Before you begin your research assignment, be sure that you fully understand what is being asked of you.  We recommend consulting the JUST ASK checklist of questions to ask when receiving a research assignment.

Jurisdiction – Do you need to look at federal law? If so, what circuit? State law? Administrative decisions? Some combination of the above?

Useful Tips – Does the assigning attorney have any suggestions for where to start? Are there any important experts, cases, documents, etc. that you need to know about?

Scope of Research - How much information does the attorney need? Is this an exhaustive search or just an overview? Ask for a deadline!

Terms of Art – Are there any key words or phrases that you need to know?

Acronyms – Clarify the spelling and meaning of any acronyms.  Attorneys often use acronyms without realizing that people new to the field don’t know their meaning. Don’t be afraid to ask what an acronym stands for.

Sources – The assigning attorney is likely an expert in the field and knows of a “go-to” source in that area.  Ask if there is a well-known treatise they recommend.

Key Cost Constraints – Are there any billing restrictions related to Lexis, Westlaw, document delivery services, etc.? How many hours should you spend on the project?

The first step when beginning a research assignment is to plan your strategy.  We recommend starting by taking a minute to review the assignment, identify all relevant issues and developing a list of possible search terms.  As you will see in all three strategies below, if you are not familiar with the legal issue, we always suggest starting with a secondary source to help you understand the context of the specific issue in the larger area of law, provide you with important phrases or terms or art, and direct you to the most important cases and statutes.  You can find secondary sources by:

• Consulting the Treatises by Topic Guide
• Browsing the practice area pages on Lexis, Westlaw or Bloomberg
• Searching any of those sources and then filtering to Secondary Sources
• Asking a librarian for a recommendation.

A complete case law strategy involves using multiple search methods such as keyword searching, using a citator such as Shepard's and using the headnote or digest system.  For full details, see the Case Research page of this guide, but in short when researching a common law issue:

1. Consult secondary source for context, citations to leading cases, key terms & phrases
2. One Good Case – look at cases cited within opinion, later citing references, headnotes & topics
3. Keyword search – start broadly, narrow within results

When researching statutes, it is important to start with the plain language of the statute.  However, if you are researching a statutory issue, it is rare that the text of the statute alone will answer your research question.  You will most likely need to look for cases interpreting the statute.  For full details, see the Statutory Research page of this guide, but in short when researching a statutory issue:

1. Consult secondary source for context, citations to statute sections & leading cases, key terms & phrases
2. Context – use Table of Contents to browse related statute sections
3. Annotations: Notes of Decisions (W) / Notes (L) for illustrative cases
4. Citing References (W) / Shepard’s (L) for all cases citing statute, search within
5. One Good Case method – use for any cases turned up in step 3 or 4
6. Keyword search – start broadly, narrow within results
7. If necessary, legislative history

Researching administrative law most often refers to researching regulations.  Fortunately, regulations on Lexis and Westlaw are annotated in the same way as statutes, so the strategies for researching them are very similar.  For full details, see the Administrative Law page of this guide, but in short when researching a regulatory issue:

1. Consult secondary source for context, citations to regulations, administrative guidance, leading cases, key terms & phrases
2. Check the agency website for their guidance 
3. Consult Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
4. Context – use Table of Contents to browse related regulation sections
5. Annotations: Notes of Decisions (W) / Notes (L)
6. Citing References (W) / Shepard’s (L): review citing cases and administrative materials
7. If necessary, regulatory history.  See Federal Register.

As part of a cost-effective research strategy, we recommend making use of the folders on Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law.  If you are working in an environment where there are charges associated with viewing or downloading documents, saving them to a folder can save you from being charged a second time if you need to view them again in the future.  But saving documents to a folder is also an good way to keep track of your work.  Make use of the highlight and annotation tools to take note of why you are saving the documents.