Legal research A.

Primary sources – those recorded laws

and rules which will be enforced by the
The process of finding the laws, rules and State (Pure laws)
regulations that govern activities in human
society. It involves locating both the laws  First major primary sources
and rules which are enforced by the State o Legislative actions
and the commentaries which explain or o Codes
analyze these rules. o Statutes
The investigation for information necessary  Second major category – judicial
to support legal decision making. It decisions
includes each step of a process that begins o Supreme Court
with analyzing the facts of a problem and o Court of Appeals
concludes with applying and o Trial Courts
communicating the results of the  Third primary source
investigation. o Administrative law, or the
regulations and decisions of
The need for legal research government agencies
o State agencies promulgate
 To provide a competent representation regulations governing
which requires the legal knowledge, skill, behavior within their areas of
thoroughness, and preparation reasonably expertise
necessary for the representation. o Agencies also act in “quasi-
 To uphold the standards of the legal judicial” capacity by
profession conducting hearings and
 To become a competent practitioner issuing decisions to resolve
disputes
To conduct legal research effectively, a lawyer
should have: B. Secondary materials (commentaries
and annotations) – vary widely in
 A working knowledge of the nature of purpose and quality, ranging from
legal rules and legal institutions authoritative treaties by great academic
 The fundamental tools of legal research scholars to superficial tracts by hack
 The process of devising and writers. It can help analyze a problem
implementing a coherent and effective and provide research references to both
research design primary sources and other secondary
materials
Sources of Legal Research
Publications which are not primary
Legal research involves the use of a variety of authority, but which discuss or analyze
printed and electronic sources legal doctrine are considered secondary
materials:
Printed sources:  Treaties
 Commentaries
 Constitution  Encyclopedias
 Statutes  Journals
 Court decisions
 Administrative rules Secondary materials through the use
 Scholarly commentaries of:
Sources of Law:  Law library catalog
 Legal periodical indexes
Three (3) broad categories:  Other bibliographic aids

Commentaries from the primary sources

Legal Research and Bibliography

 C. Finding tools – search materials to
locate legal sources; means of locating
primary sources
 SCRA Quick index-digets
 PHILJURIS & LEX LIBRIS –
computer based legal research systems,
provide the capability to search for
cases and other documents by using
practically any word or combination of
words.
The legal research process
Systematic Approach to legal research – basic
steps is recommended:
1. Identify and Analyze the significant
facts – begins with compiling a
descriptive statement of legally
significant facts. The TARP Rule is a
useful technique to analyze your facts
according to the following factors:
T - Thing or subject matter
A – Case of Action or group of defenses
R – Relief sought
P – Persons or parties involved
2. Formulate the legal issues to be
researched – this is the initial
intellectual activity that presumes some
knowledge of the substantive law. The
goal is to classify or categorize the
problem into general, and increasingly
specific, subject areas and to begin to
hypothesize legal issues.
 Consult general secondary sources for
an overview of all relevant subject
areas, this can be used to provide
background information to help
formulate issues, they are tools NOT
objects of research
 Statement of the issues should be
arranged in a logical pattern to form an
outline
3. Research the issues presented – begin
to research the issue
a. Organize and plan
b. Identify, read, and update all
relevant constitutional
provisions, statutes and
administrative regulations –
these primary sources can be
identified in several ways:
c. Identify, Read, and update all
relevant law – note its full
citation, the ponente, date of
decision, relevant facts, the
holding, summary of the
court’s reasoning, and the
sources cited by the Court
d. Refine the search – expand
your arguments
4. Update – consult the PHILJURIS and
LEX LIBRIS to determine whether the
authorities have been interpreted or
altered in any way, or whether new
cases, statutes or regulations have been
published, law changes constantly.
Fundamental Research Skill: Case
briefing and synthesis of cases
Case briefing – process of digesting of the
condensation of a reported case. There is no one
“correct” form for a case brief since it is a
document that is created to meet the students’
needs. The typical components of a case brief are:
1. Facts – describe the events between
the parties leading to the litigation and
tell how the case before the court that
is now deciding it. It include those
facts that are relevant to the issue the
court must decide and to the reasons
for its decision. You will not know
which facts are relevant until you know
what issue or issues are.
 State the plaintiff ad defendant
 Basis for plaintiff’s suit
 Plaintiff’s relief
 The ruling of the lower court and Court
of Appeals
2. Issue/s – question that the court must
decide to resolve the dispute between
the parties in the case before it.
 Identify the rule of law that governs the
dispute and ask how it should apply to
those facts
Legal Research and Bibliography