Natural Resources Law Clinic Guide: Introduction

This guide will assist you in researching natural resources law. It is a broad topic and this guide just provides general information, so please contact me for further assistance.

When beginning your research, it is usually a good idea to start by checking out agency websites and research guides on your topic.

The good news about natural resources 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, public lands, water, 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.

Luckily, many agencies make legal research easier by making it easy to find their statutes, regulations, agency decisions, and other information on their websites.

Environmental Protection Agency Example

Arizona Department of Water Resources Example

There are a variety of useful immigration law research guides on the Internet that provide an overview of primary and secondary sources used for different areas of research - statutes, cases, secondary sources, regulations, agency decisions, and guidance documents.

Water Law Research Guide Example

You can always find one by Googling something like: water law research guide

I always like the research guides from Georgetown Law Library.