Fundamentals of Legal Assistantship (SOCECOL X415.41)
Library Workshop on Legal Research
Spring Quarter 2006

Julia Gelfand
Science Library 228
jgelfand@uci.edu

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General Online Resources
Legal Research: Background & Basics
Finding Cases
Finding Statutes
Legal Periodicals

= available from any UCI Campus (networked) computer

GENERAL ONLINE RESOURCES

UC Irvine Libraries Homepage <http://www.lib.uci.edu>: Start here to get information about the library (hours, policies, etc.) and to access library databases -- including ANTPAC (UCI Library Catalog), Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, Westlaw Campus, LegalTrac, Hein Online and more.

UC Irvine Libraries Legal Research Tutorials <http://tutorial.lib.uci.edu/legal-research/index.html>: Two self-paced legal research tutorials adapted from Georgetown University Law Library for use at UC Irvine. The tutorials concentrate on print materials (published by West Group) but mention utility of online databases and the Internet.

Laws and Legislation Subject Guide <http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/subject/subpage.php?subject=uslawleg> A mix of free and subscription resources for finding legal materials. Organized by type of law (statute, regulation, e.g.) and type of resource (periodical article, e.g.)

California Government Information Subject Guide <http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/subject/subpage.php?subject=calgov> See especially the section on "Legislation/laws/regulations/legislators." California's (free) legislative information website is among the best.
 

LEGAL RESEARCH: BACKGROUND & BASICS

 

SOME IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

Primary authority: "any law that the court can rely on in reaching its decision. Examples include statutes, administrative regulations, constitutional provisions, executive orders, charters, ordinances, treaties, and other court opinions" (Statsky, p. 547).

"statutes, constitutions, administrative regulations issues pursuant to enabling legislation, and case law. Primary authority may be either mandatory or persuasive. All other legal writings are secondary authority and are never binding on courts." (Jacobstein, et al, p. 2)

Secondary authority: "any nonlaw that the court can rely on in reaching its decision. Examples include legal and nonlegal periodical literature, legal and nonlegal encyclopedias, legal and nonlegal dictionaries, legal and nonlegal treatises." (Statsky, p. 547)

Legal Dictionaries (online)

Black's Law Dictionary, 8th edition (2004): Langson Library Reference Desk: KF156 .B53 2004  

Your textbook makes the following useful distinctions among different legal research tools, which we will use in this workshop and presentation:

  • Full-text Legal Resources
  • Locator Resources
  • Resources to Explain the Law
  • Resources to Determine the Validity of the Law

FINDING CASES

Finding Cases by Citation or Party Name

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic:  [Locator; Full-text]
    • Get a case
    • Legal Research
  • Westlaw Campus  - you can search for cases based on a subject search limited to a jurisdiction.  For California cases you would be searching West's Federal Practice Digest 4th, California Digest or ANY OTHER STATE DIGEST.  From there, it is possible to create a "custom digest" by following hyperlinks from the key numbers assigned to the cases you retrieve.  From that custom digest, it is possible to browse the key number system online. 
    • Cases with West Headnotes vs Cases Without West Headnotes: Headnotes are sentence-length summaries of each legal issue discussed I the case, written by attorney-editors.  Cases without Headnotes include unpublished cases or slip opinions too recent to have been published.
    • To generate a list of cases, use KeySearch on the left, to either browse by broad topic or search for keywords within the subject tree structure
    • Select your jurisdiction(s) - can search multiple jurisdictions
    • From the full-text display of a case, you can follow the hyperlinked key numbers for topics for which you want to find similar cases.  You can also retrieve "most cited cases" on particular topics.

For Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement, California Reporter, or ANY STATE OR REGIONAL Reporter

    • Search by Citation or Names at the top left or for Party names searches the entire title of the document and is less precise than citation
  • West (Print) Products: [Locator; Full-text] - also consult Westlaw Campus   for online version
    • West's California Reporter: Langson Bound Periodicals (Basement): KFC 45 W4
      • 190 P. 455 (190 = volume number; P. = reporter name (Pacific Reporter); 455 = page number)
      • Table of Cases; West's California digest, 2d: Langson Reference: KFC 57 W477

Parallel Citations

 

FINDING STATUTES

Federal Law

  • Legislative Information: Lexis-Nexis Congressional:  [Locator; Full-text]
    • United States Code Service
    • Bill tracking
    • Congressional Record
    • Committee Reports, Prints
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic  (United States Code Service): [Locator; Full-text]
  • United States Code Annotated: Langson Reference: KF 62 1927 W45  [Locator; Full-text]
  • Westlaw Campus  - Click on the i next to USCA or U.S. Constitution on the left; Table of Contents, Index or Popular Name Table to conduct search


California Law

  • California Legislative Information: [Locator; Full-text]
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic  (Deering's Annotated Codes): [Locator; Full-text]
    • Legal Research - State Codes
      • Code of Civil Procedure in HEADING
      • 1174.2 in SECTION
  • West's Annotated California Codes: Langson Reference: KFC 30.5 W4
  • Barclay's Official Code of Regulations - LL REF KFC 35 1090- A22 1990
  • California Jurisprudence, 3rd - LL REF KFC 80 C34
  • Witkin's Summary of California Law (Treatise, 9th ed., LL REF CFC 80 W5 1987 - next edition will be online in 2007
  • Westlaw Campus    for West's Annotated California Code or ANY State codes:
    • Click on State Constitutions on the left
    • Choose your state - and navigate to the Table of Contents, Index or Popular Name Table - Example: California -> Popular Name Table and then enter Three Strikes You're Out Law       

                               

LEGAL PERIODICALS

Legal Trac:  [Locator of secondary source material; Explain the Law]

  • Keyword search (example): support and minor child and California
  • Indexes legal trade journals including LA Daily Journal

Lexis-Nexis  -- Legal Research -- Secondary Sources (law reviews and other legal periodicals): [Locator; Full-text; Explain the Law]

 

Hein Online  - An online collection of law reviews, legal treatises and agreements, legal and criminal justice journals and select books.  Accessible works online start from Volume 1 and continue to the almost current issues, usually the last bound or complete volume year. 

 

Westlaw Campus  - One can search legal encyclopedias and law reviews - one must select the state and search by individual states for law reviews - can not search the entire universe of coverage.  This is not the easiest way to conduct a comprehensive search of law review content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally created by Judy Ruttenberg with permission.