Saturday, March 2, 2013

Legal Questions




I Need Help with a Legal Problem

Evelyn Smith

 MS in Library Science, University of North Texas, 2012




These sources come from a Legal Research course for an MS degree in Library of Science from the College of Information at the University of North Texas with the exception of the videos on free legal research.  Reference librarians can’t legally practice law without a license, but they can point patrons to sources that dispense suitable legal information. All of the sources listed below are available Online.  

The Waco-McLennan County Library gives patrons online access to a large number of legal journals that are available through TexServe; however, it doesn't provide access to the West Law, Lexis Nexis, or HeinOnline databases.  The nearest library where McLennan County residents can access these legal databases is the Baylor Law School Library.



Legal Advice for all Americans

FindLaw. (2012). Thompson Reuters.  Retrieved from http://www.findlaw.com/

FindLaw helps users find a lawyer by legal issue and location, learn about the law by reading about legal issues, watch legal videos, or browse legalwiki.

LawHelp.org. (2013).  Pro Bono Net.  Retrieved from http://www.lawhelp.org

LawHelp.org furnishes legal guides on such topics as understanding the difference between federal, state, and local courts and the distinctions between criminal and civil law.  An interactive map connects users with legal help for each state in the Union. 

Legal Information Institute. (n. d.).  Cornell University Law School. Retrieved from
http://www.law.cornell.edu/

Since 1992, the Legal Information Institute has provided resources for primary legal documents at the state and federal level as well as an online legal encyclopedia and a link to “Ask a Lawyer Online".  If the user doesn’t have access to a subscription database, like West Law or Lexis Nexis, LII is an acceptable substitute, although it doesn’t include the interpretative help the databases do.

Oyez. (2011). Chicago-Kent School of Law.  Retrieved from http://www.oyez.org/

Focusing on the United States Supreme Court, Oyez provides links to Supreme Court cases by term and case, as well as the latest news stories on the SCOTUS, information about particular courts from Jay to Roberts and the current justices.

Regulations.gov. (2013).  Regulations.org. Retrieved from
http://www.regulations.gov/#!home;tab=search

The USA.gov site is the portal to information about federal regulations by category and topic. 

Thomas.  (2013). Library of Congress.  Retrieved from http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php

This Library of Congress link provides  users access to bills and resolutions passed by the United States House of Representatives and Senate, The Congressional Record, Presidential nominations, treatises, committee reports, government resources, legal resources on law from the Library of Congress, an online guide to law, and Web access to the US Code.  Teachers will also appreciate links to classroom activities, lesson plans, and primary sources.

Texas Legal Advice Online


State Bar of Texas. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.texasbar.com/am/template.cfu?section=home

The State Bar of Texas assists users in finding lawyers in their home counties as well as in  certification and practice areas.  The site also furnishes help in researching legal information and current Texas legal news while it provides URL addresses to other resources that can help potential clients; for example, users can find access to an attorney if they otherwise can't afford one through this Website.


 Texas Courts Online. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.courts.state.tx.us/

The Texas Courts Online Web page provides links to selected counties that provide trial court cases online as well as links to the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals.  Moreover, the user can finds links to a directory for the Texas judicial system along with other valuable links, such as the online TCO Encyclopedia that helps explain the particulars of civil procedure and the structure in the Texas court system as well as other links that provide Texas-specific information both to Texas attorneys and to the general public.

TexasLawHelp.org. (2013).  Pro Bono Net.  Retrieved from http://texaslawlhelp.org/

This informative Website helps Texas users understand the legal problems they might face by providing links that explain legal issues, including but not limited to family law, consumer law, civil rights, crime victims, employment, and disabilities. TexasLawHelp.org additionally provides do-it-yourself interactive features and do-it-yourself forms as well as a legal directory, instructions on how to research a legal problem, videos illustrating the same, and legal news of interest. An online edition of the current Texas Bar Journal is also available.

Accessing

 Legal Research 

Videos

How to Do Free internet Legal Research.  (2012, August 23).  John Marshall Law School Chicago.  (15:22 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6hp-j6GNQ8

The John Marshall Law School video recommends turning to the following Web sites after performing an initial keyword search to obtain an overview of what the user wants to research: 

To compensate for the lack of access to subscription legal data bases,  the JMLS video also suggests that the user can access both legal articles and relevant court cases through Google Scholar, limiting the parameters of the search by data, federal, or state court. As of yet, no good free alternative to Shephard’s or Westlaw’s Key Cite exists, although the user can go to the Social Science Research Network  (SSRN) to look for recent interpretations of case law that legal journals haven’t vetted yet: http://ssrn.com/

 Meyer, Patrick. (2011, June 6).  Teaching Internet Legal Research.  Loyola Law School. CALI Conference for Law School Computing.  (56:12 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epoSy8PNgxI

Meyer urges researchers to start with a broad search before narrowing it. He also stresses that almost all primary federal and state law is available free on the Web, although it usually doesn't come with interpretative notes like Lexis Nexis and Westlaw case law does.  Moreover, since most of these Websites are either governmental Web sites or sponsored by law schools, they are easily verifiable.

The first four of these resources make available the widest array of legal resources available online:  

Meyers additionally recommends the legal information available on the following Web sites.  Thomas, for example, allows the user to search by bill number and through keyword searches for federal law.

In some instances, such as in the case of LexisOne, only a limited amount of free legal resources are available.  




The legal links furnished on this Web page represent the opinions of their authors, so they complement—not substitute—for an attorney’s advice.



Posted by at

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)