Secondary sources are an invaluable part of the legal researcher’s toolkit. This chapter will cover the what, when, why, and how of secondary sources.

The What

Secondary sources can be conceptualized in a number of ways. You can think of them as simply different from primary sources. They can also be considered guides to the law, or even in a meta sense, guides to guides to the law. What is clear is that secondary sources are not the law, and do not have the force and weight of law.

Secondary sources can be general, i.e., a brief overview, or nutshell, of tort law or property law. They can be highly specific, such as the multi-volume sets covering federal practice and procedure or contract law.

There are also different types of secondary sources covering various research scenarios you’ll encounter, which leads directly to the why of secondary sources.

The Why

The why of using secondary sources intersects with the source itself and provides a framework for leading you to the best source(s) for your project.

• If you need to get up to speed in an area, you can use a general source, such as a nutshell, hornbook or general treatise. In Georgia, our all-purpose secondary source is Georgia Jurisprudence
• You need examples of how to draft a contract or an agreement or you are looking for real estate forms. There are many practical sources for these and other matters, and technology is making them easier than ever to find and use. We’ll take a much deeper dive into this when we cover transactional resources.
• You would like a meta source in order to benefit from the research of others. For example, this is a guide to Georgia practice materials. (right click to open in a new tab.)
• You need to find the applicable primary law, and you don’t know where to start. A treatise, such McCarthy on Trademarks, can be invaluable in leading you to the appropriate statutory provisions and cases.

The When

Secondary sources are useful in a number of contexts. When you are beginning a project, they are often invaluable, saving you time and energy. But there are other situations in which it is helpful to consult secondary sources, even if you’re confident you know exactly what you’re doing.

• The law may have changed, and it is your duty as an attorney to keep up with these changes. I think of this as a knowledge check.
• You want to learn about an area of law that you don’t specialize in. Perhaps it’s for a piece of a project, e.g. you are a tax attorney with a litigation question, or perhaps you would like to know how a new area of law, say blockchain, is influencing your current practice.
• You don’t know what you don’t know, and you want to make sure you don’t make a mistake. There can be a heavy cognitive load to wondering if you are missing out on a crucial piece of information, and knowing the secondary sources in your field, and how to use them, can help ease that pressure.

The How

Here’s a video, Finding Secondary Sources on Westlaw and Lexis. (right click to open in a new tab.) We’ll cover Bloomberg in the section on transactional resources.

There are a number of entry points into secondary sources:

• table of contents
• index
• searching full text

Here’s a video where I demonstrate using these entry points.

(The videos look best when you watch them full screen. These links go into elc, so please let me know if you have problems accessing them.)