Legal Research: Take the law into your own hands
Do you have legal questions at home, at work, or as part of law-related course work? Legal Research provides everything you need, laying out easy-to-follow research methods that will help you find the right answers. Find out how to:
locate and understand statutes, regulations, and cases
make sure your research is 100% up to date, and
organize your research results into a memorandum of law for use at school, at work, or in court.
Completely updated for the 18th edition, Legal Research shows you how to find statutes, cases, background information, and answers to specific legal questions online. Even more important, you’ll be guided to the most reliable and user-friendly sites, so you won’t drown in an information flood.
Lots of examples and easy-to-understand instructions teach you how to master all the basic legal research tools, including:
online search engines
reliable free legal websites
legal encyclopedias, periodicals, and treatises
annotated legal codes and statutes
published reports of state and federal court cases
case digests and Shepard’s Citations, and
the best legal blogs.
Author(s): Stephen Elias, Editors of Nolo
Series: Legal Research
Edition: 18
Publisher: NOLO
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 368
Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Table of Contents......Page 8
Your Legal Research Companion......Page 12
1: Understanding the Basics of the Law......Page 14
What Is the Law?......Page 15
Sources of Law......Page 16
State Versus Federal Law......Page 22
The Court System......Page 24
2: Finding Legal Resources......Page 30
Where Legal Information Is Located......Page 31
Primary Sources and Secondary Sources......Page 33
Looking for Legal Resources Online......Page 38
Legal Research Websites......Page 49
3: Identifying Your Legal Issue......Page 54
How to Approach Your Research......Page 55
Step 1: Is the Issue Civil or Criminal?......Page 56
Step 2: Figuring Out the Area of Law You’re Researching......Page 61
Step 3: What Resources Will Help You Find What You Need?......Page 75
Step 4: Figure Out Your Legal Research Question......Page 76
4: Finding and Using Secondary Sources......Page 80
Online Resources......Page 81
Self-Help Legal Books......Page 84
Legal Encyclopedias......Page 85
Form Books......Page 90
Practice Manuals......Page 91
Continuing Legal Education Publications......Page 94
Law Reviews and Other Legal Periodicals......Page 95
Specialized Loose-Leaf Materials......Page 96
Restatements of the Law......Page 99
5: Finding and Using Constitutions, Statutes, Regulations, and Ordinances......Page 100
Finding and Using Constitutions......Page 102
Finding Federal Statutes......Page 104
Finding State Statutes......Page 111
Understanding and Using Federal and State Statutes......Page 117
Finding and Using Regulations......Page 130
Finding and Using Procedural Statutes and Rules......Page 136
Finding and Using Local Laws or Ordinances......Page 138
6: Finding Cases......Page 142
Using Citations to Find Cases......Page 143
Finding Cases Online......Page 147
Finding Cases in the Law Library......Page 148
The Next Step......Page 160
7: Using Case Law......Page 162
What Is a Case?......Page 163
How Cases Are Published......Page 175
How Cases Affect Later Disputes......Page 182
8: Validating Your Research......Page 190
Making Sure It’s “Good Law”......Page 191
How to Shepardize a Case......Page 193
Shepardizing Statutes......Page 209
Using Shepard’s for Research......Page 212
9: Organizing and Putting Your Legal Research to Use......Page 216
Organizing Your Research......Page 217
How to Write a Legal Memorandum......Page 218
Going to Court......Page 224
Finding and Working With a Lawyer......Page 239
Glossary......Page 242
Appendix A: Topic-Specific Research Sites......Page 350
Index......Page 354
Additional Legal Resources at Nolo.com......Page 369
