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

Class Exercise Class Website How a Bill Becomes a Law

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

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

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

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

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

Types of Authority Primary Secondary SEE CHART ON PAGE 26

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

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

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

Court Decisions Reporters Case Law West’s National Reporter System Slip Opinions = 1st Printed Version of a Case USSCT PACER = http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ USLW = http://bna.com US SCT Website Advance Sheets Pamphlet has actual pagination of where case will be in National Reporter Bound Reporters

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

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