The University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law
Unless you were given a specific case name by your supervisor, you probably shouldn't start with case law research. If you're able to, you should start with secondary sources research because they will present the law to users in a more coherent way that will be easier to understand. The next step would be to do code research, because statutory law will take precedence to case law.
Typically, once you have established a statute or regulation exists, you will move onto researching judicial opinions. If you were able to find a statute or regulation, you can use a citator, the Notes of Decision found in Lexis and Westlaw, or a general search using the code's citation to find cases that interpret the statutes. From there, you will want to search for cases either by following the "One Good Case" method or utilizing the headnotes and topics and key numbers.