Chapter Resources
Part II: Preparation

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Ch 5 - Legal Research Basics
Researching the Law
Legal Information vs. Legal Advice

• Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL). 2011 “Chapter 4. Legal Reference vs. Legal Advice.” In Locating the Law: A Handbook for Non-Law Librarians, 5th edition.
• Government Law Libraries, a Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries. Unauthorized Practice of Law Toolkit. 
  

Interpreting Legal Citations

• Cornell Legal Information Institute: “Introduction to Basic Legal Citation” by Peter W. Martin.
• Public Resource.org. The Indigo Book. An open source system of legal citation compatible with the The Bluebook.
• West Texas A&M University: “Interpreting Legal Citations”

Researching Federal Law
  Chapters 1, 2, and 3 in the text.

Researching State Law
  Chapters 1, 2, and 3 in the text.

Updating Federal Statutes Online

• U.S. Code Online

Updating Federal Regulations Online

• U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Online

Ch 6 - Resources Beyond the Public Library
Law Libraries
Directories of Law Libraries

• WashLaw, “Law School Library and State Law Library Catalogs”
• WashLaw, “State, Court, and County Law Libraries”
  • Contains very selected listings of county law libraries. To locate a more complete list for a given state, go to your favorite website search engine and enter, for example, oregon county law libraries or louisiana parish law libraries.

Law Librarianship

• American Association of Law Librarians (AALL)
• American Association of Law Libraries, “Careers in Law Librarianship”
• American Association of Law Librarians, “Legal Research Competency Standards"
• American Association of Law Libraries, “County Public Law Library Standards” (2015).

Legal Research Blogs

• LLRX.com. One of the longest standing blogs about legal research and web technology topics.
  • Regular posts with recommendations on legal research resources and technologies. 
• Legal Research Plus. Created by the legal research instructors at Stanford University’s Law School.

Law Library Research Guides & Tutorials (Examples)

• Legal Research Guides
• Legal Research Tutorials

Public Law Library Consortia & Websites (Examples)

• Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
  • Trial court libraries—Massachusetts
• Public Law Library (California)
  • Consortium of county law libraries—California
• Oregon Council of County Libraries
  • Consortium of county law libraries—Oregon
• San Diego County Public Law Library
  • Large county library—San Diego County Law Library

Free Legal Aid Resources
Directories of Legal Aid Organizations

• LawHelp.org
  • A gateway to nonprofit legal aid providers in the U.S., with the mission of helping low and moderate income people find free legal aid programs in their communities.
• FindLegalHelp.org
  • A service of the American Bar Association (ABA), with links to legal aid resources in the U.S. and Canada.

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Primary Law: Federal Law & Uniform Acts

• Federal Arbitration Act: U.S. Code Title 9
  • Federal Arbitration Act
• Uniform Arbitration Act (2000)
  • Uniform Acts and their enactment state by state
• Uniform Collaborative Law Act

Primary Law: State Statutes

• Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Alternative Dispute Resolution State Statutes

Organizations

• American Arbitration Association (AAA)
  • AAA maintains a directory of about 7,000 arbitrators (as of August 2016).
• Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)
  • International group of professionals involved in mediation. 
• Mediate.com Newsletter
  • Newsletter with articles on frequently asked questions about mediation.
• National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM)
  • Promotes community mediation services and has a search engine for finding community-based mediation services.

Self-Instructional Guides

• American Bar Association, Mediation Guides
  • Three guides: family mediation, general mediation, and complex mediation. 
• Stoner, K. (2015). Divorce Without Court: A Guide to Mediation and Collaborative Divorce, 4th edition. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
• Lovenheim, P. & Guerin, L. (2004). Mediate, Don’t Litigate. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.

Choosing A Lawyer
Directories of Lawyers

• Martindale Hubbell Lawyer Locator
• FindLaw Lawyer Directory
• State Bar Associations and Legal Associations by Area of Law, Internet Legal Research Group

Guides for Choosing a Lawyer

• State Bar of Georgia, How to Choose a Lawyer
• Massachusetts Bar Association, “Tips on Choosing a Lawyer”

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​Chapter Resources

• Part I: Foundation - Chapters 3 and 4
• Part II: Preparation - Chapters 5 and 6
• Part III: Information - Chapters 7 - 14
• Part IV: Collection - Chapter 17​

Appendices

• Appendix A: Glossary
  
• Appendix B: Online Recommended Resources
  
• Appendix C: State Law Resources Online (only available online)
  

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