Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law

Description

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. 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