Transcript Slide 1
Free and Low Cost
Resources for U.S.
Legal Research
Sheri Lewis
Associate Law Librarian for Public Services
D’Angelo Law Library
Researching Federal Law: Cases
U. S. Supreme Court
The Court’s site: http://www.supremecourtus.gov
Cornell’s LII: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/
Scotus Blog: http://www.scotusblog.com
Lower Federal Courts
Justia: http://www.justia.com/courts/federal-courts/
Cornell’s LII: http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html
Understanding the Federal Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/understand03/
Researching Federal Law: Statutes
U.S. Constitution: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys
Sources for Slip/Session Laws (Congressional
Acts)
Thomas at Library of Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov
GPO FDsys:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=P
LAW
U.S. Statutes at Large
(1789-1875) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsllink.html
(1951-2009):
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=S
TATUTE
Researching Federal Law: Statutes
Sources for the United States Code
United States Code on GPO FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionUScode.action?coll
ectionCode=USCODE
Cornell’s LII – US Code Collection
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
U.S. House of Representatives: downloadable
version
http://uscode.house.gov/download/downloadPDF.shtml
Researching Federal Law: Legislation
Sources for Researching Congress
Thomas
http://thomas.loc.gov
GPO FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
GovTrack
http://www.govtrack.us
Open Congress
http://www.opencongress.org/
CQ Roll Call:
http://corporate.cqrollcall.com/content/4/en/CQ_Roll_Call_Daily_Briefing
DLL Legislative History Research Guide
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/ref/lh.html
Researching Federal Law:
Regulations & Agencies
Code of Federal Regulations on GPO Access
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR
E - CFR http://www.ecfr.gov
Federal Register on GPO FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=FR
Regulations.Gov: information on proposed regulations
http://www.regulations.gov
Federal Agencies: A to Z list on http://www.usa.gov
U.S. Government Manual:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=GOVMAN
Researching State Law
Cornell LII’s Law By Source: States
http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html
Findlaw: Cases and Codes: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/#statelaw
Uniform Commercial Code
http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/ucc.table.html
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Law Commission
Legislation http://www.uniformlaws.org/
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute / Uniform Law Locators
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uniform/
Effective dates for state legislatures
http://www.statescape.com/resources/Effective_dates/effective_dates.a
sp
NCSL 50-State Legislative Website Directory http://www.ncsl.org/aboutus/ncslservice/state-legislative-websites-directory.aspx
Researching Local & Municipal Law
Municode Municipal Code Library
http://www.municode.com/library/
American Legal Publishing Corporation
http://www.amlegal.com/library/
General Code
http://www.generalcode.com/webcode2.html
Secondary Sources
Cornell LII: Wex - a collaboratively-built law dictionary &
encyclopedia
http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex
Zimmerman’s Research Guide – Online Legal
Encyclopedia
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/
Cornell Law Library Research Guide Search Engine
http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/WhatWeDo/ResearchGu
ides/CLL-Legal-Research-Engine.cfm
Research Tools
Cornell LII’sThe Bluebook:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
Federal Judicial Center’s Biographical Database
http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
http://www.martindale.com
Thomson Legal Record
(formerly West Legal Directory)
http://www.thomsonlegalrecord.com/info/
Practice Resources
American Lawyer Media's Law.com
http://www.law.com/index.shtml
BLAWG: http://www.blawg.com/
LLRX Court Rules, Forms & Dockets
http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/
FindLaw for Legal Professionals - Federal and State
Resources, Forms
http://lp.findlaw.com/
Internet Legal Research Group Forms
http://www.ilrg.com/forms/
Free and Low Cost Law Databases
The Public Library of Law http://www.plol.org
Justia http://www.justia.com
Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com
Findlaw http://findlaw.com
LexisNexis Communities
http://www.lexisnexis.com/community/portal/
Questions?
Sheri Lewis
[email protected]