Welcome to Advanced Legal Research, Spring 2025!
Thursdays, 10:30-12:30, Room 3-302
CLASS 11
In-Class Experiment . . .
Is failing to register as a sex offender a strict liability crime in New York? Background: we are in the 4th Department, but don't confine the question to there.
CLASS 10
In Class 10 we covered International and Foreign Law research.
International Law Research page with links discussed in class.
Foreign Law Research page with inks discussed in class.
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
I would like you to try to locate a copy of all U.S. Declarations, Understandings or Objections to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from the official depositary. As I mentioned, an important element of treaty research is ensuring that you are going to the official source for this information and the official source is the depositary for that treaty, because it will ensure that it is up-to-date. The depositary is identified within the text of the treaty itself. So, for example, if you find a copy of this treaty it will say something like declarations or ratifications will be "deposited with" and identify the relevant entity, which will then have a database online.CLASS 9
In Class 9 we covered researching persons, places and things, including a discussion of the Public Records database on Lexis Advance and using FOIA/FOIL as an extension of legal research.
CLASS 8
In the beginning of class we spent a little time with CUNY OneSearch and WorldCat
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
We're representing an individual recently arrested by the NYPD. One of the things our client told us was that prior to his arrest, the NYPD came to his door more than once late last year and tried to engage him in conversation and twice asked to search his home. Our client unequivocally denied consent for such searches. Your supervisor wants you to help follow up on this point. He mentioned that there was a new NYC law from last year that apparently requires the NYPD to document denials of consent searches? Another intern found the relevant section its in the NYC Administrative Code in section (b)(2) of 14-173. As it is new, this law does not appear to have been litigated much, and your supervisor would like to find out everything we can about the passage of this law.
Can you find the legislative history of this law - you don't need to dig in, but find the page and email me a link or a screenshot?
Explainer for this In-Class Exercise.
CLASS 7
In Class 7, we briefly discussed cases published in the New York Law Journal (NYLJ). This can be an additional source of relevant case law and has been especially useful in the Housing Court context. Some opinions published in NYLJ are later published in the normal case databases in Westlaw or Lexis, but not all of them. A collection of NYLJ cases is available in a Lexis database here.
Then we discussed Presidential Documents.
IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT
"To return the vessel and its passengers to the country from which it came, or to another country, when there is reason to believe that an offense is being committed against the United States immigration laws, or appropriate laws of a foreign country with which we have an arrangement to assist; provided, however, that the Attorney General, in his unreviewable discretion, may decide that a person who is a refugee will not be returned without his consent." (emphasis added)
We're particularly interested in the significance given to this discretionary power given to the Attorney General to not return certain refugees without their consent. Can you double check that this Executive Order is still in force and in particular, is this language up-to-date? Remember regardless of what Westlaw and Lexis might say about it, it is worthwhile checking the relevant Executive Order Disposition Tables referenced and linked in the Presidential Documents page.
Email me what you changes you find to this Executive Order language, if any. douglas.cox@law.cuny.edu Thanks!
Explainer for this In-Class Exercise.
READ // WATCH * PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS
WATCH
Watch the first 3 minutes of this 1988 hearing, careful to enjoy the retro C-Span theme. (Note a significant portion of the NSDDs from the Reagan Administration referenced are now available publicly here (including the one specifically referenced NSDD 145)).
CLASS 6
In Class 6 we did a review of Federal regulatory research and did the following in-class exercise.
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
After exhausting all appeals a client is now set to serve out the remainder of his 6 year sentence in Federal prison in upstate New York. He's actually a citizen of Germany and almost all of his family is there. Your supervisor recalled that there were some regulations that allow a foreign citizen convicted in the United States to transfer to his home country to serve out his sentence there. Your supervisor seemed to remember from looking at the issue long ago, though, that there may be a limitation in cases where there is a fine in addition to a sentence. Our client had a $50,000 fine imposed and he is destitute.Your supervisor had asked a previous intern to take a quick look on a Friday afternoon and after an hour of research they sent an email saying that a "committed fine" might be a problem under the federal regulation, as the supervisor thought, especially if the issue had not been raised with the trial court and gave the following citation: Bagguley v. Bush, 953 F.2d 660, 662 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 1991), but the supervisor never took a look.
Look up this case and look at the regulation cited in footnote 1, which is from 1991. If you click on the link it says nothing about a committed fine. Can you figure out what the regulation said in 1991 when the court cited to it? [Note: for this you can utilize the historical versions of the CFR on Westlaw].
Email me Douglas.cox@law.cuny.edu what you find?
Explainer for this In-Class Exercise.
CLASS 5
In class 5 we discussed NY Legislative History, esp. and including Bill Jackets as the most common source for NY legislative history research and we did the following assignment in-class.
IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT
We're trying to find help for a client of ours. He was initially arrested for labor trafficking under the New York Penal Law § 135.35, but we successfully argued to the DA's office that our client was himself coerced and was not only not guilty of labor trafficking, but was himself a victim of labor trafficking. After further investigation, the DA dropped the charges. The client is now in desperate need of help and is being denied certain social services by New York State on the basis that he doesn't qualify.
We have an another person on the team researching the Social Services law, but someone in the office mentioned that when the New York Legislature originally passed the Penal Law provision on labor trafficking it was specifically intending to ensure that victims of such trafficking could receive social services assistance.
Can you follow up on that suggestion, see if you can locate any official indication of that legislative intent and email me some language if possible?
NOTE: The purpose of this exercise is to force you to consult NY legislative history materials, and in particular a bill jacket. So I want you to assume there is no case law discussing this or other easy ways of locating it. Note also the extra emphasis on originally passed above - the legislature amended the relevant Penal Code in the past several years, but the intent you are looking for is earlier when the statute first arose.
Explainer for this In-Class Exercise.
CLASS 4
In Class 4 we talked about some of the minutiae of federal statutes and codification (including Positive Law Codification and Editorial Reclassification) and how they can practically and substantively impact statutory research. We also discussed Federal Legislative History research.
Statutory issues discussed in class
1. Editorial Reclassification - a/k/a moving stuff around. This is where sections are reorganized within a Title or when a new Title is created (think everything above Title 50 of the USC) and sections are moved there from elsewhere in the Code - this is what happened in our exercise on 52 USC 30118.
2. Positive Law Codification this is where an entire Title of the US Code is passed as a new Public Law. The intent - which is usually expressly stated - is not to change the law substantively. The trick here from a research perspective is that going forward the "Credits" section following the law will source to the date of the positive law codification, which can conceal a much longer history - to find that history you may need to consult the "Editors and Revisors Notes" or historical versions of the law.
3. Statutory Law being codified in a US Code "Note" - this is what the NY Times article on Section 215 of the Patriot Act is talking about - a portion of the law as passed by Congress that related to when the law sunsets was placed in a Note rather than in the main body of the Text, but it is still law. The other example i discussed in class was the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, which lives in a Note following 8 USC § 1101. The law review article I mentioned in class about this phenomenon is called "Shadow Code" and is available here.
Random Research Tip
"I found an article citation, do we have the journal so I can get a copy?" Check Online Catalog Also check Electronic Journal Finder. (is the old one, still potentially useful). Try Googling and sites like ResearchGate and Academia. Check author home page, check institutional repository at author school. Free trial at journal? Check with library. Also, if not available by other methods, don't be shy about a respectful, friendly email to author expressing interest in their research.
READ for Class 4
READ (and be slightly confused by) this NY Times piece from Nov. 2014 on the possible significance of a little noticed "note accompanying Section 215" of the Patriot Act. Charlie Savage, "NSA Phone Data Collection Could Go on, Even if a Law Expires," N.Y. Times, Nov. 19, 2014.
READ (and be even more confused by) this thoughtful post questioning what actually happened when the same law was subsequently amended: Megan Graham, "What Did the USA Freedom Act Actually Amend?," Just Security, June 4, 2015.
CLASS 3
Random Research Tips Links
50 state survey research? Doug says try to avoid this project if you can. If you can't or they are particularly helpful, know in advance that they are labor intensive and difficult. Some things to do to try to help out. Check out 50 State Surveys on Westlaw in case there is one on your topic, or a related topic, check out American Law Reports to see if there are any on your (or a related topic), search law review articles to see if there is an article on the issue that might compare state laws (even if just in a footnote), check out National Conference of State Legislatures to see whether they have relevant resources or reports, and also look for (and Google) to see whether there are any organization working in this area that might be tracking such laws across all states (for example, see this page on death penalty laws from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Then, we went over some of the resources available to us when we need to research litigation issues, such as federal issues under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and in NY under the Civil Practice Law & Rules (CPLR), which are summarized on this page: Litigation Research Resources
We have a client who fled to the United States from a foreign country which had a system of mandatory conscription into their armed forces. He has religious objections to military service that the foreign country did not recognize and he would have been punished and persecuted had he stayed and refused to serve. Your supervisor explains that the client's asylum claim will depend, in part, on whether the client meets the definition of "refugee" in INA § 101(a)(42).
How many times, roughly, have Second Circuit cases citing INA § 101 used the word "conscription"?
Email what you find? Douglas.cox@law.cuny.edu
Explainer for this In-Class Exercise.
DO * STATUTES for Class 3CLASS 2
IN-CLASS EXERCISE
We're representing an individual who has filed a § 1983 claim. The government has filed a motion for summary judgment, which cites the following unpublished case:
Can you get me a copy of the Cross Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law filed by the defendants in July 2010 in that case that led to that decision? I want to compare the arguments in that case to ours. Please pull it off of PACER using this link (just the main filing not the exhibits) and send it to me by email. Thanks!
READ // WATCH // DO * DOCKETS
Please Read-Watch-Do the following as part of our first unit on dockets and litigation resources. If you have questions or problems, feel free to email me.
READ
First, take a quick read though this Dockets page I created, which is an example of a type of research guide - of which there are many online that give you some tips on doing this kind of research, some relevant links and background information.
WATCH
The video below is one of many that demonstrate how you can use PACER, which is the system for accessing federal court dockets. Unfortunately, PACER charges you by the page for such access.
Bloomberg Dockets
Bloomberg has its own interface but draws docket material from PACER for federal courts. While you're in law school you should use Bloomberg (instead of PACER) in order to access docket material Bloomberg has a page about searching using there docket search here: https://www.bloomberglaw.com/help/dockets. But here is a brief online video (one of many) that briefly illustrates pulling down a docket on Bloomberg:
DO
Before next class I need you to do 3 things. Let's put the deadline as end of day Wednesday, Jan. 22.
1. If you have never signed up for Bloomberg Law before you can do that here. You do not need an activation code, you just need to use your CUNY Law email address when you sign up. If you have any problems let me know. If you did sign up before you can sign in here. If you have trouble getting in, you might need to reset your password.
2. Please try to pull down a copy of the Complaint in Dimitracopoulos v. City of New York, Docket No. 14-cv-674 a federal case filed in the Eastern District of New York - USE Bloomberg Law (NOT PACER). If your Bloomberg screen looks different than the one in the video look in the upper right and click "Switch back to Classic View". You can also get to the dockets search screen by starting to type in Dockets in the big box and "Dockets Search" should be a drop down option. Most direct way to find case in Docket Search is to select the right court and then use that docket number to search. In advance of the next class email me a copy of the complaint to me. If you're having trouble take another look at the video immediately above. f you spend more than an hour and are unable to locate it, no worries, just briefly describe what you tried. The top of the filing will look like this:
3. Finally, in that same email, please tell me a little about your legal interests - any legal topics in particular you are interested in and/or problems/issues you've had with legal research? With this size of class I cannot customize class very much, but it is great to know what people are interested in to take it into consideration. Thanks!
CLASS 1