How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers From the American Association of Law Libraries

American Bar Association With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.

Attorney directory from Martindale  Lawyer locator plus ratings and more.

Basic Legal Citation This introduction to legal citation is focused on the forms of citation used in professional practice rather than those used in journal publication. For that reason, it does not cover The Bluebook's distinct typography rules for the latter. Read through its table of contents and introductory material. Each topic covered here includes references to both The Bluebook and the ALWD Citation Manual. Observing how the manual that you have chosen (or others have chosen for you) arrays its more detailed treatment should be part of your initial exploration of each topic here.

Basic Legal Research Guide From Pagewise.

Bill of Rights This site contains the first 10 amendments of the Constitution (the Bill of Rights) as well as the Preamble and Amendments 11-27.

Code of Federal Regulations  The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. This access is through Cornell University's Legal Information Institute.

Essential Sites for Texas Lawyers  Continuing legal education site.

Federal Register Online The Federal Register is available online from 1994 and is the official daily publication for Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as Executive Orders and other Presidential Documents.

FindLaw The leading Web portal focused on law and government. Provides access to a comprehensive and fast-growing online library of legal resources for use by legal professionals, law students, consumers and small businesses. Includes a section on Texas Resources and a new Supreme Court center.

FindLaw: Cases and Codes

FindLaw for Law Students Student Resources, News, Community, Technology links

FindLaw: Legal Forms

FreeAdvice.com  FreeAdvice.com seeks to provide the most useful, easy-to-understand, comprehensive and balanced legal information to consumers and small businesses, and to help people and businesses find answers to their legal questions and solutions to their legal problems. The legal content on FreeAdvice.com has been principally prepared by top attorneys from over 25 leading American law firms, from the East Coast to Hawaii.

Freedom of Information Act  The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted in 1966 to provide people a means to access federal agency records, with the exception of those excluded from consideration under the FOIA or protected by one of nine FOIA exemptions.

Guide to the Law Online

Historic Supreme Court Decisions by Party Name

Internet Legal Resources Guide A comprehensive resource of the information available on the Internet concerning law and the legal profession, with an emphasis on the United States of America. Designed for everyone, lay persons and legal scholars alike, it is quality controlled to include only the most substantive legal resources online.

Internet Legal Resource Guide Legal Forms Archive

Landmark Judicial Legislation  Timeline covers 1787 to 1982.

Law Firms in Martindale Directory

Law Reviews & Periodicals

Law School Admission Council LSAC administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) four times a year at designated centers throughout the world. It is required for admission to all ABA-approved law schools, most Canadian law schools, and many non-ABA-approved law schools.

LawSmart.com A free online service for the Internet community. Provides templates of the legal documents that are commonly used in routine legal transactions.

Legal Dictionary, etc

Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School (LII) The LII is known internationally as a leading “law-not-com” provider of public legal information. We offer all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. We also publish important secondary sources: libraries in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of “topical” pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law.

Cornell University's extensive web site includes a Social Security Library and links to information on a variety of legal information sources as well as a fulltext search of law journals on the Internet.

Legal Research: An Overview

lexisONE(sm) Resources for small law firms including free access to the Martindale-Hubbell® Law Digest and keyword searchable Federal Case Law. Registration is required.

LexNotes Pathfinders

LLRX.com A unique, free Web journal dedicated to providing legal professionals with the most up-to-date information on a wide range of Internet legal research and technology-related issues.

Municipal Codes Contains Codes for more than 1,600 local governments in searchable online databases.

Nolo.com Nolo's Self-help Law Centers provide legal information and guides to conducting legal research.

Oyez Project  The OYEZ Project aims to include all leading constitutional law cases into their database. Includes multimedia files requiring QuickTime and RealPlayer. If the case you want was decided after 1893, the FindLaw Project is a good source for the complete opinion. FINDLAW is also a good source for non-Supreme Court opinions.

Reading Legal Citations

Texas Constitutions Digitizations Project A complete collection of the seven constitutions that have governed Texas in its days as a Mexican state, as an independent republic, and as a state up to the adoption of the present constitution in 1876. It also includes the Mexican Constitution of 1824, the Texas Declaration of Independence and some proposed constitutions that were never enacted.

Texas: Constitution, Legislation, Statutes, Administrative Code

Texas Cases: Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas 5th Court of Appeals, and Texas 8th Court of Appeals

Texas Court Rules: Court and Judicial Administration, and Ethics: Texas Electronic Ethics Reporter

Texas Legislative Reference Library  Includes information on all aspects of the Texas legislature, includes access to the Texas Records and Information Locator (TRAIL) where you can find electronic publications in the following areas: Agriculture, Commerce, Culture, Education, Government, Health, Human services, Law, Natural resources, and Transportation.

Texas Legislature Online  Information updates to this web site occur approximately 5 to 15 minutes after they are entered into the legislature's internal computer system. The internal system is updated by several different departments as soon as or shortly after legislative events occur.

Texas Online This site contains a wealth of information about Texas including: travel information, working in Texas, doing business in and with Texas, Texas Government, Texas Electronic Library, Texas agencies, counties, cities, councils of government, the Texas Constitution.

Texas Register

Texas Statutes - These files include revisions to the Texas Statutes through the 77th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, 2001. To identify changes enacted by the 78th Legislature use the Index to Sections Affected.

Thomas: US Government on the Internet  A comprehensive federal legislative information site. Full text of all legislation introduced in Congress and the Congressional Record since 1989, summaries of bills since 1973, recent congressional committee reports and legislative schedules. A search engine locates bills and other documents.

U. S. Code The Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. Search words, phrases or parts of the Code. The U.S. Code Classification Tables show where recently enacted laws will appear in the United States Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws.

U.S. Department of Justice Provides a variety of legal documents, reports and publications. Includes a link to the ADA (American With Disabilities Act) web site.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office  Provides searchable bibliographic and full-text patent databases covering all US patents issued since 1790. Search on patent numbers and current US classifications hyperlinked to full-page images of each page of each patent. Includes a link to the American Inventor's Protection Act of 1999.

U.S. Supreme Court  Includes an overview of the court, biographies of the justices, a docket, opinions, rules and orders, a visitor's guide, links to public information, and related web sites. Landmark Judicial Legislation  Timeline covers 1787 to 1982.

U.S. Supreme Court Opinions & Decisions (1992-present)

usscplus.com

Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research

Westlaw by Credit Card

Zimmerman's Research Guide