When you steal from one author, it's plagiarism;
if you steal from many, it's research.
~ Wilson Mizner ~ 1876-1933 Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th Edition
Research Strategy
Strategy: A careful plan or method especially for achieving an end.
Assignment Clarification Checklist
- How will your product be used - Why does your supervisor want to know the information
- When does your supervisor need the product and how does your work fit into a larger deadline
- Is there a research strategy or a particular research tool that your supervisor can recommend for the project
- Is the research limited to one jurisdiction
- How much time does the supervisor want expended on the project
- Does the supervisor want any of the raw research materials (cases, statutes, regulations, etc.) you relied on
- Does the supervisor have a particular length in mind for the product
- If you have additional questions once you have started the project, will your supervisor be available to answer them
Goal is Research that is:
- Correct
- Comprehensive
- Credible
- Cost-effective
Research Strategy
- Brainstorm for Terms
- Identify and analyze the facts
- Who, what, where, when
- TARP Rule
- Thing or subject matter
- Cause of Action or ground of defense
- Relief sought
- Parties involved
- Determine the legal issues to be researched
- Classify problem into general subject area
- Begin to narrow question
- Choose a jurisdiction Location of dispute
- State or Federal
- If Federal, what Circuit
- If State, what regional reporters and digest
- Get an overview of the subject
- Strategy depends on familiarity with general subject and specific topics
- Learn basic principles and vocabulary
- Consult Secondary Sources
- Outline issues
- Search for legal authority
- Organize, plan and record
- Case-finding tools
- Narrative descriptions
- Digests and annotations
- Online research
- Working with a subject
- Working from a known case
- Table of Cases
- Headnotes
- Citators
- Working from a known statutes
- Read primary authorities
- Finding tools don't fully represent content of primary authority
- Primary authority can act as further finding tools
- Update
- Pocket parts
- Supplements
- Citators
- Online Research
- When to stop
- Repetition of citations (Use independent research tools to avoid appearance of repetition)
- Absence of new information
- Arriving at an answer
- Research cost exceeds its expected benefit
Secondary Sources
Encyclopedias
- Finding Tools Provide a broad overview of an area of law
- Describe the law, but do not critique the law or suggest legal reforms
- Two National Encyclopedias American Jurisprudence, Second Edition
Treatises
American Law Reports
- Provide in-depth coverage of a specific or narrow issue
- Articles authored primarily by practicing attorneys Publisher Information - A.L.R. Homepage
- Westlaw American Law Reports - ALR Index
- Federal Topics
- State Topics
- A.L.R. 3d 1965 - 1980
- A.L.R. 4th 1980 - 1991
- A.L.R. 5th 1992 to 2005
- A.L.R. 6th 2006 to present
Legal Periodicals
- Describe, analyze and comment on current state of law
- In-depth articles
Legal Periodical Indexes
Legal Periodicals Full Text
Law Reviews
Bar Association Journals and Legal Newspapers and Newsletters
Restatements
- Seek to unify the common law on a national basis
- Written in rule form with explanations
West's Restatements and Principles of the Law
- Products Liability Restatements
- Restatement of the Law-Agency
- Restatement of the Law-Conflict of Laws
- Restatement of the Law-Contracts
- Restatement of the Law-Judgments
- Restatement of the Law-Property
- Restatement of the Law-Restitution
- Restatement of the Law-Security and Suretyship and Guaranty
- Restatement of the Law-The Foreign Relations Law of the United States
- Restatement of the Law-The Law Governing Lawyers
- Restatement of the Law-Torts
- Restatement of the Law-Trusts
- Restatement of the Law-Unfair Competition
Restatements: American Law Institute
Bloomberg Law
Justice is open to everyone in the same way as the Ritz Hotel.
~Judge Sturgess ~
research strategy & Secondary Sources