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Online Legal Research

A guide for students doing research in law-related subject courses

Finding the law means finding several different pieces of information, not just one, written statute.  (See part 1, Basic Law.)  The process of searching the law for a topic is:

1. Search WestLaw Campus or Lexis-Nexis by topic.
2. Examine the cases that result from your search, using the keyword-in-context view, selecting for relevancy to your topic.
3. Within the relevant cases, note:
   1. Statutes
   2. Cited cases
   3. Headers/Keynotes/Points of law decided within the case. (These are usually listed at the beginning of the case.)
   4. In divided decisions, note the number of judges for the decision, and those against.
4. Also do a citation search for each relevant case from search in #2, above.
   1. Is the case still good law?  Or, has it been overturned or questioned by a higher court?
   2. What cases cite your original case?  (Return to #2, above, for each.)
   3. What law reviews mention your case?  (Read them, noting other cases and any distinctions and trends identified by the authors.)
5. Check statutes mentioned in the case for relevance.  Relevant statutes provide another access for doing a citation search, #4, above.
6. Check the points of law (or, headers, or Key notes) in Am Jur.  (Only the College of Law has access to CJS.)  This gives you the "common law"; what seems to be the current standards?
7. Search the database (WestLaw or L/N) by appropriate points of law for additional cases.  For each relevant case, go back to #2 and proceed through the steps, until all avenues of research are exhausted.

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