POLS 454W - Legal Research and Writing

• "Primary" sources are "the law," created by government authorities, including constitutions, statutes, court opinions (cases), administrative regulations (created by executive agencies), administrative decisions, and municipal ordinances.
• "Secondary" sources are explanations of the law, including dictionaries, legal encyclopedias, American Law Reports (A.L.R.) annotations, Restatements of the Law, law review and journal articles, news reports, and other commentary. 
• Legal researchers begin their research with secondary sources. These sources are organized by topic and contain citations to relevant primary sources.

Primary Sources or Primary Authority

Primary authority is "authority that issues directly from a law-making body."  Authority, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).   Sources of primary authority include:

• Constitutions
• Statutes 
• Regulations
• Case Law

Access to primary legal sources is available through:

• WestlawNest

Secondary sources often explain legal principles more thoroughly than a single case or statute. Starting with them can help you save time. Secondary sources also help you avoid unnecessary research, since you're tapping into work that someone else has already done on an issue.

Secondary sources are particularly useful for:

• Learning the basics of a particular area of law
• Understanding key terms of art in an area
• Identifying essential cases and statutes

Consider the following when deciding which type of secondary source is right for you:

• Scope/Breadth
• Depth of Treatment
• Currentness/Reliability

For a deep dive into Secondary Sources check out this guide from Harvard Law School Library:

• Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises

Understanding the Legal Questions

A legal question often originates as a problem or story about a series of events. In law school, these stories are called fact patterns. In practice, facts may arise from a manager or an interview with a potential client. Start by doing the following:

• Read anything you have been given
• Analyze the facts and frame the legal issues
• Assess what you know and need to learn
• Note the jurisdiction and any primary law you have been given
• Generate potential search terms