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Research Planning Tips

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Now that you have your first job, it’s time to do the research.  You are probably anxious but you know more than you think you do. Just in case you forgot anything, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you start planning your approach to your research assignments. Remember to communicate with your boss – ask questions to be sure that you understand your goals and how to accomplish them.

 

Background information

  • Internal identification information (File name/number)
  • Date of assignment and deadline
  • Assigning attorney and work product format desired (memo, brief, letter, etc.)
  • Estimated amount of time to spend on work (ask your boss)
  • Jurisdiction

Issue: For each issue, determine:

  • General area of law – i.e. Family Law
  • Specific area of law – i.e. Custody
  • What is the specific question(s) you have been asked to answer? (i.e. is an aunt permitted to file for visitations rights to see her nieces and nephews?)

Anticipated Research Steps

  • Understand the facts – clarify as necessary to ensure you are researching the correct issue.
  • What do you expect to find? (Did your boss set any expectations of what you should be able to find?)

Where to start researching?

  • Were you given a statute? Start there.
    • From the statute, read adjacent or cited statutes (Click on “Table of Contents” above the statute in Westlaw to see statutes contained in whole chapter.)
    • From the statute, read cases that interpret the statute (Click on the “Notes of Decisions” above the statute.)
      • Cases will lead you to related cases via internal citations, Headnotes/Key Numbers or through citators (Keycite/Shepards)
    • From the statute, read secondary sources if you need additional clarification on the issues (Click on the “Citing References” tab above the statutes.)
  • Do you know anything about the law? No? Start with a secondary source which will lead you to primary sources.
    • Which source?
      • Ask your boss if they know of a good secondary source on point: they may have something in the office or have a subscription to a key title.
      • If it is a state issue, use state secondary sources.
      • If it is a federal issue, look for federal
      • Forgot which is which? Look at this guide (under construction) to find out more.
    • Identify key terms related to your topic
    • Identify key statutes and case law (unless otherwise directed, cite only primary sources in your work product).
    • Identify related concepts that may impact your case.
    • Find checklists that will aid in your work (elements of case, how to file a pleading, how to prove a case, assets to document, etc.)

Read

  • Read the statutes word for word
  • Read the cases in order of relevancy
    • read the ones that seem the most on-point first
    • remember what you learned about mandatory vs. persuasive authority

Take notes – no seriously, take notes – lots of notes

  • Find a way to document your research that works for you. (Your firm may have software to help with this.)
  • Spreadsheet or Word Doc – list sources (actual full citations), Key numbers, explain to yourself why that source is useful to your research, list cited sources that you need to search next

When to stop?

  • Research is an iterative process
    • Research, read, and take notes as you go to find the next step.
    • You will find that your cases are starting to point to the same sources – you are getting close – read as many as is reasonably possible.
    • As you read more cases, you will find diminishing returns which is a key to knowing that it’s time to stop.
    • You will likely come full circle on your research – back to where you started.
  • Depending on your area of law, you simply can’t read everything.

Phone a (Law Librarian) Friend

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Do you remember the TV show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”? Yeah I don’t really either, but I do remember there was an option for a contestant to phone a friend for help answering a question. Well, that was back in the olden days when people used the phone a lot. Now, you can just look it up on the internet, which is great if you know what you are looking for, you know where to find it, and you trust your sources. So, what do you do if you aren’t sure? Email your law librarian. Yep, it’s totally OK to email us even if you are working in a summer job or have already graduated from law school. Legal information is our gig. We know how to find stuff and if we can’t find it, we know people who know how to find the really obscure stuff. Email us, we need real-world scenarios to include in the 1L research class.

Finding Journal Articles

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Legal research databases such as Lexis and Westlaw can be great sources for current primary law and secondary sources. However, neither database contains every current legal journal or every issue of a given title. For example, if Lexis or Westlaw has a specific title, it probably won’t have issues older than the mid-1990’s. Why should you care? Restricting your search to only the sources available in one database may not provide you with either the full scope or depth of analysis that you require for your project. So, how do you conduct a broader search for journals and where do you find those journals?

Index to Legal Periodicals

The Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Full Text indexes legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, and bar association publications from 1918 to the present, along with many other resources. This robust database allows researchers to find both contemporary and historical materials. Many of the articles are available full-text in the database or link to full-text in HeinOnline. Instead of searching several databases, the researcher can start with Index to Legal Periodicals and find a comprehensive selection of U.S. legal journals and periodicals. (The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals can be found in HeinOnline.)

HeinOnline

I’m probably biased, but I think HeinOnline is the best single-source for law journals and periodicals. The database has a built-in search interface, but does not index journals that are not licensed by Hein. (Although HeinOnline has excellent resources, a more comprehensive search can be conducted by searching both Index to Legal Periodicals and HeinOnline.) The browse features make it easy to locate an article by citation when you already know your journal is in HeinOnline. Finally, all materials in HeinOnline are available in PDF format, which facilitates precision citation as required by the Bluebook.

E-Journal Portal

Finally, if you already have a citation to a journal article, the fastest way to find it is to use the E-Journal Portal. Simply enter the title of the journal and, if the journal is available electronically through a Penn State resource, all databases in which the title is available will be displayed. Be sure to check the dates of coverage to ensure that your article can be found in the database you select. The E-Journal Portal is particularly useful when looking for a non-legal journal for cross-disciplinary research when you have the citation.

Library Research Page

Links to all of the sources mentioned above and many more can be found on the Dickinson Law Library Research page.

Summer Access to Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw

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Information on summer access to Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw for members of the Classes of 2018 & 2019:

LEXIS has no restrictions on use over the summer, and you do not have to do anything to extend your password.

BLOOMBERG LAW has no restrictions on use over the summer, and you do not have to do anything to extend your password.

WESTLAW requires that you extend your password for the summer to have full access to Westlaw. If you don’t extend your password, you will only have access to Westlaw for 10 hours in June and 10 hours in July.

WESTLAW Summer password extension is available only if a student has a permissible academic use for the password this summer (a summer associate position is not considered a permissible use).  Permissible uses include:

  • Summer classes / study abroad
  • Law review and journal
  • Moot court
  • Research assistant positions
  • Unpaid internships / externships — for which you will receive class credit

Access for the Class of 2017 (May Graduates):

LEXIS provides full access to students graduating in May 2017 for six months through the Lexis Law School Graduate Program. Graduates working for a public interest organization may sign up for the Lexis ASPIRE Program, which permits job-related access to Lexis Advance for the duration of the public interest work.

BLOOMBERG LAW allows access to graduating students for six months after graduation. You do not need to do anything to extend your access.

WESTLAW allows graduating students to extend access while studying for the bar by registering for its Grad Program. Registered May graduates will retain access to Westlaw for a limited number of hours through November. Graduates will also retain access to a number of career-related databases for 18 months following graduation.

Women’s History Month 2017

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The theme for Women’s History Month 2017 is “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.” The National Women’s History Project Gazette highlights the women who are being honored this year for their lifelong contributions that improve the lives of all women, sometimes achieved through legal action.

Similarly, the American Bar Association has compiled a list of trailblazing women of the legal profession. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that most of the legal and political gains made by women toward equality were made in the twentieth century – no so long ago. Although this year marks the centennial of the swearing-in of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to become a member of Congress, the political arena remains particularly challenging for women. In honor of Women’s History Month, the United States National Archives convened a panel of cross-generational, bipartisan, former Congresswomen to discuss their work in public service. [Note: actual presentation begins at 3:26.] One panelist notes that her interest to run for office stemmed from her desire to actively work toward changing the law, not just enforcing the existing law. This desire to act in the public good was complicated merely due to their gender – a situation faced by many women.

The documented legal challenges women face forms substantial body of scholarly work that HeinOnline has compiled into a database called Women and the Law (Peggy). “[Peggy] is a collection that brings together books, biographies and periodicals dedicated to the role of women in society and the law. This unique collection of materials provides a convenient platform for users to research the progression of women’s roles and rights in society over the past 200 years. Also included are more than 70 titles from Emory University Law School’s Feminism and Legal Theory Project which provide a platform to view the effect of law and culture on the female gender.”

The Women’s Studies International database pulls together over 232,000 records from ten separate databases and will be useful for researchers seeking a broader scholarly perspective on women’s history and rights.

For a more general resource on American Women’s history, see Click. “This resource highlights the collective action and individual achievements of women from the 1940s to the present.  In the spirit of 1970s consciousness-raising, the name refers to the “click” moment when women discovered the powerful ideas of modern feminism.”

 

Making Sense of Presidential Documents

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The President may take many types of action that result in different categories of documents. Since taking office, we have seen President Trump issue Executive Orders, Presidential Memoranda, and Proclamations. But, how are they different?

There is an argument that all actions taken by the President are of equal importance and should all be simply Executive Orders. The intended audience of the action and the type of action are often the defining characteristics of a given category of Presidential action. Executive Orders are directed internally to Federal agencies and order specific action with regard to existing laws.  A Presidential Memorandum is also directed internally to federal agencies to provide guidance on agency policies. Some would argue that a Presidential Memorandum is simply an Executive Order by another name (See “By Order of the President” – citation below.)

Proclamations are externally focused announcements by the President, such as the announcement of a day of national recognition such as February as American Heart Month. Many Proclamations of this nature are made by sitting Presidents, but a Proclamation can be much more serious. President Harry Truman’s first Proclamation was to announce the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The above categories do not represent the full spectrum of actions available to the President. National Security Directives, made to ensure the safety of the country, may not be public due to security concerns and thus are very difficult to discover. Executive Agreements allow the President to make a treaty-like agreement, outside of the normal Congressional avenue. Presidential Signing Statements are written comments made by the President at the time a bill is signed into law. Signing Statements are becoming increasingly important because they are now being used to provide specific interpretations of the new law and direct how it should be applied.

Presidential documents are available on the White House  website. [Note: this is not an official publication and recent Executive Orders posted on this website did not contain the correct text.] The official source of Presidential actions, the Compilation of Presidential Documents, can be found on the Government Printing Office’s website.

For more information on Executive Orders, see:

Bill of Rights Day

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Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights

 

“The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.” – Preamble to the Bill of Rights

(A full transcription of the Bill of Rights can be found on the National Archives website.)

One hundred and fifty years later, on November 27, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a presidential proclamation designating December 15th as Bill of Rights Day. Seventy-five years later, this year marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights.

Roosevelt wrote: “It is fitting that the anniversary of its adoption should be remembered by the Nation which, for one hundred and fifty years, has enjoyed the immeasurable privileges which that charter guaranteed: the privileges of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the free right to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

It is especially fitting that this anniversary should be remembered and observed by those institutions of a democratic people which owe their very existence to the guarantees of the Bill of Rights: the free schools, the free churches, the labor unions, the religious and educational and civic organizations of all kinds which, without the guarantee of the Bill of Rights, could never have existed; which sicken and disappear whenever, in any country, these rights are curtailed or withdrawn.”

A discussion of the signing of the United States Constitution, as well as information about the storage and travels of the Constitution, can be found on the website for the National Archives.

  • Did you know that the Constitution, unlike the Declaration of Independence, is in excellent physical condition?
  • Did you know the Constitution was stored at Fort Knox during World War II?
  • Did you know that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are stored in helium-filled cases?

Stand Up for Someone’s Rights Today

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human-rights-logo

Human Rights Day is commemorated on December 10th in observance of the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (site includes the full-text of the Declaration as well as historical information and research guides). This was a historic moment when fundamental human rights were clearly established and the need to protect those rights acknowledged. The world has changed a great deal in the last 68 years, but the need for the active protection of human rights remains as urgent as ever.

The website for Human Rights Day 2016 includes historical information, contemporary messages, and social media connections to promote human rights. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has a video message calling on individuals to stand up for the rights of others and share your stories so that the UN can amplify the message of hope.

Protecting human rights starts with us but, where do individuals begin? The UN High Commission on Human Rights has compiled specific actions that individuals can take to stand up for human rights, including:

  1. Inform yourself and others about why human rights matter, including reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  2. Speak out/up when another’s rights are at risk or under attack.
  3. Stand with others’ human rights.
  4. Call on leaders to uphold human rights.

(See the Take Action website for more information.)

Find out more at www.standup4humanrights.org

Twitter #standup4humanrights

Domestic Violence Awareness

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purple-thursday

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and October 20th is #PurpleThursday – both designed to raise awareness of domestic violence. The National Network to End Domestic Violence defines domestic violence as “…a pattern of coercive, controlling behavior that can include physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual abuse or financial abuse (using money and financial tools to exert control).” One in four women will be the victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime. 85% of victims are women and 15% are men.

Legal professionals can develop a deeper understanding of domestic violence in order to better counsel their clients. One of the most persistent and damaging questions people ask is, “why don’t they just leave?” As with many things, there is rarely a simple answer. Law professor Sarah Buel explains some reasons why victim’s stay in abusive relationships in her article Fifty Obstacles to Leaving, a.k.a, Why Abuse Victims Stay. In fact, victims do leave, but it often takes several attempts to permanently end the relationship.

To end domestic violence, everyone needs to learn the signs and learn how to speak out against it. Some resources include:

National Network to End Domestic Violence

Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence

U.S. National Organizations & Projects

WomensLaw.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline

LGBTQ Relationship Violence

Men Can Be Victims of Abuse, Too

Technology Safety Tips

Kids For Cash

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Kids for Cash was the topic of a recent continuing legal education seminar sponsored by the Cumberland County Bar Association and held at the Dickinson Law. During the discussion, panelists stated that the documentary did not fully address the issue of the flow of money and how the transactions occurred. If you want to find out more about Kids for Cash, the Law Library has both the DVD documentary and the book available. The book can be read in a print or e-book format.

kidsforcash DVD: HV9105.P22K53 2014 DVD
Book: HV9105.P22E34 2012
e-book: KD324.E34 2012		 kidsforcashbook
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