Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law

by Editors of Nolo

Overview

Legal Research: Take the law into your own hands

If you have a legal problem but don’t know how to find the law, Legal Research’s simple instructions will help. 

Legal Research is a complete, plain-English guide that teaches research skills relied on by attorneys everywhere. You’ll discover where to find the best legal resources available in the law library and online while learning how to do the following:

• find statutes, regulations, and court decisions

• ensure the law is current

• organize your research results, and

• draft a memorandum of law for use at school, work, or legal proceedings.

This revised edition includes tips and examples to help you master essential legal research tools. Understanding the research process and legal research techniques unlocks the ability to access accurate law and solve legal problems confidently.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781413331929
Publisher:	NOLO
Publication date:	08/27/2024
Edition description:	20th ed.
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Cara O’Neill is a legal editor and writer at Nolo specializing in bankruptcy and small claims litigation. Cara authors several Nolo book titles, including How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, The New Bankruptcy, and Everybody’s Guide to Small Claims Court. She also coauthors Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law, The Foreclosure Survival Guide, Solve Your Money Troubles, and Credit Repair, and edits several more. Before joining Nolo, Cara practiced law for over 20 years in civil and criminal litigation, bankruptcy, and administrative law. During that time, she served as an administrative law judge, took dozens of criminal and civil cases to jury verdict, appeared before the California Court of Appeals, and taught undergraduate and graduate law courses. She earned her law degree in 1994 from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she served as a law journal editor and graduated as a member of the Order of the Barristers—an honor society recognizing excellence in courtroom advocacy. 

Jessica Gillespie works at Nolo in several capacities. As Nolo’s Research Director, Jessica manages the editorial staff’s research needs. She also cocreates many of Nolo's online legal forms, including those used in online LLC and corporation formation services, coauthors Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law, and writes and edits estate planning and personal injury articles. Before joining Nolo, Jessica managed prestigious document collections at New York University's Law Library and provided library research and support at a large Virginia law firm. Jessica’s academic achievements include a B.A. from the University of Virginia, an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Long Island University, and an M.A. in U.S. History from North Carolina State University. She also did doctoral work on Progressive Era reform movements in the Appalachian South at the University of Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Your Legal Research Companion 1. Understanding the Basics of the Law 2. Finding Legal Resources 3. Identifying Your Legal Issue 4. Finding and Using Secondary Sources 5. Finding and Using Constitutions, Statutes, Regulations, and Ordinances 6. Finding Cases 7. Using Case Law 8. Validating Your Research 9. Organizing and Putting Your Legal Research to Use 10. Research Hypothetical and Memorandum Glossary Appendix Index

Editorial Reviews

"Getting around the law library can be easy—if you just know where to look-and Legal Research the place to begin". Library Journal

"The 16th updated edition of Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law tells how to locate key laws and cases either online or in a law library, how to draft legal memoranda, and how to make the most of the Web and a legal library to locate statutes, cases, background information and answers to specific legal issues. Chapters offer keys to organization, "shepardizing", prioritizing, using indexes, and analyzing the effect of a case on your particular issue: in short, it outlines the basics of an attorney's research and judgment process and will help users save hundreds of dollars in attorney fees just by doing some of the legal legwork that anyone can do. Very highly recommended!" The Midwest Book Review

“The simplest, most concise and articulate description of the legal research process available.” Tom Holm, Director of Lawyering Skills Clinical Program UCLA School of Law

Legal Research helps readers take the law into their own hands. When it comes to finding what they need, if it's out there, Nolo editors will help them find it. sirreadalot.org

From the Publisher