Legal Research Basics: Statutes, Rules and Cases

Find and read the law yourself: primary and secondary sources, binding and persuasive authority, free official databases and how to check that a case is still good law. This Lawtopolis course on legal research has 5 short lessons and a quiz, and every lesson links to the official rule text.

What you will learn about legal research

• The difference between primary and secondary sources
• Which authority binds your court
• Where to find statutes, regulations and cases for free
• How to confirm a source is current

Who this course is for

• Anyone preparing for court
• Students, paralegals and self-represented litigants

Lessons in this course

1. Primary and secondary sources

Primary sources are the law itself: constitutions, statutes passed by legislatures, regulations issued by agencies, court rules and court decisions. Secondary sources explain the law, such as treatises, law review articles, practice guides and encyclopedias.

2. Binding and persuasive authority

Binding authority is law a court must follow. For example, a federal district court must follow decisions of the court of appeals for its circuit and of the U.S. Supreme Court. A state trial court must follow its state’s appellate courts on questions of state law.

3. Free official sources

Start from the Lawtopolis Research Center and the legal research checklist.

4. Reading and checking a case

When you read a case, identify the facts, the legal question, the holding (the court’s answer to that question) and the reasoning. Only the holding is binding; side comments, called dicta, are not.

5. Putting it into practice: a research routine

Now that you know the rules, this lesson turns them into steps you can follow. First, work through the checklist in order. Then, before you file or serve anything, compare your work with the common mistakes below and with your court’s own rules.

Next steps after this legal research course

When you finish, take the quiz to check your understanding. After that, keep going with the related pages in the Motions & Procedures library, the Legal Glossary and the Research Center. For the official text, read the current federal rules on uscourts.gov, and also check your own court’s local rules.

Lawtopolis provides legal information and education, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current version of your court’s rules before you file.

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