Case Law Legal Research

Case Law Legal Research

Steven A. Lastres, in its document “Insights Paper: Rebooting Legal Research in a Digital Age”, wrote:

“The majority (of lawyers surveyed) report that they rarely or never begin case law research with a legal classification system using a digest or jurisprudence. There is limited use of the classification system on the Headnote as well, and then it is used only as a later step in the research process for finding related content. Even with that, a third of respondents admit typically not accessing a legal classification system at all when conducting case law research. (…)

The most popular process among associates (45%) for researching case law begins with running a free web search, then searching in a paid-for research service, narrowing results with additional terms or filters, accessing related content using a legal classification system above a relevant Headnote, reviewing related documents linked within a primary law document, and finally, validating case law with a citation service. This process was consistent among associates at both small and large firms. The second most popular process for researching case law was the same except no one in this group accessed a legal classification system at any stage of the research process. The widespread practice of not using a legal classification system implies that aw schools may need to adapt how they teach legal research to better align with methods attorneys actually use in practice.”

Tools

Court Reports

This includes the following topics:

  • The Hierarchy of Court Systems
  • The Distinction Between Holding and Dictum
  • Publication of Cases
  • Forms of Published Decisions
  • Components of a Decision [Caption, Docket Number, Citation, Syllabus, Headnotes and Opinion]
  • Supreme Court of the United States [United States Reports, the former United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition, West’s Supreme Court Reporter, Looseleaf Services, and Newspaper Accounts].
  • Lower Federal Courts [Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement, Looseleaf Services and Topical Reporters]
  • State Courts [Official Reports, West’s National Reporter System, Looseleaf Services and Topical Reporters]

Case Verification and Updating

This includes the following topics:

  • The Functions of Shepard’s Citations [Parallel Citations, Case History, Treatment, Related Cases, Secondary Material and Annotations]
  • The Coverage of Shepard’s Case Citators
  • The Formats of Shepard’s Citations
  • Other Verification and Updating Tools: Parallel Citation Tables

Case Finding

This includes the following topics:

  • West Key-Number Digests [see below]
  • Other Digests [United States Supreme Court Digest, State Digests, and Specialized Digests] 
  • Annotations [see below]
  • Online and Computerized Research Systems [Case Databases, Search Strategies and  Integrating Manual and Computerized Research]
  • Other Cases Finding Tools [Shepard’s Citations, Annotated Statutes,  Words and Phrases,  Encyclopedias, Treatises, Periodical Articles and  Looseleaf Services]

West Key-Number Digests

This includes the following topics:

  • Digests of Federal Court Opinions [United States Supreme Court Digest, Federal Digests and Specialized Digests]
  • Digests of State Court Opinions [State Digests and Regional Digests]
  • History of The Comprehensive American Digest System [Century Digest, Decennial Digests and General Digest]
  • Finding Cases in the Digests [Starting With a Case, Descriptive Word Indexes and Topical Analysis]

Annotations

This includes the following topics:

  • Components of the Annotated Reporting System
  • The Structure of an Annotated Report [The Case Report, Cross-References, Finding Aids and the body of the Annotation]
  • Updating Annotations [Pocket Parts, Later Case Service Volume, ALR Blue Book of Supplemental Decisions, and Annotation History Tables]
  • Finding Annotations [Index to Annotations, ALR Digests, Online Access through databases, Shepard’s Citations and Other Publications]

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