Introduction to Legal Research Fall 2007

8/6/2019 Introduction to Legal Research Fall 2007

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Introduction to Legal Research &

FSU Law Library Services

Presented by Robin R. Gault,

Associate Director of the Law Library

Presentation Originally Created by Faye Jones,Professor & Director of the Law Library

Reference Desk: 850-644-4095

Evening Service: The Hotline (Red Phone) at Reference


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Legal Research: A Fundamental Skill

The MacCrate Report,ABA Section of Legal Education &Admissions to the Bar, Report of the Task Force on Law Schools and the

Profession: Narrowing the Gap v, 145 (Robert MacCrate ed. (1992).

Fundamental Skill # 3: In order to conduct

legal research effectively, a lawyer should

have a working knowledge of the nature of

legal rules and legal institutions, the

fundamental tools of legal research, and the

process of devising and implementing a

coherent and effective research design . . . .


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Legal Research: A Fundamental Skill An attorneys failure to research a clients case

properly can result in a malpractice award

against the attorney (Hickox v. Holleman, 502So. 2d 626 (Miss. 1987)), a public rebuke by

the court (Massey v. Prince Georges County,

918 F. Supp. 905 (D. Md., 1996)), or even

suspension (Attorney Grievance Commn v.Zdravkovich, 762 A.2d 950 (Md. Ct. App.,

2000)).


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Legal Research: A Fundamental Skill Legal research must be

Correct

Comprehensive

Credible

Cost-effective


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A Legal Researchers Goals Find correct resources to rely upon

The law that governs the facts in your case andwhich was in effect at the time the facts occurred

Be comprehensive Mandatory primary authority, persuasive primary

authority, useful secondary authority

Be credible Find the strongest authority to rely upon

Be cost-effective Practice, practice, practice

Caveat: Ask for help before frustration sets in


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Legal Research: The Basics Primary Authority IS the law

Cases, Statutes, Constitutions, Regulations, Rules

Secondary Authority Analysis and commentary

Usually the best place to begin research

Treatises, Practice materials, Periodicals, American LawReports & much more

Finding Tools Digests, Citators, and other techniques

Updating Tools

Lexis/Nexis Shepards Citators and Westlaw Keycite


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Work From A Research Plan Identify research terms

Study the facts, read all available documents, anddevelop vocabulary before beginning to research

Assess the formats available: print or online? Keep a journal as you work

Find, read, and update secondary sources

Develop issues for primary research

Hint: It helps to write out the issues Find, read, and update primary authority

Include nonlegal materials as appropriate


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Primary Sources: Cases Courts: explain the dispute, the outcome,

and their reasoning

Resolve only this dispute, but Set precedent for the future

Courts are reactive, not proactive.

Typical court structure: Trial

Appellate (Intermediate)

Highest


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Parts of a Case Caption: names of parties in the case

Docket Number: court-assigned tracking number

Citation: publication location Subsequent publications

34 F. 211; 34 F.2d 211; 34 F.3d 211 Parallel Citations

55 U.S. 193, 14 How. 193, 14 L. Ed. 383, 1852 U.S. LEXIS 435(1853)

Attorneys: names of counsel appearing for eachof the parties in the case

Judges: which judges wrote the majority opinionand any dissenting or concurring opinions

Opinion: the actual decision of the judge


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Federal Courts


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Federal Case Reporters U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Reports

Supreme CourtReporter

Lawyers Edition

U.S. Courts ofAppeals

Federal Reporter

U.S. District Courts Federal Supplement


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Regional Reporter System


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Examples of Regional and Specialty

Reporters


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Florida Courts Florida Supreme Court

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/

5 District Courts of Appeal http://www.flcourts.org/courts/dca/dca.shtml

20 Circuit Courts

Both trial and appellate courts

http://www.flcourts.org/courts/circuit/circuit.shtml

67 County Courts

http://www.flcourts.org/courts/county/county.shtml


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Florida Case Reporters Southern Reporter

Regional reporter that includes Florida

Florida Cases

A subset ofSouthern Reporterthat contains only Florida cases Florida Law Weekly New Florida appellate court decisions

Florida Law Weekly Federal New decisions of federal courts sitting in Florida, 11th Circuit

and U.S. Supreme Court

Florida Law Weekly Supplement New selected county and circuit court decisions

http://www.floridalawweekly.com


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Finding Tools Digests

Comprehensive topical indexes

DecennialDigest

GeneralDigest

Wests Florida Digest& Florida Digest 2d

Citators Using primary or secondary sources

One good case

Mining the footnotes


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Is there a typical path for doing case

research?

Three questions:

Where to begin?

How to proceed?

When to stop?

What is accessible/most useful? Online resources vs. print resources


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Primary Sources: Federal Statutes &

Constitution Government Printing Office (Official)

Public Laws (slip laws)

Statutes at Large (session laws)

United States Code (Reorganized into 50

topics)

Commercial Publishers (Unofficial) United States Code Annotated (West)

United States Code Service (Lexis)


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Primary Sources: Florida Statutes &

Constitution

Official

Laws of Florida (session laws)

Florida Statutes

Unofficial

Florida Statutes Annotated (West)

Florida Annotated Statutes (Lexis)


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Primary Sources: Regulations

Delegated Legislation Federal

Code of Federal Regulation

Federal Register

Administrative agency publications

Florida

Florida Administrative Code Annotated Florida Administrative Weekly

Florida Administrative Law Reports


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Rules of Procedure and Ethics Rules of courts

Federal, state, and local

Rules of Professional Conduct Rules Regulating the Florida Bar

American Bar Association Model Rules

Codes of Judicial Conduct

Ethics opinions

The Florida Bar


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Updating Tools Currency is the lifeblood of the law!

Shepards

Print

Lexis

Keycite (Westlaw) Hint: Learn both systems!


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Secondary Sources Treatises

Practice materials

Periodicals & Indexes

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books

LegalTrac

American Law Reports

Encyclopedias


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Research Instruction by Law Librarians

Librarians teaching legal research

In classes: Advanced Legal Research, International

Legal Research, Environmental Law Research.

In research workshops & Jump Starts.

In the Library

Ask for help from the reference librarians

Margaret Clark is the librarian liaison for 1Ls


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FSU Law Library Guides to resources

Online catalog (print and electronic resources)

Law Library databases

FSU Databases E-journals

Other online sources

Research guides

Research Workshop schedule Services

Staff

Hours


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Law Library Services for Law Students

Individual research assistance

Research instruction

CALI Past exams

Course reserve materials

Interlibrary loan

Wireless access Printing/photocopying

Creation of unique research databases


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Other Libraries Main Library (Strozier)

Information Studies

Medical

Music

Science (Dirac)

Regional/National Library Catalogs


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Research & The End Game American Bar Association Career Guides

http://www.abanet.org/publiced/legalcareers.html

FindLaw, http://careers.findlaw.com/

The Florida Bar

http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/CertSect.nsf/Sections?OpenFormhttp://www.flabuslaw.org/

Professional Organizations AIPLA, http://www.aipla.org/

Armed Forces http://www.navy.com/officer/legal;

http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=318;http://www.marines.com/officer_programs/chooseyourplace.asp?format=flash;http://www.airforce.com/careers/job.php?catg_id=1&sub_catg_id=3&af_job_id=179; http://www.gocoastguard.com/dc/dcprograms/dcl.htm

FSU J.D./M.S. joint degree in law librarianshiphttp://www.ci.fsu.edu/Prospects/Grads/ssd98_JurisDrMS_degree_d

esc.cfm


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JUST ASK!

Introduction to Legal Research Fall 2007

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