LEGAL RESEARCH

1
LEGAL RESEARCH

• A GUIDE FOR MERRIMACK STUDENTS

2
THE RESEARCH PROCESS

• Develop a research strategy
• Identify appropriate information sources
• Keep organized records
• Critically evaluate resources
• Analyze legal issues
• Put it all together

3
SELECT A LEGAL TOPIC

• Select an area of the lawdefine the problem
  oridentify the legal issue
• Determine jurisdictionWho solves the problem?
  Federal or State e.g, Federal Trade Commission
  vs. State Office of Consumer Affairs

4
PRIMARY AUTHORITY The Law Itself

• Statutes(Legislation)
• Case Law(court decisions)
• Constitutions
• Administrative regulations and decisions
• Rules of procedure and ethics

5
SECONDARY SOURCES Everything else/Not the law

• Database articles (scholarly popular)
• Nonfiction books (Print or electronic)
• Treatises
• Encyclopedia articles
• Law Review Articles

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WHERE TO START

• Secondary authorities help explain and interpret
  primary sources of the law
• Secondary authorities provide the foundation for
  finding, analyzing, and applying the law
• Secondary authorities point you to significant
  sources of primary authority

7
McQuade Starting Points

• Legal encyclopedias
• Library catalog
• Subject Guide to the law http//www.noblenet.org/m
  errimack/subjectguides/law.htm
• Managed databases (Lexis Nexis, Gale/Cengage
  formerly Infotrac, EBSCOhost)
• Print Indexes

8
WHY RESEARCH CASES?

• The American justice system relies on the courts
  to test laws established by
• Legislatures
• Agencies
• Other Court Decisions
• Therefore, case law is an important sourcefor
  determining what the law is on a particular
  issue.

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HOW TO FIND/USE A CASE

• Referred to in a secondary source
• Using a database
• Avoid opinions of trial (lower) courts
• Select appropriate appellate (higher) court
  opinions
• Focus on the substantive legal issues,avoid
  technical/procedural issues

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HOW TO READ A CASE

• Title (identifies the parties) and citation
• Facts distinguish between material facts (what
  happened?)and legal facts (how did the case get
  here?)
• Issue(s) (What must the court decide?)
• Decision or Holding (Who prevailed?)
• Legal rationale (Why did the court decide the
  case in the way it did?)

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PARTS OF A CASE CITATION

• A case citation is a reference to where a case
  (also called a decision or an opinion) is
  printed in a book.
• Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
  
  names vol reporter page
  year of of decision parties

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WHERE TO FIND HELP

• Ask a Librarian http//www.noblenet.org/merrimack
  /contact.htm
• Research Advisory http//www.noblenet.org/merrimac
  k/researchform.htm
• Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
  http//www.lawlib.state.ma.us/