Why This Matters
Legal research isn't just about finding information—it's about finding the right information and knowing how to use it. In this course, you're being tested on your ability to distinguish between different types of legal authority, navigate complex databases, and verify that the law you're citing is still good law. These skills form the backbone of every legal argument you'll ever make, whether you're drafting a memo, preparing for trial, or analyzing a hypothetical on an exam.
The techniques in this guide connect to broader concepts like the hierarchy of legal authority, statutory interpretation, precedent and stare decisis, and administrative rulemaking. When you encounter a research question, don't just think about where to find the answer—think about why that source carries weight and how it fits into the legal system's structure. Master these techniques, and you'll understand not just how to research, but how legal reasoning itself works.
Understanding Legal Authority: Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Before you can research effectively, you need to understand what you're looking for and why it matters. Legal sources exist in a hierarchy, and knowing where a source falls determines how much weight it carries in your argument.
Primary Sources of Law
- Binding legal authority—these are the actual rules that courts must follow, including statutes, regulations, and case law from the relevant jurisdiction
- Created by governmental bodies with lawmaking power: legislatures enact statutes, courts issue opinions, and agencies promulgate regulations
- Always your end goal in research; secondary sources help you find them, but primary sources make your argument
Secondary Sources of Law
- Commentary and analysis that explains, interprets, or critiques primary law—never binding but often persuasive
- Includes legal encyclopedias, treatises, law reviews, and practice guides written by scholars and practitioners
- Best starting point for unfamiliar topics; they provide context and point you toward relevant primary authority
Compare: Primary vs. Secondary Sources—both are essential to research, but they serve different functions. Primary sources are the law; secondary sources explain the law. On an exam asking you to identify authoritative support, always prioritize primary sources.
Modern legal research relies heavily on sophisticated databases and search techniques. Understanding how these tools organize and retrieve information makes the difference between hours of frustration and efficient, targeted results.
Online Legal Databases (Westlaw, LexisNexis)
- Comprehensive access to virtually all published case law, statutes, regulations, and secondary sources in searchable formats
- Advanced search features include filters by jurisdiction, date, court level, and practice area to narrow results quickly
- Cost and access considerations—these are subscription services; knowing how to use them efficiently saves time and money in practice
Boolean Search Operators
- Logical connectors like AND, OR, and NOT allow you to combine or exclude terms to refine your search results
- Quotation marks force exact phrase searches, while parentheses group terms for complex queries with multiple conditions
- Proximity connectors (e.g., /s for same sentence, /p for same paragraph) help find terms appearing near each other
Digests and Indexes
- Organize case law by topic using standardized classification systems, making it easier to find cases addressing specific legal issues
- Key number system (West) assigns unique identifiers to legal concepts, allowing you to trace related cases across jurisdictions
- Bridge between concepts and cases—when you know the issue but not the case name, digests are your entry point
Compare: Boolean Searching vs. Digest Research—Boolean searches work best when you know specific terms or phrases; digests work best when you know the legal concept but not the terminology courts use. Strong researchers use both approaches.
Verifying and Validating Your Research
Finding a case isn't enough—you must confirm it's still good law. Courts overrule, distinguish, and limit prior decisions constantly, and citing bad law destroys your credibility.
Shepardizing and KeyCiting
- Citator services that track every subsequent reference to a case, revealing whether it's been affirmed, reversed, overruled, or distinguished
- Signal indicators (red flags, yellow flags) provide quick visual warnings about a case's current validity
- Essential final step—never cite a case in a legal document without checking its treatment; this is non-negotiable in practice
Evaluating Source Credibility and Authority
- Hierarchy matters—Supreme Court opinions outweigh appellate decisions; binding authority outweighs persuasive authority from other jurisdictions
- Author credentials and publication reputation affect the weight of secondary sources; a Harvard Law Review article carries more persuasive value than an anonymous blog post
- Recency and citation frequency indicate how current and influential a source remains in legal discourse
Compare: Shepardizing vs. KeyCiting—both accomplish the same goal (validating cases) but on different platforms (LexisNexis vs. Westlaw). Learn whichever system your school provides, but understand that the concept of citation verification is what matters.
Researching Specific Types of Law
Different types of legal authority require different research approaches. Statutes, cases, and regulations each have their own structure, sources, and interpretive tools.
Case Law Research Techniques
- Start with keywords, legal issues, or known statutes to identify potentially relevant cases through database searches or digest topics
- Use headnotes and summaries to quickly assess relevance before reading full opinions—efficiency matters when reviewing dozens of results
- Track procedural history and subsequent treatment to understand a case's current authority and how courts have applied its holdings
Statutory Research Methods
- Locate current code sections through legal databases, official government websites, or annotated codes that include case citations
- Understand statutory structure—titles, chapters, sections, and subsections create a logical organization you must navigate
- Annotated codes are invaluable because they compile cases interpreting each statutory provision, saving significant research time
Legislative History Research
- Examines a statute's development through committee reports, floor debates, hearing transcripts, and earlier bill versions
- Reveals legislative intent when statutory language is ambiguous—courts often look to what lawmakers said they meant
- Access through government websites (Congress.gov, state equivalents) and compiled legislative histories in legal databases
Administrative Law Research
- Regulations have the force of law when properly promulgated by agencies with delegated authority from legislatures
- Research requires understanding agency structure—know which agency regulates your issue and where its rules are published (CFR, state equivalents)
- Agency decisions and guidance documents interpret regulations and reveal how agencies apply their rules in practice
Compare: Statutory vs. Case Law Research—statutes give you the rule; cases show you how courts apply it. Effective research almost always requires both. If an FRQ asks about interpreting a statute, discuss both the text and relevant case law.
Secondary Source Deep Dive
Secondary sources do the heavy lifting early in your research by explaining complex topics and pointing you toward primary authority. Knowing which type to use—and when—makes your research more efficient.
Legal Encyclopedias and Treatises
- Encyclopedias (Am. Jur., C.J.S.) provide broad overviews of legal topics with citations to leading cases—ideal for getting oriented quickly
- Treatises offer in-depth analysis of specific practice areas, often written by recognized experts whose interpretations courts may cite
- Use encyclopedias for breadth, treatises for depth—start general, then go deep once you've identified your specific issue
Legal Periodicals and Law Reviews
- Scholarly articles analyze legal issues in depth, often proposing new interpretations or critiquing existing doctrine
- Student notes and comments in law reviews can be excellent for understanding emerging issues or circuit splits
- Persuasive but not binding—courts occasionally cite law review articles, especially on novel questions without clear precedent
Compare: Encyclopedias vs. Treatises—encyclopedias cover everything briefly; treatises cover one area thoroughly. Choose based on whether you need a quick overview or comprehensive analysis of a specialized topic.
Research Strategy and Legal Writing
Knowing the tools isn't enough—you need a systematic approach. How you structure your research and communicate your findings determines your effectiveness as a legal professional.
Fact-Based vs. Issue-Based Research
- Fact-based research starts with your client's specific circumstances to find cases with analogous facts and outcomes
- Issue-based research starts with the legal question to identify applicable rules, regardless of factual similarities
- Most research requires both—identify the legal issue first, then find cases with facts similar enough to be persuasive
Legal Writing and Analysis
- IRAC structure (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) organizes legal analysis in a format readers expect and courts prefer
- Synthesis of authority means weaving together multiple cases and statutes to build a coherent argument, not just listing sources
- Precision in language matters enormously—legal terms have specific meanings, and sloppy word choice undermines credibility
- Standardized citation rules ensure readers can locate your sources and assess their authority at a glance
- The Bluebook governs most legal citation, with specific formats for cases, statutes, regulations, and secondary sources
- Signals and parentheticals communicate how a source supports your proposition and what it actually says
Compare: Fact-Based vs. Issue-Based Research—fact-based research helps you predict outcomes; issue-based research helps you understand the law. Start with issues to learn the rules, then shift to facts to apply them to your situation.
Quick Reference Table
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| Primary Authority | Statutes, case law, regulations, constitutions |
| Secondary Authority | Legal encyclopedias, treatises, law reviews |
| Database Research | Westlaw, LexisNexis, Boolean operators |
| Case Validation | Shepardizing, KeyCiting, citator signals |
| Statutory Interpretation | Legislative history, annotated codes, committee reports |
| Research Organization | Digests, indexes, key number system |
| Research Strategy | Fact-based approach, issue-based approach, IRAC |
| Citation and Writing | Bluebook format, signals, parentheticals |
Self-Check Questions
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You find a 2015 case that perfectly supports your argument. What must you do before citing it, and what tools would you use?
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Compare and contrast legal encyclopedias and treatises—when would you choose one over the other in your research process?
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A statute's plain language seems to support your client's position, but opposing counsel argues the legislature intended something different. What type of research would help resolve this dispute, and where would you find the relevant materials?
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Which two research techniques—Shepardizing/KeyCiting and Boolean searching—address different stages of the research process? Explain how they complement each other.
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Your supervising attorney asks you to research an unfamiliar area of administrative law. Outline your research strategy, identifying which sources you'd consult first and why, distinguishing between secondary and primary sources in your approach.