LLRX.com: Guides for Legal Research & Technology

Looking for focused research guides and articles on leading edge topics in law and technology? Try LLRX.com, a site with contributions by lawyer and law librarian experts on subjects ranging from "Animal Rights on the Road to Personhood" to "Researching Australian Law" and features on the latest courtroom technology. LLRX is edited and published by Sabrina I. Pacifici, also the founder and editor of beSpacific, another wonderful resource with daily updates summarizing and linking to new government and international organization documents, reports, and data on legal, economic, scientific and cultural issues.  

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Finding Study Guides

In addition to CALI lessons online, you can find some great study guides and study aids--such as the Examples & Explanations series, flash cards, CD's, and more--at the Law Library.  Many of the Library's study aids are kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk and circulate for 3-hour periods; others are found in the main stacks.  Finding the right study aid for a 1L or advanced course is easy with "Study Guides," one of the research guides on the Library website.  The "Study Guides" research guide organizes these resources by both subject and series, including some online and media series.  Print copies of "Study Guides" are kept at the Reference Desk handout rack for students' convenience.

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Research Guide(ance)

In addition to our webcast video tutorials on research (see Sunday's post), we also have online research guides on a wide variety of topics.  So, for example, you can find a guide to help you research for writing a paper, journals you now have your own dedicated guide and 1Ls, that ever useful 1L Law Library Survival Guide.

Check out the list of all of our guides.

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Finding a Good Treatise

Whether you're studying a new subject this semester or have a job or internship expecting you to work with an unfamiliar area of law, there is often nothing more helpful than a good treatise on the subject. Legal treatises present an organized, detailed explanation of a specific area of the law (such as torts, immigration law, or evidence), generally written by an expert or authority in the field. 

To find reliable and outstanding treatises on many legal subjects, try these tools:

-  Recommended Legal Treatises: Key Treatises by Subject Area - a Hofstra Law Library research guide listing selected treatises by subject, with a direct link to the library catalog record for each treatise and information about its location and whether it can be found on Lexis, Westlaw, or other online database. Printed copies of this guide can be found in the handout rack next to the Law Library Reference Desk.

-  Georgetown Law Library Treatise Finders - a guide to authoritative and practical treatises on over sixty general and more specialized subjects, with online availability indicated.

If you have questions about treatises or need some help finding a good one, just ask one of the reference librarians.

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Surfing the Library

Take a quick web tour of the Library web resources.

The Library web page looks a little different than it did last semester.  First years (and more seasoned students) - there is lots of useful information and useful tools for your research.  For instance - did you know we have Research Guides for Paper Writing, Journal Cite Checking and a 1L Law Library Survival Guide ?

And this just scratches the surface.

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New York Statutes and Reporters Research Guide

Are you researching New York state statutes, codes, cases and would like to have all the resources in one place?  Try the New York Statutes and Reporters Research Guide, this guide is designed to give you the basic sources of legal information for New York session laws, statutes, state code, administrative codes and reporters.  This guide only reflects resources available in the Law Library and online.  Click here to access the guide.

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Environmental Law & Due Diligence Research Guide

Are you researching environmental law or due diligence and would like to have all the resources in one place?  Try the Environmental Law & Due Diligence Research Guide, this guide is designed to give you an overview of print and online resources relevant to environmental law and due diligence research.  This guide only reflects resources available in the Law Library and online.  It covers resources for case law, federal materials, treatises, forms, federal agencies and more!  Click here to access the guide.

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Video Research Guides

Did you know the Library's web site has links to online research tutorials?  We have just added some new webcasts on ethics, tax and municipal law research.  Scroll down to  find additional webcasts on a variety of research topics.

Watch the webcasts page -  in the next couple of months as we will be adding more.  As always, suggestions for video research guide topics are most welcome.

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Check out our new design

I am sure some of you have already noticed the Library's web site has a new look and feel.

Of particular excitement to me is the ability to search for databases, research guides and eventually webcasts (this is still in progress)  using keywords.  You can still browse our databases by topic and alphabetically.

Check out the new search feature  . . . and the rest of the new site and tell us what you think.  Use the comments below or stop by and chat with your favorite Reference librarian.


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Don't forget Research Guides

For those of you doing any kind of research (1Ls - memos for Legal Writing, 2Ls, 3Ls and 4Ls - papers and notes), make sure to check out our online Research Guides . Some of these are pdfs of handouts, others are web-based research guides. The topics range from Recommended Treatises and to Forms for drafting, Tax, Family and International Law research.

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Research Guides

Writing a paper? Need help finding a source? A topic? The library has many research guides to help you find what you need. You might want to take a look at finding articles to help you get started.



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Legal Research Engine

From my cozy spot near the Reference Desk, I've noticed that paper writing research and challenging source gathering assignments are taking up lots of law student time these days. This is a good time for a reminder about Legal Research Engine, one of my favorite online resources that can provide quick help. Developed by Cornell University Law Library, Legal Research Engine searches through a select group of web sites that are sources of authoritative research guides. It comes up with a focused list of guides with direct links to the web sites you need for that specialized and unfamiliar paper topic, or even for tracking down that elusive foreign law. The next time you don't know where to start, or need trustworthy online resources for an unfamiliar topic, check out Legal Research Engine.


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India: Legal Research Guide

News this week about India's tragic terrorist attacks reminded us that India is increasingly important as an international business and financial center. India is also an important part of the global legal community with a system rooted in our own English common law tradition. For law students, a great starting point for information and research help on India is "A Guide to India's Legal Research and Legal System," prepared by the Chief Librarian at the Supreme Court of India and just published in October 2008 by Globalex. Globalex, an online publication of the Hauser Global Law School Program of New York University, is dedicated to foreign and international legal research and offers expert guides for many countries and for topics of interest in international and comparative law.


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Criminal Law Resources: Fingerprint Evidence Challenges

Fingerprint analysis has been around since the 19th Century and we assume that if the police can get fingerprints, they are good identification. Actually the science is not is not as accurate as assumed and professionals have been debating the reliability and admissibility of fingerprint evidence for a number of years. This guide - Criminal Law Resources: Fingerprint Evidence Challenges - gives a good overview of the discussion. It also provides links to the government agencies and study groups that developed standards for fingerprint collection and analysis. These groups have also reviewed issues concerning its reliability.


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