Immigration Law Clinic Research Guide: Introduction

This guide will assist you in getting started with your immigration law research. However, immigration law is a broad topic, so please do not hesitate to contact me for further assistance.

Sarah Gotschall

The good news about immigration law research is that it is basically just administrative law research, which means research in an area of law that is heavily regulated by agencies – immigration, tax, securities, environmental protection, etc.

All this means is that, in addition to statutory, case law, and secondary source research, it is necessary to research the laws and guidance produced by agencies - administrative regulations, agency decisions, and guidance documents.

Why is this good news?

1. Once you understand how to research one area of administrative law, you will understand how to research other areas.
2. You don’t have to learn much that is new because searching for regulations is just like searching for statutes, and searching for agency opinions is like searching for cases.