Legal Research in The United States - The Process of Legal Research

The Process of Legal Research

Although this is a process oriented article, there is no one right way to do legal research. There are however practices that have proven to be more efficient and cost effective. There is an overall "game plan" that is taught in the first year of Law school. The details vary according to the textbook, but a general search strategy might be:

• frame the Issue (try to figure out what the case is about/ what legal issue or issues you will need to research)
• brainstorm search terms (think up synonyms - assisted suicide? right to die? euthanasia?
• determine jurisdiction and time frame (do you have a lot of time to research this? Usually not. You may have to make do with a quick and dirty resource instead of an in-depth, ever so scholarly one)
• decide which format to use (print or electronic- this often just depends on what you have access to)
• locate, read, and update secondary sources
• locate read and update primary authority (cases, statutes, and regulations)
• look up rules of procedure, ethics, non-legal and other materials if needed
• repeat the above steps, as needed, depending on your search results.

Adapted from The Process of Legal Research by Christina L. Kunz et al.

The legal research textbooks below are good resources for finding out more about legal research and research strategies):

• Robert C. Berring and Elizabeth A. Edinger. Finding the Law. (12th Ed., West Group Publishing, 2005).
• Roy M. Mersky and Donald J. Dunn. Fundamentals of Legal Research. (Foundation Press, 2002).
• Morris L. Cohen and Kent C. Olson. Legal Research in a Nutshell. (9th Ed., Thomson West, 2007).
• Morris L. Cohen, Robert C. Berring, and Kent C. Olson. How to Find the Law. (West Publishing Company, 1989).
• Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind. Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law. (14th Ed., Nolo Press, 2007).
• Christina L. Kunz et al. The Process of Legal Research. (7th Ed., Aspen Publishers, 2007).
• Mark K. Osbeck. Impeccable Research: a Concise Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills. (Thomson West 2010).
• Amy E. Sloan. Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies. (3rd Ed., Aspen Publishers, 2006).

A very good search strategy is to find a legal research guide with a search engine such as Google before you leap. Your local library will probably have research guides on a wide variety of topics.