Legal Research Flashcards

Under standard Bluebook format, which is a correct citation to a Colorado statute?

Answer: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-102 (2025)

The Bluebook abbreviates the Colorado Revised Statutes as Colo. Rev. Stat. followed by the section number and year.

A federal district court in Colorado sitting in diversity must apply which law to substantive state-law issues?

Answer: Colorado substantive law as declared by the Colorado Supreme Court

Under Erie, a federal court sitting in diversity applies state substantive law, with the state's highest court as the authoritative source.

Which secondary source would most efficiently give a researcher an overview of an unfamiliar area of Colorado practice?

Answer: A Colorado-specific practice treatise or CLE handbook

Practice treatises and CLE materials synthesize an area of law and cite key primary authorities, making them ideal starting points.

In a KeyCite result, a red flag on a Colorado case most likely means:

Answer: The case has been reversed, overruled, or otherwise invalidated on at least one point

A red flag signals negative treatment such as reversal or overruling on at least one point of law.

Which court's published decisions bind all Colorado state trial courts?

Answer: The Colorado Supreme Court

The Colorado Supreme Court is the state's highest court, and its decisions bind all Colorado state courts.

A researcher has only a statute's popular name, such as the 'Colorado Consumer Protection Act.' The fastest way to find it is:

Answer: Use a popular name table or search the annotated statutes by name

Popular name tables and annotated code searches quickly convert an act's common name into its C.R.S. citation.

Annotations following a section in an annotated version of the Colorado Revised Statutes primarily provide:

Answer: Summaries of cases interpreting that section

Statutory annotations collect and summarize judicial decisions construing the statute, plus related research references.