First Year Legal Research   Tags: first, legal_research, year  

The goal of legal research is usually to find primary authority (a case, statute, or administrative law document) to support a legal argument.  To perform legal research, you must learn how to use specialized resources to find these materials. 

During the First Year Legal Research course, you will be introduced to these specialized resources.  You will learn how to find research resources both in print and online formats.  You will also be introduced to electronic citation checking (a system for ensuring that your case has not been overruled or reversed) and will receive training on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law, the major commercial sources of online legal information.  Finally, you will learn about research strategies such as knowing how to get started, when it's best to use print and when it's best to use online resources, what to do if you hit a dead-end, and how to know when your research is actually done.

A short video produced by CALI, giving instructions on registering to use the CALI Web site.