Law: Home

This guide is designed to help you navigate Library-licensed and open access research sources beyond what you might easily find in UC Library Search.

Use the front page to find quick links to frequently requested resources and tools.
Explore the tabs on the left to find curated links to specialized resources for different subfields, methodologies, and research questions.

Accessing Electronic Resources?

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The UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN also provides off campus access to resources the Library provides. Instructions and assistance for UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN users can be found in the Pulse intranet.

Best Bets for Legal Research

Just learning about a topic? Start with secondary sources like books or law review articles. Law review articles are the scholarly journal of the legal world and often contain citations to relevant cases and legislation on the topic at hand. Reading law review articles on your research topic can save you lots time.

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic), WestlawNext, and HeinOnline contain the full text of law review articles and other research tools including legal encyclopedias and other reference books. These databases also include the full text of federal and state case law (published court opinions), regulations, and statutes.

For lower-level court transcripts, you will generally need to contact the original court for availability and ordering instructions. (Expect to pay a fee.)
►Search tip: See newspapers/media coverage for additional information on cases that never made it to the appellate courts or were otherwise never published.

UC Library Search - search all of the UC's library collections
UC Library Search allows you to search all of the University of California's library collections. It includes scholarly and peer-reviewed journals and articles, books and ebooks, course reserves, special formats (media, maps, newspapers, dissertations, etc.), government documents and datasets and primary resources, archives, and special collections

Westlaw Campus Research
Full text access to federal and state court cases, laws and regulations; law reviews, legal periodicals, and encyclopedias; European Union legal documents; and legal guides. Also includes some news sources.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni contains thousands of full-text sources including newspapers, wires, transcripts, newsletters, magazines, trade journals; also industry news, company information, law reviews, court decisions, statutes. Coverage dates vary. International and U.S. sources. (Previously called Lexis Nexis Academic).
HeinOnline
Full text of law reviews/legal periodicals plus primary sources such as the Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Register; Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS); Treaties and Agreements Library; United States Code; U.S. Attorney General Opinions; U.S. Congressional Documents; U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals; U.S. Federal Legislative History Library; U.S. Statutes at Large; State Session Laws Library; State Statutes: A Historical Archive; Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes); World Constitutions Illustrated; World Treaty Library. Also includes special topics databases.
Canadian Content
Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes)
Provincial Statutes of Canada

Case Law
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
U.S. Supreme Court Library

International Resources
Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes)
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)
History of International Law
Law Library of Congress Reports
Open Society Justice Initiative
Provincial Statutes of Canada
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
World Constitutions Illustrated: Contemporary & Historical Documents and Resources
World Treaty Library

International Treaties and Agreements
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
World Treaty Library

Journals and Periodicals
Bar Journals
Law Journal Library
NOMOS: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases

Special Collections
Air and Space Law
American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Brennan Center for Justice Publications at NYU School of Law
Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE)
COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present
Cataloging Legal Literature
Civil Rights and Social Justice
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Democracy in America
Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection
LGBTQ+ Rights
Labor and Employment: The American Worker
Law Academy Project
Legal Classics
Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School)
Military and Government
NOMOS: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy
Open Society Justice Initiative
Pentagon Papers
Religion and the Law
Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
Voting Rights & Election Law
Water Rights & Resources
Women and the Law (Peggy)

U.S. Federal Content
Bremer-Kovacs Collection: Historic Documents Related to the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present
Civil Rights and Social Justice
Code of Federal Regulations
Executive Privilege
Federal Register Library
GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions
History of Supreme Court Nominations
Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S.
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection
Labor and Employment: The American Worker
Law Library of Congress Reports
Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School)
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies
U.S. Code
U.S. Congressional Documents
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library
U.S. Presidential Library
U.S. Statutes at Large
U.S. Supreme Court Library
Water Rights & Resources

U.S. State Content
Civil Rights and Social Justice
LGBTQ+ Rights
National Survey of State Laws
Prestatehood Legal Materials: A Fifty-State Research Guide
Session Laws Library
State Attorney General Reports and Opinions
State Constitutions Illustrated
State Reports: A Historical Archive
State Statutes: A Historical Archive
Subject Compilations of State Laws
Water Rights & Resources
ProQuest Congressional
Indexes Congressional materials from 1789-present. Includes full text access to U.S. legislative information, including bills and pending legislation, legislative history, hearings, testimony, Congressional Record, CRS Reports, public laws, etc.(For full text of most historic reports and documents, try the U.S. Congressional Serial Set via Readex.) Now also includes Serial Set Maps 1789-2007; Executive Branch Documents 1789-1952; and Presidential Materials 1789-Present
VoxGov
Includes a broad range of official and ephemeral information resources issued by federal agencies, individual officials and candidates, and other organizations from all branches of the U.S. Federal Government, and links that content to publicly accessible government documentation. Includes social media, official media releases, legislation, regulations, and a variety of government documents from Congress and the Executive branches. Textual data can be visualized in word clouds, tree maps, bubble graphs, and terms view graphs. Users who sign up for an account and agree to additional terms of service can download a small number of full documents; researchers and students with non-commercial, academic projects can apply with VoxGov for additional bulk data download credentials.

CourtListener
Provides free access to primary legal materials. The case law content includes opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Federal Appellate Courts, U.S. Federal District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts, U.S. State Supreme and Appellate Courts, and many special courts.

Introduction to Legal Research on Westlaw (40 pages)
Everything you need to know, with screenshots, in order to research a legal issue and search for statutes, regulations, and cases using Westlaw.

Law Library of Congress Research Guides (LibGuides)
LLSDC's Legislative Source Book
The Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC) is the regional chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, with a geographic focus on the Washington, D.C. region. LLSDC's Legislative Source Book includes guides to all sorts of common legal research topics.
Locating the Law
This handbook is designed especially to assist the California non-law librarian with legal reference questions.

Legal Research in a Nutshell by Kent Olson
ISBN: 9781636590639
Publication Date: 2021-05-07
Finding and using legal resources effectively is an essential skill for lawyers. This comprehensive but succinct guide covers research procedures using major online services, free Internet resources, and library materials. Several hundred websites are discussed and placed in context for effective and productive use in research. Discussion includes coverage of legislative history, administrative law, specialized and interdisciplinary resources, and research in international and comparative law. Appendices list state research guides and treatises and services by subject, and a companion website has a regularly updated list of URLs and illustrations of online and print resources. For more information and additional teaching materials, visit the companion site.

Legal Research in a Nutshell links
This page provides links to websites discussed in Morris L. Cohen & Kent C. Olson, Legal Research in a Nutshell (West).

Law Review Commons
Large repository of free and open law reviews hosted on the bepress platform
List of Law Reviews for Pre-Law Students
Compiled by MIT Career Advising & Professional Development
Cali.org - The eLangdell Bookstore
100% Free. Creative Commons licensed. Peer-reviewed. Open eBooks for legal education from the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. Titles cover most topics covered in law school.
Justia Blawg Search
Links to most popular blawgs, blawgs by topic, and has a search box to search for posts by keyword.

Useful tutorials and videos

How to Install the VPN (2 minute video)

General search guides

Introduction to Legal Research on Westlaw (40 pages)
Everything you need to know, with screenshots, in order to research a legal issue and search for statutes, regulations, and cases using Westlaw.

Secondary Sources

How to research using law reviews, treatises, and journals (Westlaw training video - 2 minutes)

Legislation

Rules & Regulations

Caselaw

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