In our Paralegal Classes, you will be asked to "discuss"
law cases. You do not have to do a formal brief, but you should
be aware of the various elements of a "Case Brief, and then,
in a simple fashion, when discussing the case, include the vital
elements of the case (that would be whichever parts of a normal
Case Brief which are important to understand the case). You do
not have to do a "formal brief" of every case you read.
Here
is how to "brief a law case". (from Prof. Edward
C. Martin). Also read Legal Notes - click
here and U.S. Court System - click
here., and EZLegal
Research - click here.
Law Search Engines: the
LawEngine -Legal
Search Engines - Lawyer
Express - Law
on the Web - Legal
Research Using the Internet - Findlaw
- California Cases - Legal
Research on the Internet - California
Legal Research - - - -
Case citations - federal
- california
-
Plagiarism - Avoiding
- How
not to - Paraphrasing
-
Legal Search of Cases:
1. Google: You can use a simple method: such as
http://google.com, or http://findlaw.com.
Type in some of the simple terms, name of the case, or "operative
legal language", that is the key words of the case. these
could be key legal terms, like "probable cause" , "premise
liability" as examples. the more general you are the wider
arrangement, both valid, and invalid you will get. The more specific,
the more specific the results.
a. Court Info - California Cases - click
here. (no username or password is necessary). The California
Courts now has an "Official Reports" page, and it uses
Lexis-Nexis. One downside is that in using natural language it
just pulls up one case at a time, and not a list of related or
series of cases which have the same "search terms"
found. This makes it a less powerful tool. The idea is to promote
a full version of Lexis-Nexis to the user.
b. Lexisone - click here (
username = 2missionlaw - password = 2helpme).
2. Calawreasearch.com (Click
here) - just for California law only
This is a search engine. The username = "lawteacher"
, password = "email Prof J. at abogado@pacbell.net"
for the password - Click on "products and services",
then click on "California Supreme Court cases" on the
left side of screen, then it will ask for username/password.
type that in, then click on logon.
In upper left corner is a blank box, under that box is "natural
language" - click on that. Then type in simple words for
your search. Remember not to put in the word "and"
instead use "&" to connect terms like the case
of "Dillon & Legg". Also for searching terms, put
them between two " " marks, for instance for comparative
negligence, put in the search box "comparative negligence"
(that is the terms are sandwiched between quotations marks, this
makes the search engine just find comparative negligence, and
not just all of the cases dealing with negligence.
3. Loislawschool.com (Click
Here) - for federal and all 50 states laws
This is a search engine. First register with Loislaw, and then email Prof J. for the ACCESS Code. You need to be enrolled in
our law classes to use Loislaw.
You should determine if the case is federal or state law (look
at the citation and that will help), if federal detrmine
which
circuit court. locate
the state and the circuit court, then click that box under
Federal Cases. (The
West Digest system was developed to index state cases).
If it is a state court, then mark the box under the specific
state court. then click on "continue" at the bottom
of the page, and then under "search entire document"
type in your search terms. Use same rules as given above about
search terms. You may get a large list of cases, so to find your
case quickly, you can click on control key, lower left of keyboard,
hold that key down, then hit the "f" key, that opens
up a "find window", and then type in the case name
or term you are looking for. This takes you to the case you are
looking for, if they give you all kinds of other cases first.
This will speed up your research.
4. Google Scholar (Click Here)
- Type in the name of the case. Click on the bubble below the
search line, on "legal opinions". . Also there is an "adanced search"
on the right side and you can enter "keywords" to help you find your
case or legal topic.
here is information on the court reporters: see the particular
states in the particular reporters, eg. CT is Conneticut, and
it is in the Atlantic Reporter eg. of case 245 A. 2d 45 (CT is
a Connecticut case, and located in the Atlantic Reporter) -
REGIONAL REPORTERS & DIGESTS (state appellate courts)
CT,DE,ME,MD,NH,NJ,PA,RI,VT:
Atlantic Reporter "A./A.2d" (REF KF135 .A7A7)
Atlantic Digest (REF KF135 .A7W4) --discontinued 1990
IL,IN,MA,NY,OH:
North Eastern Reporter "N.E./N.E.2d" (REF KF135 .N6N12)
North Eastern Digest (REF KF135 .N6N2) --discontinued 1970
IA,MI,MN,NE,ND,SD,WI:
North Western Reporter "N.W./N.W.2d" (REF KF135 .N7N12)
North Western Digest (REF KF135 .N72W4)
AK,AZ,CA,CO,HI,ID,KS,MT,NV,NM,OK,OR,UT,WA,WY:
Pacific Reporter "P./P.2d" (REF KF135 .P2P2)
Pacific Digest (REF KF135 .P21W424) --discontinued 1990
GA,NC,SC,VA,WV:
South Eastern Reporter "S.E./S.E.2d" (REF KF135 .S6S12)
South Eastern Digest (REF KF135 .S6S235) --discontinued 1990
AR,KY,MO,TN,TX:
South Western Reporter "S.W./S.W.2d" (REF KF135 .S7S12)
AL,FL,LA,MS:
Southern Reporter "S./S.2d" (REF KF135 .S8S12)
Southern Digest (REF KF135 .S8S2) --discontinued 1987
California appellate courts only:
California Reporter "Cal. Rptr./Cal. Rptr.2d" (REF
KFC41 .W4)
New York appellate courts only:
New York Supplement "N.Y.S./N.Y.S.2d" (REF KFN5040
.N5N52)
updated: 1/24/10
Prof J.