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What You Always Wanted to Know
about Legal Research
But Were Afraid to Ask

Legal Research Guides
Updated Sept. 26, 2006.
Prepared by Peggy Roebuck Jarrett & Jonathan Franklin for 2002 Bridge the Legal Research Gap.
Updated & revised by Cheryl Nyberg for 2006 Bridge the Legal Research Gap.

Links to LexisNexis and Westlaw require user passwords or IDs. Links to Hein Online are UW Restricted.

Overarching Themes

Update!
  • Every primary source; every time.
  • Many secondary sources: look for pocket parts, supplements, later editions, etc.
Take advantage of the work of others.
Use help services. Including librarians & vendor toll-free numbers.

Starting Points

Abbreviations & acronyms
What does that word mean?
Starting a research project?
 Consult a research guide.
Need an exhaustive treatment? 
 Try a a major, multi-volume treatise.
Starting a Washington-specific research project?
Got a specific fact pattern?
  • American Law Reports (ALR) annotations can be gold mines of information. Especially useful for a review of caselaw across jurisdictions relative to a specific fact situation. LexisNexis: 2NDARY;LEDALR
  • Causes of Action 2d is a great source for tort-based actions, with sample pleadings, leading cases & practice tips. Westlaw COA
  • Recent law review articles summarize areas of the law & footnotes lead to sources for additional research.
Looking for a law review article?
  • Use a periodical index such as LegalTrac instead of or in addition to searching full-text law review articles on LexisNexis & Westlaw.
  • LegalTrac indexes by subject, so you will find articles that lack the keywords you used in a full-text search.
  • LegalTrac coverage begins with 1980 (longer time span than most law reviews available in full text on LexisNexis & Westlaw).
  • LegalTrac searches will yield fewer but more relevant lists of articles.
  • LegalTrac database available on LexisNexis: LEXREF;LGLIND and Westlaw: LRI as the Legal Resource Index (LRI).
Looking for older law review articles?
  • Use the Index to Legal Periodicals (indexes articles published before 1980).
  • Try Hein Online (if available), providing PDF versions of older law reviews, including the Columbia Law Review (1901-2001), Harvard Law Review (1887-2001), Michigan Law Review (1902-2004) & Washington Law Review (1925-2004).
Sample forms save time.
Need factual information?
 Contact the public library!

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Primary and Statutory Regulatory Sources

Constitutions annotated
  • Federal: first volumes of USCA & USCS
  • Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. GPO Access
  • Washington: first volumes of RCWA & ARCW
  • Both: LexisNexis & Westlaw

Start your research with statutes.
  • Can yield a quicker answer.
  • Cases are often based on statutory interpretation.
  • Annotated codes are a great way to find relevant cases & law review articles quickly.
  • Gallagher legal research guide: Statutory Research Checklist.

Statutes are often easier to use in print than online.
  • They have a hierarchical structure.
  • It is easy to browse adjacent sections.
  • The page layout provides context, emphasizing important sections.

Update statutes.
  • Check cover or title page to determine how current the volume is.
  • Consult the pocket part or other supplement.
  • Look for the legislative service or the session laws (U.S. Statutes at Large or Laws of Washington).
  • Go to legislative websites for latest action.
  • Do not assume online sources (LexisNexis or Westlaw) are more current than print! Look for date of currency.

Popular names of legislation
  • Washington: Tables in RCW & RCWA.
  • Federal: Tables in USC, USCS & USCA. Plus Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Name.
  • Popular Names of Acts in the US Code, from Cornell Law School
  • Run a search in an electronic database of law reviews (this can be expensive!).

Effective dates of legislation
  • Washington: 90 days after adjournment of the legislative session, unless the bill has a specified effective date or emergency clause. Refer to Laws of Washington, RCWA tables volume, and RCWA pocket parts for dates of adjournment and 90 days after.
  • Federal: the date the bill is signed into law by the President, unless the bill has a specified effective date.
Need to convert a session law or public law reference to a current statutory citation?
 Use the tables volumes.
  • Codification tables
    • Session law to code section.
    • Previous code (Remington's Revised Statutes) to current code (RCW).
  • Disposition tables of former code sections.
  • Commercial sets (USCA, RCWA) provide more extensive tables.

Federal statutes
  • USC = United States Code (official, but not timely). Used primarily for citation purposes, not for research.
  • USCA = United States Code Annotated (unofficial; includes references to cases). Westlaw: USCA
  • USCS = United States Code Service (unofficial; includes references to cases). LexisNexis: GENFED;USCODE
  • Update USCA & USCS using pocket parts and supplements.

Washington statutes
  • RCW = Revised Code of Washington (official)
  • RCWA = Revised Code of Washington Annotated (unofficial; includes references to cases). Westlaw: WA-ST-ANN
  • ARCW = Annotated Revised Code of Washington (unofficial; includes references to cases). LexisNexis: WASH;WACODE

Federal regulations
  • CFR = Code of Federal Regulations
  • FR or Fed. Reg. = Federal Register. Published daily; updates the CFR.
  • LSA = List of CFR Sections Affected. Use the LSA to find FR updates to specific CFR sections.
  • Proposed & final regs in the Federal Register often include have preambles with useful background information.
  • Gallagher legal research guide: U.S. Administrative Law Research

Washington regulations

Comparing 50 states' laws?

 See if someone has done the work already!
Internet sites for statutes & regulations

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Legislative History Materials

Federal legislative histories
 Look for shortcuts!

Congressional Record

 		Two editions
  • Daily edition (softbound, newsprint).
    • Page numbers are alphanumeric, starting with the letter S (Senate), H (House), or E (extension of remarks).
    • All online versions of the Congressional Record are the daily edition.
  • Permanent edition (hardbound).
    • Page numbers are strictly numeric.
    • Publication of the permanent edition is many years behind. No online version.
    • Bluebook requires citation to the permanent edition.
  • Tips
    • No correlation between the page numbers in daily & permanent editions.
    • If you have a cite to the daily & need the page number in the permanent edition, use the indexes or the Daily Digest to find a date. Then browse.
    • Members of Congress may alter text.

Understand the abbreviations.

 
  • H.R. = House of Representatives bill. For example, H.R. 1157.
  • H.R. Rep. = House of Representatives report. For example, H.R. Rep. No. 107-95.
Washington legislative histories

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Caselaw Research Tips

Starting with a single case.
  • Use West key numbers.
  • Use KeyCite or Shepard's to expand your research to other cases (in the same or other jurisdictions) & to find secondary sources.
  • Check ALR's table of cases.
Stuck on case research?
  • Try finding the major cases cited in your best case.
  • KeyCite or Shepardize those earlier cases to find cases that might be related.
  • Go back to a secondary source.
Resist the temptation to copy every case you find. Save time & money by pulling those cases off the shelf, reading them & copying (or printing) only the most relevant.
Abbreviations
  • BR = Bankruptcy Reporter
  • FRD = Federal Rules Decisions
  • When in doubt, check Bieber’s or the Bluebook
Case updating best done online.
  • To get more up-to-date results in less time, use KeyCite or Shepard’s online.
  • Just before you hand in the project, update again to make sure nothing has changed.

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Miscellaneous Legal Documents

Administrative agency decisions
Court rules, Washington State
  • RPC = Rules of Professional Conduct
  • ER = Rules of Evidence
  • RAP = Rules of Appellate Procedure
  • CR = Superior Court Civil Rules
  • CrR = Superior Court Criminal Rules
  • CRLJ = Civil Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
  • CrRLJ = Criminal Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
  • Find the text in Washington Court Rules – State
Court rules, Washington local
Court rules, Washington annotated
  • Washington Court Rules Annotated. [Gallagher catalog link]
  • Washington Rules of Court Annotated. [Gallagher catalog link]
  • Appendix to Title 10 RCWA contains annotated criminal rules.
  • Various volumes of Washington Practice.

Child support schedule & worksheets, Washington
Ethics opinions, WSBA
Ethics opinions, other Washington Gallagher legal research guide: Washington State Ethics Opinions covers judges, legislators & public employees.
Jury instructions
Jury verdicts
Judicial biographies
Interest rate, Washington maximum allowable
  • Printed inside the cover of each Washington State Register issue.
  • Current
  • 1987-date

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Final General Tips

First time use of a new source?
  • Review "how to use" section.
  • Browse table of contents & index.
  • Check publication date & supplementation to determine how much updating you will need to do.
Looseleaf services
  • Page numbers & paragraph numbers are different.
  • Indexes & finding lists refer to paragraph numbers, not page numbers.
Citation tips
  • Check section T (the blue pages) of The Bluebook for lists of reporters, statutory codes & administrative codes for all the states (with abbreviations) & many foreign jurisdictions.
  • Reporter of Decisions Style Sheet covers additions & exceptions to The Bluebook required by the Washington Courts. 
  • Search full-text law review articles to find proper citation formats when The Bluebook fails you. Beware: This can be an expensive option!

Keep a paper trail.
  • Keep print copies of searches run.
  • If you find something on the Internet, always print or download a copy.
  • Log sources you have already checked to avoid going back to them for the same thing.
CALR tips
  • Smaller databases are cheaper.
  • Smaller sets of search results save you time & minimize the number of irrelevant hits.
  • Use Get or Find feature to efficiently retrieve known items.
Use the system as a citator. When you need to verify the status of an administrative decision or some other legal authority not included in Shepard's or Keycite.
When is it OK to stop? When the same cases & statutes repeatedly appear.

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©2008, M.G. Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington