West’s Instructional Aids Series
The Process of Legal Research
How to Use Print and Online Legal Resources
To Your Best Advantage
Contents
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Introduction
From Facts to Issue
Controlling Statute
Expanding Research
Identifying Cases to Cite
Ensuring Currency and Validity of Law
Conclusion
Introduction
Contents
Introduction
( R)esearch requires the poetic quality of the imagination
that sees significance and relation where others are
indifferent or find unrelatedness; the synthetic quality of
fusing items theretofore in isolation; above all the
prophetic quality of piercing the future by knowing what
questions to put and what direction to give inquiry.
Frankfurter, “The Conditions for, and the Aims and Methods of, Legal
Research,”: 15 Iowa L.Rev. 129, 134 (1930).
Introduction
• Legal research is an art as well as a skill. It calls for
judgment and creativity along with mastery of a set of
tools and techniques.
• Each research question will have a different starting point,
process, and conclusion.
• Every research project will include false starts, dead ends,
and revisions.
• There is never one “right” path. Researchers choosing
different paths for the same research question may be
equally successful.
• Legal research is never “finished,” but the experienced
researcher recognizes when to stop.
Introduction
• The starting point of research depends on the nature of the
issue, how it is presented to the researcher, and the
researcher’s experience.
• The starting point for research may be a fact pattern, a
subject, an issue, a case, or a statute.
• At the outset, determine if your research will be
exclusively in case law or if there are statutes or
regulations that should be explored.
• Determine whether your research will be primarily in
federal law or state law, or both.
Introduction
• Research often begins with a fact pattern. You might be
given an “on-point” case or statute, but seldom will the facts
of your research question fit squarely with the facts of other
cases or the language of the statute.
• A client relates a narrative for which he feels “wronged” but
has no legal theory to justify or deny compensation.
• This is when your legal training will come into play. It is
extremely difficult for someone untrained in the law to
translate a fact pattern into a legal theory of recovery or
defense.
Introduction
FACTS
State
ISSUE
Federal
SECONDARY SOURCES
Digests
Key Numbers
Annotations
CASE LAW
CONSTITUTIONS
STATUTORY LAW
REGULATIONS
THEORY OF RECOVERY
OR DEFENSE
From Facts to Issue
Contents
Facts to Issue
The Facts
Ronnie, a salaried driver for the Acme Corporation, was
unloading goods at a customer’s loading dock. Ronnie and
the customer began to argue about whose duty it was to
move the goods into the store. Ronnie shoved the
customer. The customer fell and was injured. The customer
is suing Acme for compensation for his injuries. Acme
employs you to represent the corporation in the upcoming
negotiations or litigation.
The case is filed within the jurisdiction of the state courts
of Louisiana.
Facts to Issue
• These facts must be translated into a legal issue(s).
• This is one of the hardest part of legal research for the
beginning researcher. Legal resources are seldom
organized by facts; they are organized by legal theory.
• You will need to identify terms of art that might apply to
this situation.
• You will need to learn the “black letter” law – statements
of principles that govern the particular area of the law.
Black letter law will give shape and limits to your research.
Facts to Issue
• The parameters of your research may later have to be
broadened, tightened, or shifted, but it is reassuring to start
out with a map of the area you will be exploring.
• Your thinking about the legal issues presented by a
particular set of facts is likely to change as you learn more
about an area of the law. Remain flexible.
• Once you are familiar with the relevant terms of art and
black letter law, you should be able to articulate your issue
more precisely.
Facts to Issue
Research: In Print or Online?
• There is no right or wrong way to begin your research.
• In the past, researchers had no choice but to conduct legal
research in print resources. The last few years have
witnessed the introduction and tremendous growth of a
powerful alternative, online legal research.
•
Neither is the “better” method. One might work better
than the other in this situation. You won’t know until you
get started.
• In all likelihood, you will move back and forth between
print and online resources during the research process.
Facts to Issue
• When confronted with an unfamiliar area of the law, many
researchers find it easier to use print resources (such as
legal encyclopedias, restatements, and practice guides) to
get an overview, set parameters, learn the terms of art and
black-letter law.
• Book materials have a satisfying way of organizing and
limiting research. They naturally set boundaries within the
law that the seemingly endless and seamless materials of
online legal materials cannot provide.
• Book materials can impart a sense of orientation, the
feeling that you have found what you need to get started.
Facts to Issue
One exception to the generalization that print resources are
often the best place to start research is when the case is
dependent on a particular detail.
– If the case rests on the fact that the vehicle involved
was a farm tractor, standard print indexes and table
of contents will not be organized around farm
tractor cases. A full text online search for
farm tractors and injuries may retrieve
cases that can be the starting point for
research.
Facts to Issue
Starting Research in Print Secondary Sources
• You might start with a well respected secondary source, such
as:
– a treatise
– West’s Nutshell Series
– West’s Black Letter Series
– American Law Reports (ALR)
– a legal encyclopedia, such as American Jurisprudence
(AMJUR) or Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)
• Law school casebooks, with their emphasis on related but
seemingly contradictory cases are designed for instructional
purposes. They are not efficient research tools.
• Published study outlines often do not contain the clear
analysis of contradictory outcomes needed for a full
understanding of the issue.
Facts to Issue
• All of the print products listed on the previous screen are
secondary sources.
• Secondary sources
– are written by legal experts.
– lay out general principles of law along with exceptions
and variations to that law.
– are a source of citations to primary law (cases, statutes,
and regulations).
– may be cited to support a legal theory,
especially in an emerging or rapidly
changing area of the law where there
is no primary law available.
Facts to Issue
• Once you have found a secondary source or two that you
trust, check the index and table of contents.
– Many indexes are designed with entry words that allow
a researcher unfamiliar with an area of the law to find
the appropriate sections.
– The hierarchy of the materials listed in the table of
contents will help you move from general to specific
issues.
• What you are looking for:
– Terms of art that apply to the facts
– A statement of the generally accepted principles of law,
often called “black letter” law
– Enough understanding of the broader aspects of the
issue to set parameters for your research
Facts to Issue
• The Table of Contents of Torts in the Nutshell Series has a
section titled, Employers, Employees and Contractors.
• This section introduces and defines the following terms:
– Vicarious liability
– Scope of employment
or course of employment
Employers, Employees and Contractors
Facts to Issue
Vicarious liability is a form of strict liability
by which A is held liable to another for the
tort of B for no reason other than that there
exists some relationship between A and B
and B was acting within the scope of that
relationship when he committed the tort. The
overwhelming number of vicarious liability
cases arise from the employer-employee
relationship.
…(S)cope (or sometimes “course” or “scope
and course”) of his employment … is a question
of fact which considers the employee’s job
description or assigned duties, the time, place,
and purpose of employee’s act, the similarity
of his conduct to the things he was hired or
authorized to do or which are commonly done
by such employees, and the foreseeability of
his act.
Facts to Issue
• Torts in the Nutshell Series discusses the general black
letter law that applies to the vicarious liability of
employers for the acts of their employees.
– Once it is determined that the tortfeasor was an
employee at the time he committed the tort, his
employer is vicariously liable if his conduct is within
the scope of his employment.
• Torts, in the Black Letter Series, describes
the liability of an employer for the intentional
torts of employees:
– An employer is vicariously liable for his
employee’s intentional torts committed in the scope of
his employment and in furtherance of his employer’s
business, at least if the employee’s act was foreseeable.
Facts to Issue
Black letter statements
of the law from Torts
in the Black Letter
Series
Facts to Issue
• You have found relevant terms of art and black letter
statements of the issue which enables you to determine the
focus of your research.
• The fact that the assault was an intentional act and whether
the act was in furtherance of Acme’s business and
foreseeable will be important considerations.
• You can now lay out the broad parameters of the issue and
state the issue using appropriate legal terminology.
• You must persuade the court that Ronnie’s intentional act
was outside the scope of his employment.
• You must also anticipate the arguments of your opponent.
Facts to Issue
Issue
When Ronnie assaulted the plaintiff, was he acting within
the scope of his employment with Acme?
Two Step Determination
• Torts in a Nutshell lays out two questions that will help you
determine if Acme is liable for Ronnie’s actions.
– Was Ronnie an employee at the time of the accident?
– Was Ronnie’s conduct within the scope of his
employment?
• The second step will be the focus of your research, as there
is no issue as to Ronnie’s employee status.
Controlling Statute
Contents
Controlling Statute
Controlling Statute
• Now you are ready to explore employer vicarious liability
in more detail and retrieve relevant primary law.
• The next step is often searching more detailed secondary
sources or case law, but another option is to see if there is a
controlling Louisiana statute.
• Because you have learned the terms of art that are often
used when referring to this issue, a Natural Language
search in the Louisiana Statutes Annotated database (LAST-ANN) on Westlaw may be a good way to find relevant
statutory law.
Controlling Statute
• The Natural Language search method allows you to use
“plain English” to retrieve relevant documents. Just enter a
description of your issue and Westlaw will display the
documents that best match the concepts in your
description.
• Natural Language searching is often an most effective way
to search annotated statutory databases because:
– The text of a statute is often obscurely worded by the
legislature and the flexible nature of Natural Language
can ignore search words that do not appear in the
document and focus on the remaining words.
– The annotations (Notes of Decisions) appended to the
statute are summaries of case law that have interpreted
or applied the statute and discuss the issue in the more
foreseeable language of the courts.
Controlling Statute
“Masters and employers are answerable
for the damage occasioned by their servants
and overseers, in the exercise of the functions
in which they are employed.”
§ 2320
• Database: LA-ST-ANN
• Search: employer “vicariously liable” for assault
(“intentional act” “intentional tort”) of employee
• The first statute displayed is Louisiana Civil Code § 2320.
• This statute seems to be addressing employers’ vicarious
liability and scope of employment, but it does not include
the terms of art you encountered in the print resources.
Controlling Statute
Best
Click the Best arrow to display the portion of the document
that most closely matches your description. In this
document, the Best portion of the document is in the
annotations where the more foreseeable language of case
law is summarized.
Controlling Statute
• The brief wording of the statute does not stand alone but
has been interpreted and applied by many courts.
• There are more than one thousand annotations, divided into
almost two hundred subtopics appended to § 2320 and
many of the subtopics seem relevant to your issue.
Controlling Statute
• It there were fewer relevant annotations, it might be
possible to confine your research to the full text of the
cases summarized in the annotations.
• The number of annotations makes it difficult to synthesize
them into general principals law. You will more help.
• In this case, it may be more efficient to search for relevant
secondary sources that synthesize and analyze case law in
detail.
Controlling Statute
Responsibility
for acts of employees
• You would have had a more difficult time if you had
attempted to find the controlling statute in the print
statutory index.
• Civil Code § 2320 is indexed under LABOR AND
EMPLOYMENT, under the subtopic of Responsibility for
acts of employees.
• There is nothing listed under Vicarious liability or Scope of
employment in the print Index.
Expanding Research
Contents
Expanding Research
Having found the controlling statute, but being unable to
efficiently utilize the large number of annotations, you
might turn to a secondary source that will analyze and
synthesize your issue. At this point you have two choices:
you could use the terms of art and language of the black
letter law and :
– go to a print secondary source and use the table of
contents and index to focus your research.
– go online and search for documents containing the
terms of art. (Going on line prematurely can be an
expensive choice, especially if you have easy access to
the print resources.)
Expanding Research
Print Resources
• American Law Reports (ALR) articles offer detailed
analysis of a narrow issue of law and provide many
citations to relevant primary law.
• In the print ALR Index (T-Z) ALR 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and
Federal, under the listing for VICARIOUS LIABILITY
– Assume you looked first for Employer, found
Employment, and were referred to Labor and
employment under this section
– The Labor and Employment section has a promising
entry:
• Intentional wrong, employer’s liability for assault,
theft, or similar intentional wrong committed by
employee at home or business of customer
(13 ALR5th 217)
Expanding Research
VICARIOUS LIABILITY
Relevant article
Labor and employment
Employment
Expanding Research
SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT AND AUTHORITY
Assault
• In the the print ALR Index (O-S)
ALR 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, Federal
• Under SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT
AND AUTHORITY, you see
– Assault
• Employer’s liability for assault, theft, or similar
intentional wrong committed by employee at home
or business of customer (13 ALR 217)
• You found the same article under both VICARIOUS
LIABILITY and SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT AND
AUTHORITY in the ALR Index.
Expanding Research
SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT AND AUTHORITY
• Be sure to check in the ALR Indexes’ pocket parts for
recent ALR articles.
• There are three recent articles listed in the pocket part of
the O-S Index under SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT AND
AUTHORITY, but none deal with the specific issue of an
intentional act of an employee within the scope of
employment.
Expanding Research
• This is the first page of the
article found in the ALR Index
that seems most relevant.
• It is a summary of the issue,
with reference to the lead
case that initiated the article.
• The full text of the lead case
can be found at the end of
the volume.
• The cite for the article is
13 ALR 5th 217. The case is
reported at 540 So. 2d 363.
The full text of the case is also
available in the ALR, at
13 ALR5th 962.
Smith v. Orkin Exterminating Co.,
540 So. 2d 363 (La Ct.App. 1989).
Smith v. Orkin Exterminating Co. is
fully reported at page 962, infra.
Expanding Research
Table of
Contents
§ 13
Index
Assaults 3-9, 12, 13
Research References
ALR article finding aids, such as the Table of Contents, Research
References, and Index follow the summary of the article.
Expanding Research
Article Outline
NONSEXUAL ASSAULTS under BUSINESS
OF CUSTOMER is the section of the article
that seems most relevant to your issue.
Notice that the article uses the
phrase Respondeat superior,
rather than vicarious liability.
• In the Article Outline, the phrase respondeat superior is
used under the subtopic of NONSEXUAL ASSAULTS
under BUSINESS OF CUSTOMER. You have not
encountered this phrase before.
• Check Black’s Law Dictionary for a definition of
respondeat superior.
Expanding Research
Blacks Law Dictionary
Black’s Law Dictionary contains the follow definition of
respondeat superior:
“This maxim means that a master is liable in certain
cases for the wrongful acts of his servant, and a
principal for those of his agent…”
Expanding Research
RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR
Intentional wrong
You should consider respondeat superior as an alternative
to vicarious liability in your research. (If you had begun
looking at RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR in the ALR Index,
you would have found the same article under the
subheading, Intentional wrong.)
Expanding Research
Several of the ALR article’s finding aids have led to the most
relevant section of the article:
III. Business of Customer
B. Nonsexual Assaults
§13 Respondeat superior
(a) Theory established or
supportable
(b) Theory not established
Expanding Research
Jurisdictional Table
Louisiana cases
McDermott v. American Brewing Co (1901)
105 La 124, 29 So. 498 - § 13 [b] (reference to
the section of the article where McDermott
is discussed).
§ 13(b)
• The article includes a Jurisdictional Table of Cited Statutes
and Cases.
• McDermott v. American Brewing is the only Louisiana case
in the table that deals with nonsexual assault of a customer
at the place of the customer’s business.
Expanding Research
13 ALR 5th 217
There is a number to
call for very recent
case summaries.
There are no entries
in the pocket part
for § 13.
• Be sure to check the pocket part of the ALR volume for
recent relevant case law.
• Pocket parts inserted into the back cover periodically
supplement the materials in the bound volume.
Expanding Research
Online Research
• You could have searched first for the terms of art on
Westlaw. In this session, you might want to supplement
and confirm your print product research in the ALR
database.
• Whether you look for the relevant article(s) by using the
print ALR index or by searching Westlaw is a matter of
choice and economics.
• Note: Many people find it difficult to read with total
comprehension detailed online articles. If you prefer to
look for documents online, you might want to print them
and then read, highlight and make notes on the printed
document(s).
Expanding Research
• Database: ALR
• Terms and Connectors search: ti(“vicarious liability”
“respondeat superior” & employ!)
• Result: seven documents. Two are in ALR INDEX TO
ANNOTATIONS (articles). One is under VICARIOUS
LIABILITY, the other under RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR.
Both lead to the same article you found in the print ALR
indexes.
Link to article
Intentional wrong, employer’s liability for assault, theft, or similar
intentional wrong committed by employee at home or business of customer
Expanding Research
EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY FOR ASSAULT, THEFT, OR SIMILAR INTENTIONAL WRONG
COMMITTED BY EMPLOYEE AT HOME OR BUSINESS OF CUSTOMER.
• This is the same article you found using the ALR print index.
• Note the link to Smith v. Orkin. The full text of the opinion is
available in the Louisiana State Cases database (LA-CS).
Expanding Research
• A Natural Language search is often used as a check against
missing relevant articles that were not retrieved by a Terms
and Connectors search.
• Database: ALR
• Natural Language search: employer "vicarious liability"
(“respondeat superior”) for assault ("intentional act"
"intentional tort")
• One of the first
documents retrieved
is the same document
you found using the ALR
print index and the
Terms and Connectors
search.
• You can now proceed with confidence that this article will
provide detailed analysis and citations to enable you to
efficiently expand your research.
Expanding Research
§ 13
• The online article has many of the same finding aids and
research resources as the print article.
• Document Outline on the Links for tab links to an outline
of the article.
• The Document Outline leads you to § 13, dealing with
nonsexual assaults by employee in the business of a
customer.
Expanding Research
• The Citing Reference function of KeyCite is an easy and
effective way of expanding your online research.
• KeyCite Citing References lists cases, administrative
materials and secondary sources that have cited a case or
statute.
• Citing References for cases can be limited by issue
(headnote), locate terms, jurisdiction, date, document type,
or depth of treatment.
• Citing References for statutes can be limited by issue
(notes of decisions), locate terms, jurisdiction, date, or
document type.
Expanding Research
Citing References link
• McDermott v. American Brewing Co. is the only Louisiana
case discussed in § 13 of the ALR article. It was decided in
1901 and you would like to check for more recent cases.
• Click KeyCite Citing Reference on the Links for tab.
• McDermott has been cited in twenty-two documents.
1915
Topic 29
Limit KeyCite Display
• At least 1915 documents have cited Louisiana Statute 2320.
• Click Limit KeyCite Display button to whittle citing
documents down to the ones that will be of most use.
• Here we have limited the display to the issue discussed under
Topic 29 of the Notes of Decisions for § 2320, Unauthorized
acts of employee, course and scope of employment.
Cases
6 of 1915
Apply
• We have also limited the KeyCite Display to cases.
• Click Apply.
• We have limited the KeyCite Display to the six of the
original 1915 documents that will be of most use to us.
Identifying Cases to Cite
Contents
Identifying Cases
Section 13 of the ALR article analyzes some of the factors that
courts have considered when determining whether an employee
acted within the scope of his employment when committing a
nonsexual assault at the business of a customer. They include:
– Did the act further the employer’s business in any way, even
if not in the manner or method authorized?
– Was the act related to employee’s duties and incident to the
performance of the employee’s duties?
– Had the business purpose of the interaction between the
employee and customer been completed?
– Did the action arise out of a job dispute, or was the assault in
pursuit of private purposes or grievance?
– Did the employee’s duties contemplate the use of force?
Identifying Cases
• You will need to align these factors with the circumstances
that surrounded Ronnie’s assault of the customer.
• You could argue that Acme is not liable because
– Ronnie’s job did not contemplate assault.
– Ronnie’s job was over when he unloaded the goods on
the loading dock. It was not necessary for him to pursue
the argument to complete his delivery.
– Ronnie was pursuing a private grievance.
• But the plaintiff is likely to that Acme is liable because
– the assault arose out a job dispute and was not personal.
– Ronnie’s job was not over, as he remained on the
customer’s loading dock.
– the assault furthered Acme’s business in that its purpose
was to deliver the goods to a customer.
Identifying Cases
Topic and Key Numbers
• You will want to identify relevant cases through sources
other than the ALR article to verify that you are using the
most relevant cases and the strongest arguments.
• Key Number Digests are one option of identifying cases
with similar issues. The digests organize the law into
approximately 400 broad topics divided into approximately
100,000 narrow issues of law, each assigned to a specific
key number.
• The McDermott case that is cited in the ALR has only one
headnote. That headnote is assigned to 255K302(3)
(Assault under Scope of Employment, under Master and
Servant topic).
Identifying Cases
Print Digests
• If you were to find Louisiana cases by topic and key
number in the print Louisiana Digest you would need to
check the digest’s pocket part for the most recent cases.
• Louisiana cases have the most precedential value, but the
reasoning of courts in other jurisdictions may be
persuasive. Topic and key numbers remain constant across
jurisdictions.
Identifying Cases
• Instead of using the print digests, you might go online and
search the LA-CS database for relevant key numbers,
using the terms of art that we have identified in the print
resources and in the ALR database. You might add other
terms associated with factors a court considers when
determining liability.
• Database: LA-CS
• Digest field search: di(“vicarious liability” “respondeat
superior” /p assault! (inten! /3 tort! act!) & “job
dispute” “personal grievance” furtherance)
ResultsPlus
• The search retrieved 22 cases in the Louisiana Cases
database.
• On the right of the screen are relevant ALR, Am. Jur. 2d,
Am. Jur. Proof of Facts, Am. Jur. Trials articles and Key
Numbers that could be used to expand your research.
These are your ResultsPlus.
Identifying Cases
255k302(2)
255k306
Reference to La. C.C. 2320
The search retrieved several relevant key numbers under
topic 255 (Master and Servant):
302(2) Acts for Which Master is Liable in General
302(3) Assault and Battery
302(6) Acts of a Servant in His Own Behalf
306 Willful and Malicious Acts of Servant
Identifying Cases
Assault and Battery
Most Cited Cases
• We will choose 255k302(3), Assault and Battery, under
Scope of Employment as this is the key number assigned to
the sole headnote in the McDermott case which was cited
in § 13 of the ALR article.
• Click Most Cited Cases.
Identifying Cases
255k302(3)
Most Cited Cases
Louisiana
• Select Louisiana as the jurisdiction.
• The Most Cited Cases feature will retrieve headnotes
assigned to key number 255k302(3) in a Custom Digest
format. The headnote that has been cited the most will be
displayed first, the headnote that has been cited least will
be displayed last.
• The Most Cited Case feature helps determine which cases
are most authoritative.
Identifying Cases
Cited 147 times
• There are over forty headnotes in Louisiana’s Custom
Digest for key number 255k302(3).
• LaBrane v. Lewis has been cited more than any other case
for this issue, indicating that it is an important case.
• McDermott is also near the top of the list and the ALR
article on assault in the home or business of a customer is
also referenced.
Identifying Cases
• The next step is to read the full text of the cases that seem most
relevant.
• The critical and often very subtle factors
that influence a decision must be isolated
and analyzed. This can only be fully
accomplished by a thorough reading of
the complete text of the cases.
• Some cases might seem to be contradictory, but you should be
able to detect a trail of consistency drawn from subtle factual
distinctions among the cases.
• You should read opinions that have imposed liability on the
employer and opinions that have not imposed
liability on the employer.
Identifying Cases
Several of the cases retrieved set forth factors a Louisiana court
should consider when deciding whether to hold an employer
vicariously liable for the intentional acts of employees:
“ (1) whether the tortious act was primarily employment rooted,
(2) whether the violence was reasonably incidental to the
performance of the employee's duties,
(3) whether the act occurred on the employer's premises, and
(4) whether it occurred during the hours of employment.”
Ensuring Currency and Validity of Law
KeyCite History
Contents
KeyCite History
• Once you have found the relevant cases and statutes, you
must determine the current status of the law.
• Check the validity of any relevant case or statute before
continuing your research.
• A case may be reversed, vacated, remanded or overruled.
• A statute may be repealed, amended, declared
unconstitutional, or preempted.
KeyCite History
KeyCite History
• Online citators have distinct advantages over print citators:
– There is a single source of information. (Checking the
validity of a case in print citators involves checking in
multiple volumes and updating pamphlets.)
– Online citators are extremely current. (Print citators
cannot be as current due to the necessity of printing and
mailing updating pamphlets.)
• KeyCite is the citation research service available on
Westlaw.
KeyCite History
KC History
• One of the cases in the results of your key number search,
LaBrane v. Lewis, displays a yellow flag in the upper left
corner and and on the Links for tab in the left frame.
• The yellow flag indicates the case has some negative
history, but hasn’t been reversed, overruled, vacated, or
remanded.
• Click either yellow flag to display this negative history.
KeyCite History
• The negative history includes cases in which factual
distinctions led to a different outcome.
• These would be very valuable cases to read as you try to fit
the Acme case into the texture of Louisiana cases.
KeyCite History
Judgment Reversed
• Another case retrieved in your key number search, Moore
v. Blanchard, is tagged with a red flag on both the case and
the Links for tab.
• The KeyCite Direct History of the case indicates that the
judgment was reversed by a higher court.
• When you see a red flag on a case, you should investigate
before relying on that case to support your argument.
Conclusion
or
Knowing When to Stop Research
Contents
Conclusion
• You’ve done the research and you feel confident of your
understanding of the issue.
• You have isolated the most relevant articles, cases, statutes,
and key numbers that were found by different methods of
research and which cross reference one another.
• You’ve carefully read and analyzed relevant Louisiana law.
• You’ve ensured the cases you are relying on are good law.
• You can support your position with references to primary
law and secondary sources, and counter the arguments
likely to be presented by opposing counsel
Conclusion
Knowing When To Stop1
• The Loop Rule
– When you start to see the same documents and citations
over and over, you should probably realize you are done,
especially if you have used the research products of more
than one publisher
• The Economic Analysis or Diminishing Return Rule
– When you are investing more in your research than you
are getting in return
• The Zen Rule
– When you have been working in an area of the law for a
long time, you will be so familiar with the primary and
secondary law you will have become an expert and will
know when to stop.
1JOHNSON,
ET AL., WINNING RESEARCH SKILLS, West Group, 2002
Conclusion
Good
job
• Now you can write a persuasive memo or brief.
• This was just one potential path through the legal research
process.
• Every research process will differ. You could have
competently explored more or less legal resources
depending on what is at stake and the time and money
available.
• You’ll be a successful researcher if you understand how to
use the many resources that are available in a flexible and
efficient manner.