Law Library Reference Resources Guide
Leah Sandwell-Weiss, Reference Librarian
General Dictionaries
Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary (Gale
Group): Assists researchers in identifying acronyms, initialisms
and abbreviations. Law Library buys every other year.
Location: Law Reference PE 1693 .G3.
The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford
1989): Provides one of the most comprehensive compilations of definitions
to words.
Location: Law Reference PE 1625 .O87 1989.
Also available electronically through Sabio.
General Directories
National Five-Digit Zip Code and Post Office Directory (U.S.
Postal Service): Provides zip code reference information for the
United States. Annual.
Location: The current edition is kept at the end of the Reference Collection
at P 1.10/8.
Can also search for Zip Codes on the Internet.
General Encyclopedias and Almanacs
Encyclopedia Britannica (15th
ed., 1989): The Encyclopedia Britannica provides general information
on numerous topics.
Location: Law Reference AE 5 .E363 1989.
Also available electronically through Sabio.
Encyclopedia of Associations (Gale
Group): A guide to over 22,000 national and international organizations
including contact information. Law Library buys every other year.
Location: Law Reference HS 17 .G332.
Also available electronically through Sabio.
World Almanac and Book of Facts (Primedia
Reference Co.): Provides general reference information on a variety
of topics. Annual.
Location: Law Reference AY 67 .N5 W7.
Also available electronically through Sabio.
General Quotations
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (16th
ed., rev. & enl., Little, Brown & Co. 1992): Provides sources
for numerous quotations.
Location: Law Reference PN 6081 .B27 1992.
Barlett's 10th ed., 1919, is available electronically on the Internet.
General Thesaurus
Roget's International Thesaurus (5th ed., Harper Collins 1992): Provides synonyms and definitions for numerous words.
Location: Law Reference PE 1591 .R73 1992.
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus (3d ed., Houghton Mifflin 1995) is available on the Internet.
Legal Abbreviation Dictionaries
Legal Abbreviation Dictionaries assist in deciphering the titles of legal periodicals and other publications cited in legal publications.
Mary Miles Price, Bieber's Dictionary of Legal
Abbreviations (5th
ed., Hein & Co. 2000): A comprehensive list of abbreviations
used in legal encyclopedias, law dictionaries, law reporters, loose-leaf
services, law reviews, legal treatises, legal reference books and citators
in American legal literature.
Location: Law Reference KF 246 .B46 2000.
World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Hein & Co.): Provides
abbreviations and acronyms for foreign law and legal literature.
Location: Law Reference K 85 .W67 1991.
Legal Almanac
American Jurisprudence 2d Desk Book (West
1998): A unique collection of legal and historical documents, charts,
statistics, and tabulations. It also contains research guides that are
a good overview of West's legal research tools.
Location: Shelved with the American Jurisprudence 2d next to the Reference Office.
The Lawyer's Almanac (Aspen): Contains
references to facts and figures regarding the legal profession. Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 190 .L3625.
Legal Citation Manuals
Legal Citation Manuals are useful in formatting legal citations for pleadings and other legal documents.
Bluebook: A Uniform System of
Citation (18th ed., Harvard L. Rev. Ass'n
2005): Provides instruction on how to format legal citations.
Location: Law Reference and Law Reserve KF 245 .U5 18th 2005.
Association of Legal Writing Directors & Darby
Dickerson, ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of
Citation (2d ed., Aspen L. & Bus. 2003): Provides instruction
on how to format legal citations.
Location: Law Reserve KF 245 .A45 2003.
Legal Dictionaries
Legal dictionaries provide basic definitions, origins and pronunciation of legal terms.
Black's Law Dictionary (Bryan A.
Garner ed., 8th ed., West 2004): Provides legal definitions, rudimentary
explanations of legal terms, and occasional citations of authority for legal
terms.
Location: Law Reserve and Law Reference KF 156 .B532 2004.
Oxford Dictionary of Law (4th
ed., Oxford U. Press 1997): Provides definitions for legal terms.
Location: Law Reference KD 313 .D52.
James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law (Random
House 2000): Provides definitions for legal terms and phrases; also
has appendices with such items as the U.S. Constitution, lists of U.S.
government agencies and international organizations, and legal metasites
on the WWW.
Location: Law Reference KF 156 .C57 2000.
Jay M. Feinman et al. eds., 1001 Legal Words
You Need to Know (Oxford
Univ. Press 2003): Provides definitions for important legal words,
along with explanatory essays.
Location: Law Reference KF 156 .A113 2003.
Legal Directories
Legal directories can assist in locating contact and biographical information on attorneys, judges, legal organizations and other professionals and groups related to the law.
American Society of Trial Consultants Membership Directory: A
directory of members in alphabetical order, then by area of trial consulting
and by state; the directory also contains a list of firms and their members.
Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 195 .E96 A82.
Also available electronically on the Internet.
Law and Legal Information Directory (Gale
Group): Provides contact information for a variety of legal organizations,
services and programs. Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 190 .L38.
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (Reed
Pub. Inc.): A voluntary directory of attorneys within the United States and some international locations. Attorneys listed in the directory provide date of birth, law school attended, and year graduated from law school. The Directory also provides a rating of the attorney's legal ability and general ethical standards. Legal ability ratings are: "C" (from good to high), "B" (from High to Very High), and "A" (from very high to preeminent). General Ethical Standards rating is "V" (Very
High). First-time users should review the explanatory notes and symbols
and User's Guide at the front of each volume. The Directory also lists
state bar associations, law school, and services, suppliers and consultants.
There is an Alphabetical Index and Areas of Practice Index. Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 190 .M34.
Also available electronically on the Internet.
Southwestern Directory of Expert Witnesses & Consultants (9th
ed., American Lawyer Media. 1998): Provides contact information for
expert witnesses in the Southwestern region according to name and subject
matter.
Location: Law Reference KF 195 .E96 S68.
Congressional Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for members of Congress,
staff, leadership, committee chairs and assignments, and committee staff
members. Annual.
Location: Law Reference JK 1083 .B55.
Corporate Yellow Book (Leadership Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for executives of U.S. manufacturers, service businesses, and utilities. Annual. Location: Law Reference HG 4057 .A15646.
Federal Regional Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for federal government
departments, agencies, diplomatic missions, military installations and
service academies outside of Washington, D.C. Annual.
Location: Law Reference JK 6 F425.
Federal Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for federal departments
and independent agencies of the executive branch. Annual.
Location: Law Reference JK 6 .F45.
Financial Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for private and
public financial companies in the United States. Annual.
Location: Law Reference HG 65 .F52.
Foreign Representatives in the U.S. Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for leaders in the
U.S. offices of non-U.S. Corporations, financial institutions, foreign
nations, intergovernmental organizations, media and law firms. Annual.
Location: Law Reference E 154.5 .F67.
Government Affairs Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for government affairs
experts, professional organizations, interest groups, and government institutions
of federal, state and local governments. Annual.
Location: Law Reference JK 1118 .G68.
Judicial Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for state and federal
courts, judges and judicial personnel. Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 8700 .A19 J84.
Law Firms Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for U.S. law firms
and attorneys. The directory is indexed by law firm name, practice area,
law school, geography, name and organization. Annual.
Location: Law Reference KF 190 .L3615.
Municipal Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for elected and
administrative officials in city and county governments and local authorities.
Annual.
Location: Law Reference JS 39 .M79.
News Media Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for news media organizations,
news services, newspapers, networks, television stations, radio stations,
programs, periodicals, non-U.S. media outlets, publishers and independent
journalists and columnists. Annual.
Location: Law Reference PN 4899 .W304 N49.
State Yellow Book (Leadership
Directories, Inc.): Provides contact information for elected and
administrative officials in the 50 state governments. Annual.
Location: Law Reference JK 2403 .S77.
Legal Encyclopedias
American Jurisprudence 2d (Lawyer's
Co-operative Publishing Co.): Also known as AmJur 2d, this is an
in-depth legal encyclopedia; it provides explanations of the law and annotations
to related case law.
Location: Shelved next to the Reference Office.
Corpus Juris Secundum (West): Also
known as CJS, this is another in-depth legal encyclopedia; it provides
explanation of the law and annotations to related case law.
Location: Shelved next to the Reference Office.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law (West
1998): Provides definitions and background information on legal terms
and concepts.
Location: Law Reference KF 154 .W47 1998.
Words and Phrases (West): Provides
definitions and explanation of legal terms from case law with annotations
of those cases.
Location: Shelved next to the Reference Office following CJS.
Legal Periodical and/or Book Indexes
Legal indexes can be used to locate topical information in books, periodicals, and other formats. The indexes can also be used to locate publications by author and/or case names.
Current Law Index (CLI) (Gale
Group): Starting in 1980, this comprehensive index covers over 875
law journals from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Australia, and New Zealand.
Location: Law Reference tables.
Also available online at the Law Library under the name LegalTrac.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (U.
California Press): Indexes selected legal periodicals dealing with
International Law, Comparative Law, and the Municipal Law of countries
other than the United States, the British Isles and the British Commonwealth
that have a Common Law basis.
Location: Law Reference tables.
Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (H.W.
Wilson Co.): Indexes legal periodicals and books published in the
United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Indexes are organized according to subject, author, and case names.
Location: Law Reference tables.
Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law (Glanville
Publishers, Inc.): Includes articles in periodicals not included in the Current Law Index, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, Legal Resource Index or Legal Trac.
Location: Law Reference tables.
Law Books & Serials in Print (R.R.
Bowker): Contains entries with indexes arranged by subject, title,
publisher, wholesaler and distributor, vendor, audio and video cassettes,
software and multimedia producers.
Location: Law Reference KF 1 .L34.
Legal Looseleafs in Print (Infosources
Publishing): Contains a listing and subject index of over 3,600 legal
looseleafs published in the United States.
Location: Law Reference KF 1 .E48.
Legal Newsletters in Print (Infosources
Publishing): Contains detailed bibliographic information and indexing
on over 2,200 print, electronic and fax newsletters in the United States.
Location: Law Reference KF 1 .L44.
Legal Research Guides
The Federal Register: What It
Is and How to Use It (GPO 1992): Contains an explanation
of the Federal Register system and instruction on how to use it.
Location: Law & Law Reference KF 70 .A2 U54; Law Government Docs AE 2.
108:F 31/2.
Robert C. Berring & Elizabeth A. Edinger, Finding the Law (11th
ed., West 1999): Provides instruction on how to conduct legal research.
Location: Law Reserve KF 240 .B45 1999.
Stephen Elias & Susan Levinkind, Legal
Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (13th ed.,
Nolo Press 2005): Provides instruction on how to conduct legal
research.
Location: Law Reference KF 240 .E35 2005.
West's Analysis of American Law (West): Provides
an explanation of how to use the key number analysis in West's digests.
Annual.
Location: Law & Law Reference KF 247 .W47.
Legal Quotations
Fred R. Shapiro, Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations (Oxford
U. Press 1993): Contains over 3,500 quotes from American judges and
legal commentators.
Location: Law Reference KF 159 .S53 1993.
Elizabeth Frost-Knappman et al., The Quotable
Lawyer (New
England Publishing Assoc., Inc. 1998): Contains over 3,000 quotes
from legal writers, thinker and personalities.
Location: Law Reference K 58 .F76 1998.
Eugene C. Gerhart, Quote It Completely (Hein & Co., Inc. 1998): Contains
over 5,500 quotes from law and literature.
Location: Law Reference K 58 .Q687 1998.
Legal Thesaurus
Burton's Legal Thesaurus (3rd ed., MacMillan 1998): Gives synonyms, definitions, associated legal concepts and translations of foreign phrases for legal terms.
Location: Law Reference & Law Reserve KF 156 .B856 1998.
Protocol and Etiquette Manuals
Letitia Baldridge, Letitia Baldridge's New Complete Guide to Executive Manners (Rawson
Assoc. 1993): Contains information on business manners.
Location: Law Reference HF 5389 .B34 1993.
Webster's New World Robert's Rules of Order Simplified and Applied (Robert McConnell Productions 1999): A guide to parliamentary procedure or group decision-making processes. Location: Law Reference JF 515 .W42 1999. Available as an E-Book through Sabio.
Statistical Abstracts
Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S.
Census Bureau): An annual data book providing summaries of statistics
on the social, political and economic organization of the United States.
Location: Latest edition maintained at Law Reference and Law Reserve
HA 202; earlier editions maintained at Law Government Documents C 3.134:[year].
Also available electronically on the Internet;
this version has data from 2001 through the 2004 - 2005 edition.
County and City Extra: Annual
Metro, City, and County Data Book (Bernan Press): Provides
statistical information for every state, county, metropolitan area, congressional
district and for all cities in the United States with a 1990 population
of 25,000 or more. Annual.
Location: Law Reference HA 203 .C68.
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