard’s places an “f” in front of cases that follow a citated case forms Legal forms are an essential part of substantive and procedural law,

used for all areas of law, such as criminal, corporate, tax, and family law, as well as litigation Practitioners often rely on sample

documents and forms for the proper wording that is required and as

a checklist of procedures to help in drafting documents “Boiler plate” contracts with standardized language save time in the drafting

of documents Form books intended for the general public are used

by non-lawyers for writing a contract, lease, or will

Form books and resources can be general and comprehensive in coverage, or specifically by subject, proceedings, and geographic jurisdictions General form books come in huge multi-volume as well

as abridged sets and are arranged alphabetically by name of form

or by broad topic Forms can be classified as legal forms or pleading and practice forms Legal forms address substantive matters, such

as contracts, wills, leases Pleadings and practice forms are used in litigation to handle pleadings and filing of complaints, answers, and motions to dismiss

The best-known general resources include the following, which supplement the forms with annotations, checklists, and drafting guidelines.:

>West’s huge multi-volume American Jurisprudence Legal Forms

Available on Westlaw

>West’s Legal Forms, organized by broad topics Includes a brief

tax analysis for many of the forms Available on Westlaw

> Matthew Bender’s Current Legal Forms, with Tax Analysis (also known as Rabkin and Johnson, after its authors) Current Legal

Forms does not include criminal law and litigation Comes in

looseleaf format, organized by broad topics Available on LexisNexis

>Cyclopedia of Legal Forms Annotated by Clark Nichols, published

by West Alphabetically arranged by name of form Includes forms for various jurisdictions and states

There are specific form books by subject, such as bankruptcy and contracts, and by jurisdiction Specific form books also address pleading and practice for filing of a pleading or motion Official pleading and practice forms are also found in rules of procedure books Taxation forms are readily available from IRS sites, such as

www.irs.gov/formspubs

As mentioned above, many of these resources are also available

electronically For example, American Jurisprudence Legal Forms is available on Westlaw in the AMJUR-LF database, while Current

Legal Forms is offered by LexisNexis Sample documents and forms

are also available in the Westlaw FORMS-ALL database Sample forms can be accessed in LexisNexis from the individual practice-area or specialty area pages

Sample documents and forms are also available through internal document management systems such as Westlaw’s Thomson Elite West km and the LexisNexis Total Search These internal systems allow simultaneous searching of Westlaw or LexisNexis along with a law firm’s specific work product, saving both time and money

Thousands of free online forms are available on government Web sites as well as some commercial sites Forms Workflow

(FormsWorkflow.com) offers a complete repository of federal and state-specific court, corporate, regulatory and legalforms, including autofill forms LexisOne (LexisOne.com), in addition to free PDF forms, has a storehouse of automated HotDocs forms that uses fill-in-the-blank document-assembly software Findlaw at

forms.lp.findlaw.com has free sample legal and court forms and business contracts, as does JDsupra.com An directory of legal forms sites is at the Washburn University site at

washlaw.edu/legalforms Free sample corporate legal forms are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) site (www.sec.gov) (A

subscription service, LIVEDGAR, offers SEC filings and corporate forms with advanced search strategies.) A good print resource for

federal securities laws transactions is Federal Securities Laws:

Selected Statutes, Rules, and Forms

Litigation materials showing samples of complaints, extensions, and answers are available from electronic subscription services Newer cases filed electronically can be viewed on PACER

(http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov), the centralized federal judiciary site for U.S district, bankruptcy and appellate court records (PACER is the acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records)

PACER search options are limited to case name, case number, and nature of suit, but cost just pennies per page Greater search precision is available from Westlaw’s WestDockets and LexisNexis’s CourtLink, which search federal (and some state) dockets by judge

or attorney name, or by keyword State-specific are available through the state and jurisdictional resources and sites, such as the

US Court of Appeals (links at www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks)

Print litigation resources are available for federal and state

jurisdictions, such as the multi-volume American Jurisprudence

Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated: State and Federal,

containing over 36,000 ready-made forms This title is also available

on Westlaw’s AMJUR-PP database For bankruptcy litigation, there

is West’s Bankruptcy Code, Rules, and Official Forms

Practice and forms information are combined in some resources

American Law Reports (ALR) covers practice issues with

cross-references to practice manuals and the American Jurisprudence

Legal Forms books For legal practitioners applying state law,

state-specific resources and practice manuals are available―for example,

the multi-volume Colorado Practice series

full history Full history, as defined by Westlaw, includes all primary and

secondary resources that reference a case, whether positively or negatively Thus a listing of cases which includes cases outside of

the direct history line, which may have a positive or negative

impact on a case in the direct history line

full-text When using an online database for searching periodical articles or

other resources, listings of results may be in the form of citations, abstracts (summaries), or full text of the articles Full-text means the entire body of the article is presented in the list of search results, in addition to its citation and abstract

Full-text searching is a feature of a database that allows one to search within the full text of an article or document, instead of just the citation or abstract: for instance, full-text searching of treatises

or law review articles

general

assembly

A state legislature, where laws are enacted by lawmakers Court opinions refer to legislatures as the general assembly

GlobalCite The online citator from Loislaw A GlobalCite search returns cases

in reverse chronological order (most recent first), statutes in the order of the highest citation occurrences, regulations in order of relevancy, and references to other Loislaw databases

good law A case or statute that is still valid for a particular issue is considered

to be “good law,” meaning that it has not been superseded or

changed by subsequent court rulings (overruled, criticized,

distinguished, etc.) or legislation A law that is “on point.” A case that is good law is similar to another case in the material facts of

the case or application of the law

Google Google is useful, and sometimes even shines, as a search tool for

law materials It can get you started in finding a useful case or statute when other tools are not handy It has a decent directory of legal sites at directory.google.com under Society (or more

specifically, google.com/Top/Society/Law In addition, Google Scholar scholar.google.com indexes one of the largest online collections of law review articles, owned by HeinOnline

HeinOnline.org Google offers patent searches at google.com/patents

Ironically, Google is often better for locating topics within a website than the website’s own internal search engine! (This is why some sites include their site-specific Google search box for internal searching, referred to as Custom Search Or you can do a site:domain Google search.)

Case in point where Google helps locate information in a site:

Looking for Findlaw’s listing of popular names of statutes? A Google

search with the terms Findlaw popular names immediately brings

you the needed page at the very top of the listings

Using Findlaw itself to find the page is a different story Try different search terms in the Findlaw search box and you will get anything but what you are looking for On the Findlaw site, trying to click your way into the popular names listings is like going through a

interminable maze, especially if you are a first-time or infrequent user of Findlaw It turns out you have to click on the legal

professional section to get to the popular names Then click US

Code, then Browse by Popular Name to get your listing Plus the

Findlaw site has to be the slowest site imaginable, so by the time you figure out the right steps to navigate, you have lost a lot of time

A Google search quickly saves you all that trial and error

The highly-regarded Washlaw portal (www.washlaw.edu) has the same maze-like clunkiness if you are trying to find, say, their page for legal forms Navigating through their site would be a time-wasting exercise in frustration Click the site’s table of contents or master index, and forms are nowhere to be found Luckily, the Washlaw designers had the good sense to put in a site map link at the top of the page The site map has legal forms in its listings of topics Even more brilliant, was the good sense (that Findlaw lacked) to put in a Google Custom Search box Simply typing in

legal forms in the Google Custom Search box near the top brings

you the desired page

headnote In the West reporters, each case starts with the publisher’s synopsis

of the case, followed by a number of explanatory headnotes throughout the text A headnote is a brief editorial note about each

legal point or issue of a case in a reporter Each headnote is written

by an editor of the reporter, not by the judge, and is not part of the

opinion In the West Reporters, each headnote has a topic and key

number, classifying the specific point of law These same headnotes

make up the West Digests, arranged by subject, and are also called

abstracts

hearing A legal proceeding (judicial or administrative) before a judge or

other official or body of officials where arguments are presented regarding an issue A legislative hearing is an information-gathering session before lawmakers

higher court In the appellate court system, a court of appeals that is above a

lower-level court The lowest level is the originating trial court, whose decisions can be modified or overruled by a court of appeals, which can be modified or overruled by the Supreme Court

HeinOnline An award-winning legal research database produced by William S

Hein and Co., specializing in original page-image PDF format of legal materials, including hard-to-find classics and historical documents Also has UN treaties HeinOnline has one of the largest

online collections of law review articles, which are also indexed in

Google Scholar scholar.google.com The HeinOnline.org site includes free sample content

history and

treatment

Knowing the history and treatment of a law is crucial to obtaining the

most current authority to solve a legal problem or question By

history, it is not meant knowing what the law was in the 1800s, but what the most current development (subsequent history) is History most often refers to cases, but also includes statutes and

regulations A full history of a case or statute includes its treatment

by citing authorities

A case that on the surface, without additional research, may seem

to answer a legal question may end up not being reliable because of negative treatment by other cases and authorities On the other hand, positive treatment by other authorities bolsters and strengthens a case’s value for a legal argument

The treatment regarding a statute is likewise important A current state statute may inadvertently contradict an earlier Supreme Court ruling or other higher court, meaning it may be liable to challenges that will eventually compel a legislature to amend the statute or be ruled unconstitutional (this has actually happened with statutes requiring forced recitation of the pledge of allegiance in schools, as just one example)

Validation and cite checking of a case using a citator (Shepard’s or KeyCite) yields negative/positive history and treatment of a case

“negative indirect history,” “prior history,” subsequent appellate history”) with the following designations: Reversed—the cited case (case being checked) is reversed Vacated—cited case is vacated

or withdrawn Modified—cited case is modified or changed

Affirmed—cited case is affirmed

Treatment identifies other cases dealing with the cited case

Overruled—all or part of the cited case is expressly overruled

Limited—application of the cited case is restricted, limited

Criticized—other case disagrees with reasoning/result of the cited case Questioned—the precedential value of the cited case is questioned Distinguished—case is shown to differ from cited case, usually because of different facts

holding A decision, conclusion, adjudication of a court based on application

of a rule of law to the facts of a case

hornbook A series of introductory texts written for law students, published by

Thomson West, distinguished by their green hard cover Hornbooks are more in-depth than Nutshells

index An alphabetical listing of subject, keywords, case names, popular

names of laws, regulations, words and phrases, etc., with their location in a book or set of books Cumulative indexes contain listings combined from prior published indexes Indexes are often found in the back of a book or in the last volumes of a set of books

symposia, court decisions, statutes, jurisdictional surveys, bar association publications, government publications and more

>Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text is a database with daily updates, searchable under a wide array of fields

>Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective indexes printed cumulations covering the period 1908-1981, with links to articles found in other databases, such as Hein Online

>Index to Legal Periodicals and Books is a database without links to full text, and is also available in print

Index to Legal Periodicals online is found in the WilsonWeb database

inferior court Any court whose decisions can be appealed to a higher

(superior) court

Internet

legal

resources

The Internet is a vast storehouse of free legal resources The most

important US primary law (the text of statutes, regulations, and

cases) is available online Likewise the Web is an enormous

depository of secondary sources (finding aids, descriptions, and

explanations of the law)

The Web’s strength is several-fold: it makes readily available the most basic, fundamental legal information for an overview, as well

as for starting and supplementing legal research for both beginners and experienced researchers The Web also shines in providing access to the latest news and views of the legal field before it has been filtered through the standard scholarly and commercial publishing resources And, of course, it’s free

A weakness of the free Web is that the online primary law does not

come with annotations and editorial enhancements; such

descriptive and explanatory editorial commentary attached to each

law by the compilers is only available in the legal subscription

online databases and in print resources Likewise, most scholarly

secondary material is still only available in the fee-based databases and print resources Free Web resources often lack advanced search options such as Boolean searching and relevant hyperlinks

Free sites do not provide training and technical support Despite these limitations, the free Web is an invaluable tool and viable partial alternative for all legal researchers Unfortunately, many potential users are not adequately knowledgeable and skilled in tapping these resources

The best starting points on the Web for legal information are some well-known, obvious sites as well as lesser-known sites The general-purpose search engines Google and Yahoo! are sometimes useful tools for starting and supplementing legal research

Additionally, Web portals and subject directories provide access to the wealth of legal sites for almost every imaginable topic and purpose Portals are one-stop jumping-off points to tools, services, and resources that are comprehensive (like Yahoo!) or subject-specific (Law.com) Subject directories are organized listings of sites

by topic Not to be forgotten are Web logs (blawgs) which provide

extremely current information not easily found elsewhere

Many people are unaware that, in addition to being versatile search engines, Google and Yahoo! contain comprehensive subject directories of virtually every topic to be found on the Internet Also, there are little-known specialized legal search engines as well as major portals for every type of legal information Some of these are hybrid sites with overlapping multiple features and functions

Here is a sampling of some of the most useful legal sites

>General-purpose search engines

Google, Yahoo!, Clusty

>Google and Yahoo! subject directories

Google Directory: google.com/Top/Society/Law Yahoo! Directory: dir.yahoo.com/Government/Law

>Specialized search sites (cases and statutes)

AltLaw AltLaw.org, Casemaker, Fastcase, FindACase, FindLaw, Justia, Legal Information Institute, LexisONE, Meta-Index for US Legal Research gsulaw.gsu.edu/metaindex, PreCYdent

precydent.com, The Public Library of Law plol.org,, Public.Resource.org, SearchLaw.com

>Law portals (these also have search tools)

Justia.com, FindLaw.com, SearchLaw.com, Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) www.law.cornell.edu, WashLaw www.washlaw.edu

>Legal dictionaries and encyclopedias

Answers.com, Zimmerman’s Research Guide

>Web logs (blawgs)

Blawg directories: www.abajournal.com/blawgs and www.blawgs.com also Google search: law librarian blog (these are blawgs with legal research topics) Specific blawgs: Legal Research Plus legalresearchplus.com, LLRX.com llrx.com, Legal Research Blog law.onecle.com/archives, Legal Research 101, LawSites legaline.com/lawsites.html, Legal Blog Watch

legalblogwatch.typepad.com, albanylawlibrary.wordpress.com/category/legal-research-101

>Discussion boards and advice Hundreds of Usenet groups on legal topics at

www.groups.google.com Free Advice http://forum.freeadvice.com, LawInfo Legal Discussion Boards http://chat.lawinfo.com

Law Guru Knowledge Base www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/user/search.cgi,

US Legal http://answers.uslegal.com

jail Although often used interchangeably with “prison” by many people,

properly used, the term jail refers to incarceration facilities that are operated by counties, not the state A prison correctional facility, or penitentiary, are state facilities Prisoners are usually sentenced to jail time for misdemeanors, not felonies Prisoners convicted of felonies awaiting a court appearance or those awaiting trail for felonies are housed in a jail

judicial

decision

Same as ruling An official determination, statement, or interpretation on a question of law by a court or administrative agency

judgment A court’s formal ruling, or decision, or the official document with the

written decision In a civil case, for instance, a judgment, along with the outcome of the case, declares that a sum of money is owed by a party (the party is called the “judgment debtor”)

jump cite (Also known as a pinpoint cite.) A citation to a print case reporter

that includes a second page number which identifies the specific point of law in question being referenced within that law Example:

435 F.2d 12, 17 While the case starts on page 12, the point of law

of interest is on page 17

jurisdiction Jurisdiction is the sphere of authority to rule on questions of law

Before doing legal research, it is helpful to know which jurisdiction will resolve the legal problem Is the issue in question or citation (to statutes, regulations, cases):

 federal, state, local?

 legislative, judicial, executive?

 specific type of court?

 specific government agency?

The power and authority of courts or government agencies to try cases according to the judicial divisions by area of the law, type of legal issues, geographic region, political entities, or status of parties

to an action Areas of the law would include criminal, civil, patent, tax, etc Political entity divisions of courts are municipal, county, state, federal district, appellate, etc

Federal district and appellate courts are examples of how courts are also divided by geographic jurisdictions There are quite a number

of classifications of jurisdictions, including Federal Question Jurisdiction, Diversity Jurisdiction, Concurrent Jurisdiction, Exclusive Jurisdiction, Original Jusrisdiction, and Appellate Jurisdiction

Primary sources contain material according to jurisdiction in a

number of ways: For example, a reporter may cover a single

jurisdiction, a number of jurisdictions within a given level of a court system, or a number of jurisdictions within a geographic area

jurisdictional

statement

As spelled out in the Federal Rules Appellate Procedure, Fed R

App P 28(a)(4):

The appellant's brief must contain, under appropriate headings and

in the order indicated: a jurisdictional statement, including: (A) the basis for the district court's or agency's subject-matter jurisdiction with citations to applicable statutory provisions and stating relevant facts establishing jurisdiction; (B) the basis for the court of appeals's jurisdiction, with citations to applicable statutory provisions and stating relevant facts establishing jurisdiction; (C) the filing dates establishing the timeliness of the appeal or petition for review; and (D) an assertion that the appeal is from a final order or judgment that disposes of all parties' claims, or information establishing the court of appeals's jurisdiction on some other basis

Tips for writing a proper jurisdictional statement are on www.nakedownership.com/archives/001277.html

jury

instructions

A judge’s directions to the jury, usually read aloud, before the jury begins deliberations The instructions cover factual questions the jury must answer and the legal rules that it must apply These include defining the elements of the charge and defining the burden

of proof Proposed jury instructions are given to the judge by each attorney Erroneous jury instructions can be cause for dismissal of charges in an appeal

Jury instructions are available for federal cases and most state

courts Federal jury instructions are published in Modern Federal

Jury Instructions Jury instruction issues may be an important part of

an appeal

key fact A fact, circumstance, legal issue relevant to a case and relevant

between two cases A fact significant or essential to the legal issue Enough key facts can render a case “on point.”

key number See topic name and key number

KeyCite KeyCite is a citator, a tool for cite checking, Westlaw’s equivalent

of LexisNexis Shepard’s Citation Service (KeyCite was introduced

in 1997, after Westlaw competitor LexisNexis acquired Shepard’s.)

Unlike the other citators, KeyCite uses the West Topic and Key

Number System and West Headnotes

KeyCite tells you if a law is “good”—if it has changed (decisions that have been reversed, statutes and regulations that have been amended or repealed) KeyCite provides a direct appellate history of

a case or administrative decision (and negative treatment) KeyCite also shows references, including negative ones, that cite a case or administrative decision KeyCite shows references that have cited a specific statute, regulation, patent, law review article, and American Law Reports (ALR) annotation Also provided are citations to proposed legislation affecting a federal or state statute

KeyCite is accessed in Westlaw by doing any of the following:

>Type a citation in the KeyCite this citation text box and click Go

>At the top of a Westlaw page, click KeyCite to display the KeyCite

page Then type a citation in the KeyCite this citation text box and

click Go >Click a KeyCite status flag in a document header or next

to a document’s citation in the result list >Click History (or Ful History) or Citing References on the Links tab

When KeyCite is first accessed, the history of the case, statute, regulation, or administrative decision is displayed Clicking a green

C displays a list of citing references

After the full text appears, click the flag status symbols or the tabs for KeyCite History or Citing Ref

Negative history means not good law Negative treatment means law may still have validity and use

While looking through the KeyCite History, Red flag means be careful about using the source Yellow flag means negative history but has not been overruled or reversed, the source is probably safe

H or C means the source is still good

The depth-of-treatment stars (one through four stars)—the more stars the more detailed discussion of the cited case One star, Mentioned, is just a brief reference and no discussion

Both KeyCite and the online Shepard’s are faster and easier to use than the print Shepard’s The online citators are also superior than print in the currency of their information, updating both federal and state cases within a few days of an opinion, or, for the US Supreme Court, within 24 hours Both online citators can provide alerts to notify you as soon as a new opinion is released that cites your case

keyword A search word, term entered in a text box in a database, search

engine

the law Law, generally speaking, is the set of enforced rules under which

people are governed “The law” is an all-encompassing term

referring to statutes and case decisions that define and clarify legal issues Through legal research, a legal problem or issue is solved by “the law.” Similar to “the black letter law.”

law journal A law review

law librarian A law librarian can be a lawyer or paralegal’s best friend if the

researcher gets stuck on a research project Law librarians have a master’s degree in library science, and often a degree in law also If your company or law firm does not have a law librarian, become familiar with the major law libraries in your area, as a law librarian can bail you out in difficult times The law librarian will assist you in using legal resources to find the information you need Of course, law librarians are prohibited from giving legal advice, which includes interpreting statutes or court decisions, or drawing legal

conclusions

law library The place of the library and its very nature has changed as the

nature of legal research has changed in recent years The huge volume of cases and decisions continues to increase in our litigious society In addition, cases are increasing in complexity, thanks to the ever-quickening march of science and technology, intertwined with social issues For instance, Internet issues regarding copyright

or first amendment rights require an understanding of the new technology and new media Internet law is a new area of law that did not even exist a few years ago Genetic engineering and nanotechnology will be adding new wrinkles to the legal landscape,

to mention some of the other new technologies

In addition, the law has become more international in scope (due in great part to the rise of multinational corporations, globalization of business, and the proliferation of international trade) For example,

an intellectual property litigation might call for information about the side effects of a certain class of drugs manufactured in Brazil Or an international corporate merger might require a working knowledge of stock markets in Asia

The complexity of the law has seen a significant expansion of related research to non-legal information, namely business as well

legal-as the other types of information Legal research can carry across a range of academic disciplines including business, political science, government, medicine, science, sociology, criminology, and computer/information science Increasingly legal research for a case may be heavily non-legal in its subject matter as opposed to purely

a matter of researching the law Research may be required in specialized, non-legal resources for such things as background information on every imaginable non-legal topic, facts and statistics that can bolster a case

Anyone engaged in legal research has to be knowledgeable not only of the standard legal resources, but also the wide array of non-legal information resources That means the resources you will need

in legal research will go beyond the narrow scope of the law

library—any library becomes your legal library, as well the whole world of the Internet that serves as an online library that is virtually limitless in scope For the variety of information in all areas, public and academic libraries can be invaluable for their print and online resources Some large public libraries have print legal resources Public and academic libraries have periodical databases such as ProQuest and EBSCOhost that not only have articles on every imaginable topic, but also law journal articles

Traditional law libraries with print law materials are becoming the

“incredible shrinking law library” or the disappearing library in favor

of online resources, shades of corporate downsizing Many law offices have discontinued print collections of such mainstays as

Shepard’s Citations and West Reporters Online subscriptions

may be more cost effective or less expensive, without the labor intensive manpower needed for shelving and cataloging print volumes with the attendant headaches and busy work entailed in maintaining large collections in an organized fashion

Those who have used print materials miss the hard copy resources, realizing that for some types of research print materials have advantages over online searching Large law libraries with print materials are still available in remote locations for the researcher who wishes to take advantage of these materials and the expertise and assistance of law librarians These print collections are found in bar association libraries, state supreme court libraries, and law school libraries These law libraries may also offer limited use of the online legal databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw at no charge or for a reasonable fee

There are different types of law libraries (serving law firms, government agencies, law schools, courts, corporate law departments) There are different sizes

of law libraries from a one-person library serving a law firm with thirty attorneys to the Law Library of Congress

some law firm libraries will lend out materials, while academic libraries will only allow photocopying

law review Most legal commentary is published in law journals, known as law

reviews, written mostly by law professors, attorneys, and members

of the judiciary Most law schools publish several law journals, a general review and more specialized reviews, totaling several hundred in the US A few law reviews are also published by professional organizations, such as The American Bar Association These journal articles are on narrow, focused topics with extensive

footnotes to primary and secondary sources

Law review articles are the most scholarly and in-depth treatments

of points of law Law journal articles are good for explaining on point cases or statutes that you have found, and also have persuasive

authority Law review articles are also useful sources of legislative

histories Law review articles are cited in such sources as legal

encyclopedias, the American Law Reports and in Shepard’s Citations