Invaluable Legal Sources: Key Takeaways

Legal Sources 101

A legal source is a publication that is published by a governmental agency or legal organization. The legal sources are the raw data from which you will be drawing in order to form your opinion. An example of a legal source is a statute – which describes the law that everyone must follow. A case citation is also a legal source and it describes what has happened in a specific case. Legal sources are generally found in these forms: statutes, case law, codes, regulations and a few others.
From the perspective of a legal research professional, the most important legal source is the case law, but the other types are also very important and have their own places for use as well. The case law is where some of the most important information can be found for a legal researcher. You can reference what the statutes say , but if there are court cases that have referenced that statute, you should also read what they said. Some courts can overrule what the statute says and have the final say. In some cases though, the statute is still what has been written down and is upheld no matter who tries to argue against it.
The statutes encompass all the laws as they are currently written. The statutes give you important insight as to what the law says about a situation. They may even have several subsections about a topic or issue you may have. These are not opinions, but they are to be upheld until someone else changes them or an overruling case has been decided.

Primary & Secondary Legal Sources

Primary legal sources are those sources that are promulgated by a governmental unit or other sources that have been recognized by the law itself as having the authority to enact laws upon its citizens. Statutes, a command of the sovereign, are primary legal sources that emanate from the legislative branch of government. Legislative enactments are almost always written and codified; codes are alphabetical arrangements of statutory enactments by subject. For example, Title 42 of the United States Code is the codification of the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, amended in 1988.
Primary legal sources also encompass judicial decisions, which are promulgated by courts that have power over a certain region, either by virtue of a constitution, treaty, or statute. Primary legal sources also include executive decisions, which are promulgated by the executive branch of government, such as executive orders, proclamations, and administrative rules, and the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Some primary legal sources exist because recognized authorities have adopted certain practices through custom and usage, such as the "common law," which is the totality of judicial decisions of federal and state courts in the United States that have arisen since 1776. Primary legal sources may also include regulations and ordinances, which are promulgated by non-legislative governmental units for the purpose of exercising its powers that are concerned with a particular subject matter, usually in a limited geographical area. For example, an environmental regulation is a primary legal source promulgated by an executive agency and is always a codified, alphabetical arrangement by subject.
Secondary legal sources are usually the scholarly commentary, treatises, encyclopedias, periodicals, and the like that discuss, explain, and analyze primary legal sources. Treatises that provide opinions of law are considered secondary legal sources. Secondary legal sources are often indispensable tools for determining the meaning of a primary legal source. These include procedural handbooks, which usually include the history and purpose of an enactment, and textbooks, which contain scholarly commentary and legal opinions. Secondary legal sources may also include legal encyclopedias that follow the alphabetical arrangement of the subject, such as in the American Jurisprudence or Corpus Juris Secundum legal encyclopedias, and are indispensable for lawyers when researching the general principles of law.

Locating Credible Legal Sources

The digital age has vastly expanded access to legal information. Legal resources that previously required a trip to a library, card catalog, and copy machine are now available online. But the internet is filled with a range of credible and not-so-credible materials, raising a significant question for legal consumers: "Where can I go to find reliable legal sources?" While this post cannot give a definitive answer—no list can be fully exhaustive or up-to-date—it will provide some starting points to help you find trustworthy and accurate legal resources.
Several important legal research websites feature materials and authentic updates from the Federal government. You can begin by going to USA.gov to find links to government offices and agencies, finding free legal services, and obtaining other forms of legal information. The site also lets you search for legal instruments such as treaties and case decisions.
Federal law is straightforward to access online, and it can be done for free; you can research laws, bills and resolutions, regulatory agencies, court decisions and regulations. One of the best ways to do this is the Congress website, which is overseen by the Library of Congress. This site has a simple search engine and offers several filters to deliver specific results. In addition, the United States Sentencing Commission website is an easy-to-navigate guide to federal laws, regulations and proposed legislation.
If you’re looking for state-specific legal information, the National Association of Secretaries of State provides free links to all the states’ official websites, which are maintained by the individual states. Courts, executive departments and regulatory agencies are among the many resources featured on this easy-to-use site.
You’ll find even more sources for credible legal information by going directly to your state’s government site. In addition to the sites mentioned above, state websites often include links to state agency and regulatory information.
Once you’ve found the relevant state or federal website, you can search for the legal issue. For instance, typing "landlord-tenant" into the search function of a federal or state website will provide you with a variety of sources of information. You may find links to recent developments, research studies, proposed changes to laws, the statute and bill text, reports or proposals and news stories.
If you want to delve deeper into a particular legal area and find additional online resources, reputable print and online legal research guides can help you identify useful materials. The Cornell Law Library Research Guides are a particularly good source for starting your research.

Assessing Legal Source Credibility

A legal source must be credible in order to be considered reliable. Here are some criteria for evaluating the credibility of a source:
Authority
Investigate the author or organization responsible for the work. You can trust a work that is produced by a known leader in a particular field, but you should be more tolerant of an unknown author.
Accuracy
Any legal source for which the content is fact-specific, such as a treatise, should be checked for accuracy. Compare the facts set out in the resource, with those in the case law. For example, if the resource is a brief filed in support of one party’s position, make sure the facts presented are also set forth in the case as reported.
Currency
One way you can tell whether a resource is up-to-date or not, is by checking the publication date on the work. Even if one particular resource is current, that does not mean that it is trustworthy. We do not suggest you rely on any legal resource until you verify the accuracy of the facts therein. Currency , however, gives insight into how up-to-date the information will be.
Scope
Think about what you plan to do with the resource you have found. Can you really use it in a way that fits within the scope of the work. For example, if you find a brief that is not fact-specific or general enough to use in the case, but still feel you owe your client some discussion about the issue, you can use the brief as a springboard for your own research into the topic, but you can’t use it directly. It might give you some guidance about other resources that could be useful to your research.
You should always double-check the facts set out in a resource against the case law. Always consider the publication date of the work, and whether the scope matches the desired use. This will help you determine whether the resource is trustworthy, or whether you should keep looking.

Value of Legal Journals & Commentaries

As important as primary law for legal research are legal journals and commentary. Legal journals are scholarly publications that feature in-depth examinations of the law, and they can be a great resource for legal information professionals. Legal journals are typically published on an annual or quarterly basis and cover topics such as business issues, technology, and intellectual property. These journals also provide commentary written by legal professionals or industry experts that offers an academic perspective on the law.
At the VERY least, you should check in with them every month if you are a law librarian searching for comprehensive legal coverage on a topic of interest to you. If you’re looking for more journalistic coverage, search the same terms in Google News. However, if you’re looking for academic insights into the more subtle legal questions churning out of your agency, then it is essential to try a legal journal first.
Examples of legal journals that are great resources for government lawyers include Business Law Today (Brought to you by LexisNexis), and the Washington Legal Journal.

Caveats when Using Legal Sources

One of the most common challenges in using legal sources is accessibility. First of all, not everything is online. And if you’re looking for sources that are online, finding them can be difficult. Some databases charge subscription and/or start-up fees that can involve hundreds of dollars. Subscription fees are difficult for the average person to afford and start-up fees are unwieldy for any type of research. Your career depends on your ability to use this information, but how do you gain access?
As mentioned, not everything is free. And although there are some excellent open access legal sources for state legal research (like Google Scholar or Casetext) and federal (like pacer) , unfortunately there’s no Amazon Prime for legal research.
The problem of quality also exists. If there’s a free way to access it online, there’s almost certainly a paid way to access it. But as with all things free, nothing is completely consistent. Sometimes what’s paid isn’t all that great either. Knowing that there are consistently high quality resources online can be a problem.
And lastly, you have to worry about the latency of the material. If you find a source of material that seems to be updated constantly you can feel confident that all of the material contained within is up to date. But if the source is outdated or sporadically updated you have to consider that there might be more recent developments to your case.