LA102 36294 -- Legal Research

Online Research Resources

Cornell University Legal Information Institute - www.law.cornell.edu

• The Cornell Legal Information Institute is one of the largest and best sources of legal information. Its many resources includes:
  • A collection of 631 historic Supreme Court decisions
  • Federal and state court decisions and other legal materials, including the constitution, statutes, and judicial opinions from Maryland

• See the Introduction to Basic Legal Citation guide by Peter Martin (2003).

  The table of contents can be found at http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/full_toc.htm. Review:

  • Section 1-100, Introduction
  • Section 1-200, Purposes of Legal Citation
  • Section 2-200, How to Cite Judicial Opinions
  • Section 3-200, Examples--Citations of Judicial Opinions.

  Consult this guide for information about citing constitutions, statutes, administrative decisions, and other materials.

Maryland's Peoples Law Library - www.peoples-law.org

• Looking for the Law page. It includes finding aids for:
  • statutes
  • regulations
  • state and federal cases
  • court rules
  • legal subjects by topic

Library of Congress Law Library www.loc.gov/law

• Guide to Law Online page
• Additional guides can be found on the United States page of the Guide to Law Online, such as the guide to the United States Legal System

U.S. Supreme Court - www.supremecourtus.gov

• The Supreme Court's Oyez Project allows you to listen to streaming audio clips of cases that have been argued. Visit the Popular Audio page. Note: no videos of the Supremes are available.
• Take a virtual tour of the Supreme Court building (requires QuickTime plugin).

Cornell University Law School Library - www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

• For an overview of legal research, go through the 2005 How to Do Legal Research: Basics guide. As you move the mouse over the underlined terms, pop-up definitions will appear. Click on the "Next" link at the bottom of the page to view each succeeding page in the series.
  • What Are You Looking For?
    • link to What Are Secondary Sources?
  • How to Start?
    • link to What Are Secondary Sources?
    • link to Cases: "One Good Case" Research Strategy
  • Cases: What Are Cases and How Are They Organized?
    • link to Cases: The Digest System
    • link to Cases: "One Good Case" Research Strategy
  • What Are Statutes and How Are They Organized?
  • What Is Administrative Law and Where Is It Found?
  • What Are Secondary Sources?
    • ("coming soon") Articles
    • Link to Frequently Asked Questions About Legal Periodicals
  • Updating Case Law With Shepard's and KeyCite. (This explains the various KeyCite symbols in Westlaw, such as the yellow and red flags.)

• Research Guides

• Finding Cases.
• Updating Caselaw and Statutes.
• Secondary Sources.
• Treatises, Hornbooks and Nutshells: A Guide for First Year Law Students.
• Finding Statutes.
• Federal Regulations.
• Additional Resources (from prior years but still accessible):
• See the 2003 Legal Research page and follow the links. It progresses through the following pages:
  • About the Law
  • How to Start
  • Finding the Law in Print
  • Finding Federal Law Online
  • Finding State Law Online
  • Secondary Sources
  • Shepards
  • Getting Help

• See the Cornell Law Library Research Steps Tutorial, which is based on an earlier edition of Kunz' The Process of Legal Research (the tutorial probably was created in the late 1990's). The steps in this tutorial are:
  1. Learn the LANGUAGE
  2. Choose Your FORMAT
  3. Locate, Read, and Update SECONDARY SOURCES
  4. Craft Your ISSUES
  5. Locate and Read PRIMARY AUTHORITY
  6. UPDATE Primary Authority

Harvard University Law Library - www.law.harvard.edu/library

• Research Guides

See the Harvard Law School Library Research Guides page for the complete list of their research guides and videos, some of which are listed below:

• On the Legal Citation Guides page, there is a link to the online Introduction to Legal Citation guide from the Cornell Legal Information Institute (noted above).

  Start with:

• Research Methodology page.
• Research Methodolgy: Explanation of Terms.
• Effective Case Law Research.
• Using Secondary Sources.
• Basic Checklist of Sources and Strategies
• Legal Research in the Law Firm Environment

  See:

• Finding Cases by Citation.
• Finding Cases by Name.
• Researching Federal & State Statutes.
• Administrative Law Research .

• Uniform Laws and Model Acts.
• ALR and Legal Encyclopedias.
• Restatements of the Law.
• Listing of legal treatises.
• Videos

• West Digest System (7-1/2 min.)
• Secondary Sources (9 min.)
• Statutes (10-1/2 min.)

University of Washington Law Library - http://lib.law.washington.edu

• Reporters and Digests and Caselaw Research Checklist.
• Statutory Research Checklist.
• See the many University of Washington law library links to Research Guides.

George Washington University Law Library - www.law.gwu.edu/Burns

• GW's research guides include items such as:
  • Finding Cases and Interpreting Citations (PDF format).
  • Federal Statutory Research (PDF format).
  • Federal Legislative History (PDF format).
  • Locating Federal Regulations (PDF format).
  • Legal Research Guide for the District of Columbia (PDF format).

Georgetown University Law Library - www.ll.georgetown.edu

• Georgetown's Library research tutorials include:
  • Statutory Research
  • Legislative History
  • Cases and Digests
  • Secondary Sources
  • Administrative Law
  • Westlaw Tutorial. You can start at the Tutorial Homepage and Table of Contents. Open Westlaw in a separate window to complete the tutorial.

Brigham Young University Law Library - www.law2.byu.edu/Law_Library/

• Legal Research Guides. Start with:
  1. How to Read a Legal Citation

• See the PowerPoint presentations at Prof. Dennis Sears' Legal Research Classes:
  1. Introduction (16 slides)
  2. ALWD Citation Manual (27 slides)
  3. Judicial Sources of the Law (27 slides)
  4. Finding Tools: Digests, Locating Judicial Opinions (17 slides)
  5. Legislative Sources of the Law (22 slides)
  6. Finding Tools: Shepard's Citators (37 slides)
  7. Secondary Sources of the Law I: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (32 slides)
  8. Secondary Sources II: American Law Reports (ALR) (26 slides)
  9. Secondary Sources of the Law III: Restatements, Treatises, and Looseleaf Services (19 slides)
  10. Secondary Sources of the Law IV: Legal Periodicals (32 slides)
  11. Administrative Law (46 slides)

Catholic University of America - http://lib.law.cua.edu

• See the description of legal research reference sources at Catholic University.

University of the District of Columbia - www.law.udc.edu/library

• Legal research links

George Mason University Law Department - www.gmu.edu/departments/law

• Research guides.

University of Maryland University College Library - www.umuc.edu/library

• The UMUC legal research tutorial may be of limited help. UMUC uses LexisNexis as its legal research database, not Westlaw.

Findlaw.com - www. findlaw.com

• Chapters 11 and 12 of Kent Olson's Legal Information: How to Find It, How to Use It (1999 ed.)

Chapter 11: State Legislation and Administrative Law
See table of contents at http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/

• Introduction
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_1.html
  or see text-only at 11.1 Introduction
  
• Multistate Reference Sources
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_2.html
  or see text-only at 11.2 Multistate Reference Sources
  • Surveys
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_2a.html
    or see text-only at 11.2(a) Surveys
  • Guides to State Web Sites
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_2b.html
    or see text-only at 11.2(b) Guides
• Constitutions
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_3.html
  or see text-only at 11.3 State Constitutions
• Statutes
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_4.html
  or see text-only at 11.4 State Statutes
  • Published Codes
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_4a.html
    or see text-only at 11.4(a) Published Codes
  • Electronic Codes
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_4b.html
    or see text-only at 11.4(b) Electronic Codes
  • Session Laws
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_4c.html
    or see text-only at 11.4(c) Session Laws
  • Multistate Sources
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_4d.html
    or see text-only at 11.4(d) Multistate Sources
• Legislative Information
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_5.html
  or see text-only at 11.5 Legislative Information
  • Guides and Directories
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_5a.html
    or see text-only at 11.5(a) Legislative Guides and Directories
  • Current Information
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_5b.html
    or see text-only at 11.5(b) Current Information
  • Legislative History
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_5c.html
    or see text-only at 11.5(c) Legislative History
• Administrative Law
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6.html
  or see text-only at 11.6 State Administrative Law
  • Other Agency Materials
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6a.html
    or see text-only at 11.6(a) Other Agency Materials
  • Decisions
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6b.html
    or see text-only at 11.6(b) Agency Decisions
  • Executive Orders
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6c.html
    or see text-only at 11.6(c) Executive Orders
  • Attorney General Opinions
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6d.html
    or see text-only at 11.6(d) Attorney General Opinions
  • Industry Standards
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_6e.html
    or see text-only at 11.6(e) Industry Standards
• Counties and Cities
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch11/ch11_7.html
  or see text-only at 11.7 Counties and Cities

Chapter 12: State Courts
See table of contents at http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/

• Introduction
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_1.html
  or see text-only at 12.1 Introduction
• Reference Sources
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_2.html
  or see text-only at 12.2 Reference Sources
  • Guides
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_2a.html
    or see text-only at 12.2(a) State Court Guides
  • Directories
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_2b.html
    or see text-only at 12.2(b) State Court Directories
  • Statistics
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_2c.html
    or see text-only at 12.2(c) Statistics
• Court Decisions
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_3.html
  or see text-only at 12.3 Court Decisions
  • Printed Reports
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_3a.html
    or see text-only at 12.3(a) Printed Reports.
  • Electronic Sources
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_3b.html
    or see text-only at 12.3(b) Electronic Sources.
• Case Research
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_4.html
  or see text-only at 12.4 Case Research
  • State Digests
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_4a.html
    or see text-only at 12.4(a) State Digests.
  • Multistate Digests
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_4b.html
    or see text-only at 12.4(b) Multistate Digests.
  • American Law Reports (ALR)
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_4c.html
    or see text-only at 12.4(c) American Law Reports.
  • Shepard's Citations and Keycite
    Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_4d.html
    or see text-only at 12.4(d) Shepard's Citations and KeyCite.
• Rules and Procedures
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_5.html
  or see text-only at 12.5 Rules and Procedures
• Lawyer Conduct
  Link to http://profs.lp.findlaw.com/legalresearch/ch12/ch12_6.html
  or see text-only at 12.6 Lawyer Conduct

American Law Institute Restatements of the Law

Restatements of the Law are authoritative summaries published by the American Law Institute. They include the following:

Restatement	Kunz Research Problem Set
Agency 2d	D
Conflict of Laws 2d
Contracts 2d	E, I
Foreign Relations Law of the United States 3d
Judgments 2d	G
The Law Governing Lawyers 3d
Property 2d, Landlord & Tenant	A, B
Property 2d, Donative transfers	A, B
Property 3d (Wills and Other Donative Transfers)
Property 3d (Mortgages)
Property 3d (Servitudes)
Restitution 1st	H
Security
Surety and Guaranty 3d
Torts 2d	C, F
Torts 3d, Apportionment of Liability
Torts 3d, Products Liability
Trusts 3d
Trusts 3d, Prudent Investor Rule
Unfair Competition 3d