Federal Legal Research

This book complements the state-focused Legal Research Series. Federal Legal Research offers concise explanations of primary authorities in the federal system, along with chapters on secondary sources, updating, legislative history, and legal ethics and court rules. The book covers current platforms in Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg; free online sources; and print sources. Federal Legal Research takes a process-oriented approach to research. Its in-depth discussions of strategies and techniques for conducting American legal research make it effective in classes that integrate research, writing, and analysis as well as in courses with a bibliographic approach.

The goal of the Legal Research Series (LRS) is to provide law students with the essential elements of legal research in each state. LRS books, which also have been used in lawyer training and paralegal programs, explain concisely both the sources of state law research and the process for conducting state legal research effectively. These books examine how to use each resource in a comprehensive research strategy and also incorporate legal analysis as part of the research process. Each book begins with an overview of the research process and then explains how to use electronic and print sources to research cases, statutes, legislative history, constitutions, administrative law, court rules, and secondary sources. To see individual titles in this series, go to caplaw.com/lrs.

Mary Garvey Algero is the Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Academic Affairs, a position she has held since 2015. She is also the Warren E. Mouledoux Distinguished Professor of Law and the Philip and Eugenie Brooks Distinguished Professor of Law and co-directs both the Lawyering Program and the Westerfield Fellows Program.

Spencer Simons is the retired Director of the O'Quinn Law Library and Associate Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Houston Law Center.

Suzanne Rowe is the James L. and Ilene R. Hershner Professor of Law Emerita at the University of Oregon School of Law.

Scott Childs is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law.

Sarah Ricks is a Distinguished Clinical Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Pro Bono Research Project at Rutgers School of Law-Camden.