Books on U.S Legal Research
The following books contain valuable information for how to conduct U.S. legal research:
Impeccable Research: A Concise U.S. Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills by Call Number: KL 155 OSBEPublication Date: 2010
Other Research Guides
Law librarians have created numerous online guides for conducting U.S. legal research. Some are very general while others are specific to a particular area of law. To find these guides just conduct a Google search for your topic and the terms "US legal research guide".
Below are some guides that may help in your research:
- Free and Low Cost Legal Research GuideCreated by the Georgetown Law Library, this guide provides advice and information for how to conduct free and low cost U.S. legal research.
- A Guide to the US Federal Legal System Web-based Public Accessible Sources (2018) by Gretchen FeltesCreated by New York University Law Library, this guide provides links to reliable legal sources through publicly accessible web-based databases for conducting research on U.S. federal legal system.
- CALI's Legal Research LessonsThe Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) provides online lessons for various topics of U.S. legal research. If you are interested in accessing any of these lessons, please contact a law librarian at: law-library@unimelb.edu.au
Free Databases of U.S Legal Resources
- USA.govProvides and index of the federal executive offices, departments and agencies.
- Center for Computer-Assisted Legal InstructionProvides free, open e-books for legal education, including ones on federal rules:
Federal Rules of Evidence
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure - GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys)Providess free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. It has a wealth of important information including the United States Code, public laws, the Congressional Record and the Federal Register. Click on "Browse Government Publications" on the left hand side to browse by collection, Congressional committee, date, or author. As this is the official government publisher, documents from this site should be used when an authentic version is sought.
- Congress.govProvides Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information.
- Legal Information Institute (Cornell University Law School)This site offers of number of resources, including an easy to use and free version of a legal encyclopedia, the United States Code and Uniform Commercial Code.
- Office of the Law Revision Council (House of Representative)Search U.S. Code by citation and keyword. Use the "Classification" link to find tables providing cross-references between code sections and recently enacted public laws.
- GovTrackThis site tracks the activities in the U.S. Congress and state legislaturs. It provides access to the status of U.S. federal legislation, voting records for the Senate and House of Representatives, information on Members of Congress, district maps, as well as congressional committees and the Congressional Record.
- FindLawFindLaw's Cases and Codes database contains resources both federal and state legislation, including U.S. Code and links to state statutes.
- JustiaFreely available, this database offers federal and state legal material, including both statutes and case law.