Legal Research

Basic Libraryand

Westlaw Legal Research

Basic Legal Research

Understanding the Citation System

The United States

Typical U.S. Citation

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

Name of the Parties

Volume

Report Name

Page Number

Year Decided

U.S. = United States Reports

U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S. Ct. 1678, 14 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1965).

U.S. = U.S. ReportsOfficial government reporter

S.Ct. = Supreme Court ReporterWest Publishing

L.E.2d = United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers Edition

Lexis/Nexis

Federal Appeal Court Cases

United States court of appeals cases are published in the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, or F.3d).

Published by West

No “official” reporter

Smith v. Jones, 3 F.3d 111 (3d Cir. 1993)

Name of PartiesVolume

Reporter Name

PageCourt

Year

Federal Court of Appeals

Federal District Court Cases

United States district court cases and cases from some specialized courts are published in the Federal Supplement (F. Supp. or F. Supp. 2d).

Smith v. Jones, 25 F. Supp. 2d, 444 (M.D. Ala. 2002)

Parties volumereporter

pagecourt year

State Decisions

Published in several places Many states have their own “official” reporters. West publishes “unofficial” reporters that are

grouped by region:

North Eastern Reporter, Atlantic Reporter, South Eastern Reporter, Southern Reporter, South Western Reporter, North Western Reporter, Pacific Reporter

NOTE – NY, Cal, and Ill also have West reporter.

Regional Reporter System

State v. Regional Reporter

City of Troy v Ohlinger, 438 Mich 477 (1991)

People v Ferency, 133 Mich App 526 (1984)

or

People v Ferency, 351 NW2d 225 (Mich. 1984).

Parties Volume

Reporter

Page Year

Court

The Full Citation

People v Ferency, 133 Mich App 526; 351 NW2d 225 (1984).

NOTE:

the state reporters can easily be identified because they use an abbreviation related to the state itself:

N.Y., Mich, Calif, Ill

Many state court rules require both the official and “unofficial” citations for cases.

Examples

Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339 (1928)

Glassroth v. Moore, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (M.D. Ala. 2002)

Geary v. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish Sch., 7 F.3d 324 (3d Cir. 1993)

Jackson v. Commonwealth, 583 S.E.2d 780 (Va. Ct. App. 2003)

State or Federal court?

Specifically, what court?

Pinpoint Citations

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 158 (1973).

What is this number?

Basic Legal Research

Conducting Research

Research in Stages

First must define the legal issue(s)

Look at facts obtained from client and witness interviews, discovery, etc.

Law School = Issue Spotting

Determine whether claim(s) are statutory, common law or both.

If statutory, find pertinent statute.then see if there are cases interpreting it!

If common law, find caselaw.

Finding Statutes

Searches

Index in bound volume

Table of Contentsin bound volume or state website

search enginestate website, legal databases

Secondary SourcesLegal encyclopedias, treatises, law review articles, etc.

Finding Statutes

All Statutes Are Not Created Equal:

General Statutesv.

Annotated Statutes

General Statute

Annotated Statute

West's Key NumberSystem leads you to cases

Index of cases interpretingthe statute

Case Summaries

Legal Encyclopedia

Case Citation

Understanding Cases

Quick Info Access in a Case

Browse the HeadnoteSummary

Notice the Key Numbers

Using Headnote Numbers

Case Finding Methods

Digests American Law Reports (ALR), Encyclopedias

and Secondary Resources

Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.)

American Jurisprudence (Am. Jur. 2d)

Electronic Database Search

Westlaw

Lexis/Nexis

What is a Digest?

Acts as an index to the National Reporter system (West Publishing)

find cases by legal issue or subject

A tool that collects and organizes cases by subject (“topic”) and narrow sub-headings (“key numbers”)

over 400 “topics” (e.g., contracts, negligence and criminal law)

Gives brief summaries of cases

headnotes from cases

Using Digest

Select “correct” jurisdiction.

Locate subject and key number

Read Case Summaries

Reading the Digest

Key NumberSubject/Topic Heading

Case Summary as it relates to topic

Case Citation

Finding Topic & Key Number

Annotated Statute Digest Descriptive Word Index Digest Table of Contents One Good Case

Descriptive Word Index

Start with general words. Use Descriptive Word Index to narrow downthe topic. Use Key Numbers within the topic to further narrow thetopic.

General Word

Specific Words

Digest Table of Contents

Main Topic

Sub-Topic

Key Numbers

One Good Case

You have a case that is on point Find the Topic and Key Number of the relevant

issue (looking in headnotes) Go to that Digest volume and search for cases

in your jurisdiction

One Good Case

Topic and Key Number!

American Law Reports

Full-text of important cases from variety of jurisdictions AND

“Articles” or “annotations” providing in-depth analysis and overview of legal topic

case citations and summaries

references to other secondary sources

Using general search and index, can narrow down topic similar to digest index search.

Index will direct you to specific volume of A.L.R.

Electronic Databases

Introduction to Westlaw

Westlaw Welcome Page

Database Directory

Find Case ImmediatelyIf You Know the Citations

Looking for the Citation

Sometimes the summary willcontain the citation for whichyou are looking. Put this citationinto the Westlaw citation searchbox and hit GO.

Directories

Click here to searchlaw review directory

Sample Search through Law Review Articles

Sub-Directory

Database abbreviations

to conduct a search throughall law reviews or journalarticles

to find sub-directory ofspecific law reviews

Search Box

name of current database

To change database

limit search by publication date

Limit search by author, citation, title, etc. (adds search command to above search)

Natural Language Search

No connectors!Just Plain Words!

NOTE – this method will likely result in a broader, less efficient search

consider broading your search using the thesaurus

Search Result

Info related to current document

Document List

Term Finder

Term Finder Arrow

Highlighted Search Terms

U.S. Cases Directory

Link to Cases Sub-Directory

Cases Sub-Directories

Search all federal cases

Search only Supreme Court Cases

Search only Court of Appeals Cases

Search all casesFederal + State

Search by State Court

State Court Cases Directory

Search for Case by Party Name

Search conducted in”All Cases” Directory

Search by Party Name Option

Finding Key Numbers

Key Search

Key Search Directory

Traditional Table of Contents

Main Topic

Sub-Topic

Search

Key Number Search

Key Number

Select Jurisdiction

Search Order

Search Terms

Date Restrictions

One Good Case Method

Link to Cited Case

Key Number with Link