Guide for First-Year Law Students: Legal Research

I. Basic concepts of American jurisprudence; II. Case law; III. Statutes & legislative history; IV. Administrative & other executive law; V. Civil litigation; VI. Appellate court review; VII. Overview of party designations & their roles in the civil litigation process; VIII. Overview of court issuances & depositions; IX. Basic legal citation form: an overview; X. Preparation of an interoffice memorandum; XI. Preparation of a motion & memorandum of law in support of, or opposition thereto; XII. Preparation of an appellate brief.

Introduction to legal research; Generating search terms; Evaluating search options; Secondary source research; Case research; Research with citators; Statutory research; Federal legislative history research; Federal administrative law research; Electronic legal research; Developing a research plan

There are many copies of Black's located throughout the Library. It is also available on Westlaw.

A comprehensive legal research guide for New York State as well as New York City law, with complete coverage of the rich legal history of the City and its current primary and secondary legal research sources. The 4th ed. covers new developments since the 3rd ed. (2004) in both print and electronic sources of information and the online availability of many old, out-of-print titles.

Plan your research; Consult secondary sources; Conduct your search for primary authorities; Expand and update your case research; Analyze and organize your research results; Ten tips for the summer associate and the beginning lawyer; Trouble-shooting guide; Secondary sources of law; Primary sources of law

Case law research; United States constitutional law research; Federal legislative research; Federal administrative research; State constitutional law research; State legislative research; State administrative research; Secondary source research.

Written as a survival manual for first-year students.

Introduction: context and process; Constitutional law; The legislature (1): statutes; The legislature (2): legislative information; The executive branch; The judiciary (1): introduction; The judiciary (2): case law sources; The judiciary (3): case research; The judiciary (4): other court information; Secondary sources (1): encyclopedias, restatements, and texts; Secondary sources (2): periodicals; Reference resources; International law; The law of other countries

Tips for searching primary and secondary sources.