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]