Imagine this...I work for the State Supreme Court. Deal with the Justices and all. I have a vast amount of legal references in our HUGE library, probably anything I would need to look up...all at my disposal. Yet I can't do a thing with it yet because I don't know what I'm looking for!! The thing is, I'm here by myself, alone, without interruption and I am dying to jump into these books for references, case desicions, etc.. Now if only I knew my way around the legal system enough to know what these books mean. Just ranting and trying to figure out on where to start...
Among all of those books, there's bound to be one about how to do legal research. Doing legal research is not all that complicated in itself but the more you already know about a subject, the easier it is to find the answers you're looking for. A good starting point is to look at legal treatises and encylopedias which are the best sources for subject matter overview--They come with names like AmJur and Corpus Juris Secundum. There are others tailored to specific subject matter. For example if you were researching a California real property issue, you might want to start with Miller and Starr on real estate. Some states have a series of books that provide an overview of all aspects of state substantive and procedural law. There are similar books that provide overviews of federal procedure. Another component of the library is case law from federal and state courts throughout the country. Then you have books that contain statutes and regulations such CFRs; and there's Shepard's citations which is used to find out if cases have been overruled, criticized or even just mentioned in other cases. Shepard's will also lead you to cases where specific statutes have been interpreted by the courts. Most legal research these days is done online through services such as Westlaw, Lexis, etc. But before launching into electronic libraries, it's helpful to go to a legal treatise or encyclopedia to identify the most important cases and statutes in the relevant field of law. This will supply you with a context to make your online search more effective.
I feel your pain. Legal research is so complicated to learn that the law school I attend teaches it in a 2 hour class for an entire semester. You can do online research at Findlaw for free. I think there is another free on-line reseach site. I love my westlaw though.
Ask one of the law clerks to give you a brief rundown. Also, do you have access to Westlaw or Lexis on your systems? I would be suprised if you didn't I can get really cumbersome to do legal research using the books. If you do have either Westlaw or Lexis, both offer free training and you can even do it by phone if you don't want it one on one. We just switched from Lexis to Westlaw and initially I didn't like it and couldn't find my way around. Now I'm loving it. Still can't find the case I've been looking for, but found plenty of other interesting cases...lol. L
