Moot Court Research Help

Moot Court Website: University of San Diego Criminal Procedure National Tournament

Advisor:  Professor Robert M. Bloom and Professor Rosemary Daly

All legal research should start with an analysis of the legal issues. Read your record to find out:

• what issues are involved;
• what legal principles you need to learn more about; and
• what major cases the lower court relied upon.

Once you have read your record:

• gather any legal materials mentioned in the record;
• read the cases, statutes, regulations, and other legal precedent and note additional citations to other materials;
• Keycite and/or Shepardize all legal material to check status and to find additional pertinent resources; and
• look for briefs of any underlying cases to see how issues were argued in the court below.

Westlaw provides many subject-specific resources.  On Westlaw, in order to access specific materials geared toward criminal law practitioners or resources, try one of the following:

• Click on the "Practice Areas" link on the main page and then choose "Criminal Law" for easy access to relevant treatises, journals, forms, briefs, etc.;

• Choose a category under the "Content types" link on the main page, such as secondary sources.  Scroll down to choose materials by topic; OR

• Choose your state jurisdiction under "State Materials" tab and browse secondary sources, etc.

Like Westlaw, Lexis provides many subject-specific resources.  In order to access specific materials geared toward criminal law practitioners or resources, try one of the following:

• Click on the Practice Area or Industry tab on the main page. Choose Criminal Law & Procedure. Notice that Lexis also has a practice area for Evidence; OR

• Run a search from main search bar using the filters (jurisdiction, category, and practice area Criminal Law & Procedure and/or Evidence)

Links to more web guides that contain lists of Criminal Law sources.