Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law

If you take it step by step, the United States legal system is not nearly as intimidating as it is reputed to be. With a little expert guidance from a couple of attorneys (Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind), you can learn what's in a law library and how to use it, how to seek and understand statutes, regulations, and cases, how to explore online resources, practice your legal skills in the library, and even write a reputable legal memorandum. It's not as easy nor as immediately gratifying as buying an ice-cream cone, but with a modicum of patience, dedication and average smarts, you can research and understand the law without years of legal training and without emptying your bank account onto some lawyer's shiny desk.

The text is approachable and easy to read. The authors' sensible approach takes the fear out of entering a law library, reassuring you that you needn't be a lawyer to be there and that the librarians are generally eager to please. By helping you formulate your legal questions (is the issue federal or state, civil or criminal, procedural or substantive?), narrowing your focus through legal indexes, and pursuing the appropriate resources, statutory laws, and relevant cases, the authors bring clarity and structure to the task. Nolo Press is famous for stripping the law of its daunting armor and making it accessible to the interested layperson. This guide to legal research is up to the usual high Nolo Press standards. It's a great boon to those who want to check out the law for themselves. --Stephanie Gold

And suddenly, legal reseach was made simple!

Excellent for anyone searching for information in a real or virtual law library (including paralegals, law students, legal assistants and journalists), Legal Research outlines a systematic method to find answers and get results.

In plain, readable English, Attorneys Elias and Levinkind explain, with plenty of examples and instructions, how to:

read and understand statues, regulations and cases
evaluate cases for their value as precedent
use all the basic tools of legal research
practice what you've learned with "hands-on, feet-in" library exercises, as well as hypothetical research problems and solutions

This easy-to-use and understand book, now in its 14th edition, has been adopted as a text in many law schools and paralegal programs.