Thursday, January 05, 2006

U.S. Law Research Resources from Westlaw

I was just checking out TWEN (The Westlaw Education Network) and came across this page of U.S. law research resources which looks helpful.

The Legal Research Basics page has the following:

Interactive Map of the Federal Court System Our interactive Federal Court map allows you to click on a state and see the complete federal judiciary for that state, including organization and judges.

Map of the National Reporter System
Go to the National Reporter System map and see exactly where your state falls in the NRS.

Legal Research Pyramid
The Legal Research Pyramid is an interactive tool to help you research more efficiently

Glossary
The Glossary allows you to view definitions of common legal terms.


Description of the "Primary Research" section:

Primary research is the "law of the land" that is created by case, statutory, and regulatory law.

Finding Case Law
Finding Case Law explains what a case is and how West enhances the case for more efficient and effective research.

Finding Statutes
Statutory Research explains what a statute is, how and where to find statutes, and how to interpret statutes.


American Documents
American Documents includes tips on finding and searching the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other important American documents.

Citation Research
Citation Research describes KeyCite, the most current, accurate, comprehensive, and easy to use citator service. KeyCite is a Westlaw exclusive.

West's Topic and Key Number System
West's Topic and Key Number System is the premier index and outline of American case law. Key Numbers allow you to move from case to case with similar issues in any West National Reporter.


In additions, there are sections on "Basic Search Strategies", "Secondary Research" and "Topical Research", mostly concerning ways to search Westlaw.

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