1 Legal Research Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

2 Sources of Law Constitution Cases Statutes Regulation Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

3 Legislative Judicial Executive Creates Law Enforces Law Branches of Government Interprets Law Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

4 Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services OSERS Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

5 Federal Court System United States Supreme Court United States Courts of Appeals United States District Court Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

6 Primary Sources uStatutes  United States Code (USC)  United States Code Service (USCS)  United States Code Annotated (USCA) uRegulations  Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) uCase Law  Supreme Court Reporters  Federal Report (U.S. Court of Appeals)  Federal Supplement (U.S. District Court) Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

7 Court Reporters Coverage Abbreviation Federal SupplementDistrict Courts F. Supp. Federal Reporter, Court of Appeals F. 2d second series ( ) Federal Reporter,Court of Appeals F. 3d third series (1994 to Present) Federal Cases Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

8 Court ReportersPublisher Abbreviation Supreme CourtU.S. Government U.S. Reports Supreme CourtWest S. Ct. Reporter Supreme Court Bancroft-Whitney/ L. Ed. Reports, LawyersLawyers Cooperative Edition Supreme Court Cases Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

9 20 U.S.C § 1401(20) Title Number United States Code Section Number Subsection Letters Statute Citation Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

10 34 C.F.R § (a)(1) Title Number Code of Federal Regulations Section Number Subsection Letter & Number Regulation Citation Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

11 Daniel R.R. v. State Board of Ed., 874 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1989) Name of Case Volume Number Page Number Court and Year of the Decision Name of Reporter Case Citation Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

12 Finding Tools The annotated codes The West digest system Shepards citators Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

13 Secondary Sources Legal periodicals & law reviews Loose-leaf services Computers and legal research Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

14 Legal Research Strategies Step 1: Analyze the problem Step 2: Conduct the research Step 3: Evaluate the results Yell / The Law and Special Education, Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved