- 1. RESEARCH STRATEGY & SECONDARY SOURCES Amy Wright, JD,
MLIS Zief Law Library, Fall 2007
2. Common Reaction to First Days on the Job
- Hunkering Down in Your Workspace:
- *The Bunker idea originally came from a July 2006 presentation
by Terry Psarras, Teaching CALR to Law Students, at AALLs 2006
Annual Meeting.
3. COMMON NEWBIE MISTAKES
- Jumping on Lexis or Westlaw when you have no good leads for
relevant cases, statutes, or regulations.
- Ignoring secondary sources.
- Focusing too heavily on case law and ignoring statutes and
regulations.
- Not asking questions when youre stuck!
4. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- GATHER & ANALYZE THE FACTS:
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- What are the parties relationships to each other?
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- What facts do I already know?
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- What facts are missing that I need to know?
5. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- WHAT TYPE OF ANSWER IS REQUIRED?
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- E-mail, conference call, verbal answer, research memo, or
client letter?
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- Short summary or exhaustive treatment?
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- Answer given to client or to assigning attorney?
6. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- DEFINE YOUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
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- Federal, state, or local law?
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- Tort? Contract? Regulatory or statutory issue?
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- Whats the clients desired result?
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- What terms of art or industry lingo do I need to know to define
my research questions?
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- Begin creating a list of search terms.
7. RESEARCH STRATEGY
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- Review secondary sources .
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- Talk the issues out: Brainstorm with someone else who knows the
area well.
8. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- RESIST THE URGE TO JUMP RIGHT IN!
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- Dont waste time getting lost on Lexis & Westlaw!
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- Consult secondary sources first.
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- Find leading cases, statutes, and regs..
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- ..then use Lexis & Westlaw.
9. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- CONSULT FREE INTERNET SOURCES SPARINGLY .
- Search for 15-30 minutes if youre not finding anything useful,
try new resource.
- Use the Internet to find a good research guide on your topic
written by a law librarian or a law professor. Check the date on
the guide to make sure its relatively recent.
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- Immigration law research guide site:.edu
10. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- NOW.WRITE DOWN A RESEARCH PLAN
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- Budget your time: figure out how much time you can spend on
each question.
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- List the resources that you plan to consult for each research
question and relevant search terms.
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- If you use Lexis & Westlaw,call the reference attorney
hotlineand ask them for help with search creation.Open 24/7.
11. RESEARCH STRATEGY
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- Are the cases, statutes, & regulations that you found
during research still good law?
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- Use electronic citators such as KeyCite and Shepards,evenif
your client wont pay for electronic research.Print citators are not
sufficiently up-to-date!
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- Shepardize secondary sources, too!
12. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- Lexis and Westlaw both offer Alert services:emails Shepards
& KeyCite updates for your sources; runs your searches
regularly for you.
- Use these services to find:
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- New primary & secondary authority; and
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- Make sure what youve already found remains good law.
13. RESEARCH STRATEGY
- Are you running into same info? probably done.
- Read the most recent article or case on your topic if youre
familiar with all of the relevant legal issues & cited
authority, thats a good sign.
14. SECONDARY SOURCES
15. SECONDARY SOURCES
- Reason #1: DONT REINVENT THE WHEEL.
- Good secondary sources jumpstart your research by giving you
citations to major cases, statutes, and regulations about your
topic so you dont have to find these citations yourself in multiple
locations.
- Alsowill explain & analyze the law for you.
16. SECONDARY SOURCES
- Reason #2: LEARN THE JARGON.
- Every practice area uses special terms of art, acronyms, and
lingo.Secondary sources define these terms for you.
17. SECONDARY SOURCES
- Reason #3: FIND SOME NEW ARGUMENTS OR NEW WAYS TO ANALYZE THE
LAW.
18. HOW TO FIND SECONDARY SOURCES
- Ask a law librarian or your supervisor for
recommendations.
- Browse the Westlaw Directory and the Lexis Find a Source
tab.
- Check out a law library research guide.
- Review Zimmermans Research Guide online for tips:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman
19. NEW SOURCES FROM ZIEF
- Laurie LevensonsCalifornia Criminal LawandCalifornia Criminal
Procedure .
- John SinksCalifornia Subpoena Handbook .
- Gregory CaskeysCalifornia Search and Seizure .
- (all available on Westlaw)
20. COMMONLY-USED SOURCES
- DONT FORGET THESE SOURCES FROM FIRST-YEAR!
- AmJur&CalJurare great legal encyclopedias:
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- Perfect for quick overview & citations to statutes and case
law.
21. COMMONLY-USED SOURCES
- Witkins treatises on California law:
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- California Procedure ; and
22. COMMONLY-USED SOURCES
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- Supplies a summary of federalandstate cases that contain the
definitions of certain words and phrases.
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- EXAMPLE : can help you find cases that define legal terms like
conspiracy or constructive eviction .
23. COMMONLY USED SOURCES
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- Essays that discussselectedstateorfederal legal topics in
detail
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- Includes West Key Numbers and citations to law review articles,
practice guides, form books, and more.
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- Case & statute summaries cover all 50 states and federal
law as well.
24. PRACTICE GUIDES
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- Strive to provide a practical but thorough discussion of the
law, along with practice tips and citations to relevant primary
authority.
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- Some have sample forms and agreements along with
commentary.
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- Some focus just on supplying commentaryorproviding forms.
25. FINDING PRACTICE GUIDES
- Popular Publishers of Practice Guides :
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- CEB (CA Continuing Education of the Bar).
- Zief Handout has recommendations for most practice areas.
26. FORM BOOKS
- Use a form book when you need ideas on how to draft any legal
document.
- Exist for both transactional and litigation practices.
- CAUTION :Its very rare that you can use a form straight from
the book without tweaking it!Each form has to be adapted to your
facts and your client.
27. FINDING FORM BOOKS
- California Forms of Pleading and Practicemost popular resource
(Bender; on Lexis).
- Also look for West publications like:
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- Wests California Code Forms;
28. LITIGATION DOCUMENTS ON WESTLAW & LEXIS
- Westlaw has a growing collection of trial documents from both
federal and state courts.
- Go to Westlaw DirectoryLitigation
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- some may be very poorly drafted.
29. 30. .AND ON LEXIS
- Lexis offers Total Litigator
- Task-oriented library that includes collections of drafting
resources, including actual court filings.
31. 32. 33. COURT FORMS
- Each jurisdiction has its own required forms for various
filings.
- Check the California courts web page for forms (
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/ ) as well as your individual
court website.
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- Most up-to-date source for forms.
- LLRXwebsite has a handy online search engine for state &
federal court forms, rules, and
dockets:http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/
34. CALIFORNIA COURT FORMS 35. COURT FORMS
- uscourts.gov allows you to find websites of all of the federal
courts throughout US.
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- Go to the individual federal courts website to find relevant
forms.
36. 37. Northern District of Californias Forms Page 38. JURY
INSTRUCTIONS
- Most states, including CA, develop standardized jury
instructions for use in both civil and criminal trials.
- In California, theBook of Approved Jury Instructions (BAJI) ,
was the first publication.
- Now replaced by the Judicial Councils new plain English
instructions, known asCACIandCALCRIM .
39. JURY INSTRUCTIONS
- Can still use BAJI instructions, if accepted by court.
- Californiacivil & criminal jury instructionson California
courts website:http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/
- Check individual federal court websites (links
onwww.uscourts.gov ) for jury instruction information.
40. California Civil Jury Instructions Page 41. COURT RULES
- Nota secondary source court rules are the laws that govern how
courts function, so they are aprimarysource.
- Annotated versionsare most useful: include summaries of cases
interpreting the rules.
42. CALIFORNIA COURT RULES
- Find them on Californias official court
website:http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/rules/
- Includes both California-wide rules and links to local courts
individual rules.
- Annotated versions available in Deerings annotated statutes
under Rules of Court & Wests annotated set under Court
Rules.
43. California Court Rules Page 44. FEDERAL COURT RULES
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- Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
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- Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
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- Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (governs civil and
criminal)
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- Federal Rules of Evidence
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- Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
- Text available on:http://www.uscourts.gov/
45. 46. FEDERAL COURT RULES
- Also available in annotated versions in print in both the USCA
and the USCS.
- Use citator services (Shepards & KeyCite) to determine
current status and judicial treatment of federal & state court
rules.
47. Lexis & Westlaw Password Use
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- Students in any judicial externship/clinical internship who
arereceiving course creditmay use Lexis student account.
48. Lexis & Westlaw Password Use
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- OK to use inunpaidclinical internships (incl. those taken for
course credit) so long as theyrenotwith federal, state, or local
government or courts; and
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- OK to use for pro bono and public service activitiesrequired
for graduation .
49. GOOD LUCK!
- Remember.youre welcome to call Zief librarians for research
help during any type of internship (and after you graduate,
too)!
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- Reference Desk :415-422-6773
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- Website :www.usfca.edu/law_library
50. 51. LOOSELEAF SERVICES
- Greatsinglesource for commentary, cases, statutes, regulations,
and agency decisions.
- Common publishers:CCH, BNA, RIA
- Can be tricky to use for novices best to start with a simpler
secondary source, then move to a looseleaf once you have some
foundational knowledge.