Area 51 2015 - How to open side panels?

Yes the correct way to open the side panels is pulling up the release latch and taking out the whole panel as you said, check out this video it will give you a better idea on how to do it. 

There is a screw holding the lock in place,  Take it out and the latch will work.

Yes actually Mark has a great point there, you have to remove the screw you see in the picture below. 

I am a new owner of an Area-51 R2 model myself and I am having some trouble removing the right side panel from the case (if viewed from the rear of the case).  The security screw was removed and the left panel can be removed easy but I cannot get the right panel to release from the case by using the release latch.  The latch just makes a very high-pitched clicking sound when I pull on it and the right side panel is not 'pop off' the retaining tab at the top of the case.  I have already swapped the panels to make sure the original right side panel was not the problem (which it worked on the left side while the left side panel did not work on the right side).

To remove the panel I have use my left hand to pull on the release latch while using my right hand to gently pull the top of the panel away from the case.  I would like both panel release latches to work properly but I do not want to return my computer as I have already spent many hours configuring the OS and installing new drives (one SSD and one HDD).  Does anyone have a suggestion to fix this problem?

Good to know about the screw. I felt like I was practically breaking the latch trying to get the side panel to pop open. Remove the screw and it opens with ease.

Removing that screw unlocked the side panel, thank you for the suggestion.

What screw driver is needed to unscrew the screw ? Will a tip 00 screwdriver work ?