Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (6th ed) (Paperback)

by Stephen Elias (Author), Susan Levinkind (Author), Janet Portman (Author)
Key Phrases: cert den, popular name table, topical index, Supreme Court, West Group, Library Exercise (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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

Review
This book has a valid and honored place on the shelves of both novice and practiced legal researchers. -- Legal Research Quarterly

This book remains the best single introduction...to the mysterious world of legal research. -- Robert C. Berring, Law Librarian, University of California, Berkeley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; 6th edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873374681
• ISBN-13: 978-0873374682
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #793,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The very best!, May 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (Paperback)

I am a legal assistant and I use this book constantly! It gives you great strategies to work more efficiently while getting better results. I had no idea how many legal resources there are online! This book tells you which sites are the most reliable and easy to use. It also demystifies annotated legal codes, case digests, state reports and many other research tools. But most importantly it is extremeley well organized and easy to use. I wish that I had discovered this book when I was a student!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best available, October 16, 2001

By	Jean L. Willis (Eau Claire, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law (Paperback)

If you have a modicum of introduction to the law, and need a guidebook on "how to" go about researching a legal question, this book is one of the best available. It does assume that you have some working knowledge of how law works, but is an especially good book for either first year law students or paralegal students beyond their introductory courses. Well worth having on your shelf.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A simple, direct, straightforward, "user friendly" guide, September 5, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (Paperback)

Now in its tenth edition, Legal Research: How To Find & Understand The Law by attorneys Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind is a simple, direct, straightforward, "user friendly" guide to the extremely complicated and tricky topic of doing legal research. Individual chapters address how to properly frame questions in legal categories and efficiently look up relevant laws and case history. Legal Research is emphatically not a substitute for a consultation with an attorney; however, a close reading followed by judicious use of its fact-finding methods is a superbly effective way for non-specialist general readers to prepare themselves before sitting down with a billed-by-the-hour consultation with a licensed attorney or paralegal researcher!