This legal research guide assists self-represented civil litigants in finding primary legal resources, such as statutes and appellate cases, which are essential for effective representation. Through a case study of Byron v. Simone, it outlines the process of identifying legal issues, formulating questions, and utilizing free resources like Google Scholar and legal websites to find relevant statutes and cases. The guide emphasizes the importance of substantiating legal arguments with authoritative resources.

1. Finding Cases and Statutes
Using Free Resources
A Legal Research Guide For
Self-Represented Civil
Litigants
REPRESENTING!
BYRON SIMONEV.

2. Primary LEGAL RESOURCES
๏ Statutes, codes, and rules.
๏ Appellate cases
Primary legal sources are important because they are
“authoritative”. Judges must rely on them to make decisions.
Primary legal sources are
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3. Secondary SOURCES
๏ Legal research guides
๏ Legal dictionaries, encyclopedipas, and citation guides
๏ Other: Google, Wikipedia, etc. (for finding keywords)
Secondary legal resources include
These resources help you find primary sources, define terms, find
keywords, provide insight into procedure, cite sources, etc.
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4. The key to EFFECTIVE REPRESENTATION
The key to effective self-representation
is locating the laws you need to
repesent yourself.
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5. The case of BYRON v. SIMONE
Byron signed a one-year lease with
Simone for an Ohio apartment. Nine
months after taking occupancy, he was
late on a payment. Six days later, Byron
returned from work to find himself locked
out of his apartment.
Byron
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6. Simone replaced the apartment door
locks one day when Byron was at work.
She refused to allow him to collect his
belongings, insisting that he first pay the
delinquent rent and the cost of
redecorating.
The case of BYRON v. SIMONE
Simone
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7. When he paid and gained access to the
garage where Simone stored his
belongings, Byron discovered that some
items were missing. He sued Simone for
the value of the missing items.
The case of BYRON v. SIMONE
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8. ๏ Identify the Legal Issues
๏ Create Keywords
๏ Search for Cases
๏ Evaluate the Results
Series of SEARCH STEPS
Byron and Simone each
➤
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9. Byron and Simone IDENTIFY ISSUES
➤
Byron and Simone identify the legal
issues. What alleged actions caused
harm? Issues might include breach of
contract, failure to pay a debt, etc. They
formulate their issues into questions that
must be answered by a court.
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10. Issue: Byron believes that Simone unlawfully
entered his property and removed his
belongings.
Question: Does a late payment of rent mean
the rights to belongings are relinquished?
Byron IDENTIFIES HIS QUESTION
What question must be answered by a court?
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11. Issues: Simone feels that by not paying rent
on time, Byron broke the the contract.
Question: If I lock someone out for late
payment of rent, am I responsible for his
belongings?
Simone IDENTIFIES HER QUESTION
What question must be answered by a court?
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12. To find keywords
๏Byron uses terms from the issues and
questions in the case
๏Conducts a web search on Wikipedia and
Google
๏Uses a law encyclopedia
Byron’s Keyword Results: tenant, landlord,
possessions, theft, contract, apartment lease,
rental, quiet enjoyment
Byron SELECTS KEYWORDS
➤
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13. Simone SELECTS KEYWORDS
➤ To find keywords
๏Simone uses terms in the complaint
๏Simone uses a law dictionary
Simone Keyword Results: property abandonment,
tenant, landlord, self help eviction, breach of
contract, wrongful holdover
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14. Search TIP
Update your keywords as the search progresses.➤
TIP
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15. Byron and Simone SEARCH FOR STATUTES
Sites like Cornell’s Legal
Information Institute (LII)
and Justia organize
statutes in a central place.
➤
https://www.law.cornell.edu/ https://law.justia.com/
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16. Byron searches CORNELL (LII)
➤ Byron scrolls to the bottom:
1. Finds “Ohio” in the list of states, and clicks on it
2. Clicks “2013 Ohio Revised Code (ORC)”.
3. Finds “Title [53] LIII REAL PROPERTY”, and clicks
4. Clicks “Chapter 5321 LANDLORDS AND TENANTS”
5. Finds statute “5321.04 Landlord Obligations”
Byron adds “Real Property” and ”5321.04” to his list of
keywords.
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17. Simone searches on JUSTIA
➤
On Justia, Simone
1. Clicks “Ohio” from the list of states
2. Clicks “2013 Ohio Revised Code”
3. Clicks “Real Property” under “General Provisions”
4. Clicks “LANDLORDS AND TENANTS”
5. Reads statute “5321.03 Action for Possession by
Landlord”
Simone adds the phrase “tenant in default of rent” from
the statute and “5321.03” to her keywords.
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18. Byron and Simone USE GOOGLE SCHOLAR
➤
Select “Case Law”
Click “Select courts”.
Your state will appear, but you can
select a different jurisdiction
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https://scholar.google.com/

19. Byron and Simone SEARCH FOR CASES
➤
Byron and Simone do quick
searches, updating their
keywords as they go along.
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https://scholar.google.com/

20. Initial KEYWORDS
Beginning keyword: 5321.04
Results: A list of cases with
“5321.04” highlighted
➤
Beginning keyword: tenant
in default of rent
Results: Cases with “tenant”,
“default” and “rent”
highlighted
Byron’s Initial Search Simone’s Initial Search
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21. Byron's results on GOOGLE SCHOLAR
Byron’s first keyword
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22. Options on the GOOGLE SIDEBAR
Change
jurisdiction
Create a Google
alert to get relevant
cases sent via e-mail
Narrow the search
by date
Byron can…
Sort by relevance
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23. Simone's results on GOOGLE SCHOLAR
Simon’s first keyword
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24. Options for CASE HISTORY
Simone can…
Click "Cited by" to get cases that cite
the one she’s viewing.
Click "How Cited" to see which words
from the case she’s viewing have
been used in other cases.
Click “Related articles" to see cases
similar to a chosen one24

25. When to STOP SEARCHING
➤
When Byron and Simone begin to see the same cases over and over,
they STOP to evaluate them.
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26. Byron EVALUATES HIS CASES
Evaluation
1. Byron jots down notes about
each case.
2. Discards cases with very
different facts from his.
3. Byron prioritizes cases
๏ that answer his question,
๏ that are cited repeatedly,
๏ that have facts similar to
his, and
๏ where the court ruled for
the person in his position.
Results
Byron has 8 cases in his library that
meet his criteria.
The 8 cases answer the
questions he had at the
beginning of his search.
The cases give him all he needs to
support his claim.
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27. Simon EVALUATES HER CASES
Evaluation
1. Simon writes notes about each case.
2. She discards cases with very
different facts from hers.
3. She prioritizes cases
๏ that answer her question,
๏ that are cited repeatedly,
๏ that have facts similar to her, and
๏ cases where the court ruled in
favor of the person in her
position.
Results
Simone has 11 cases in her library.
Three are about civil procedure.
The landlord/tenant cases are weak.
However, she discovers that Byron filed
his case a day after the due date.
She keeps the 4 strongest
landlord/tenant cases and looks for
others that support the due date issue.
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28. Byron and Simone IDENTIFY ISSUES
➤
Byron and Simone eventually find the
cases and statutes they need to support
or oppose a claim, counterclaim or
affirmative defense.
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29. It’s important to support your
legal arguments with legal
authorities.
For more tools for self-
representation
visit us at
www.courtroom5.com
The LAST WORD
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