Instruction for Prof. Richard Hunter
Course: Legal Research Fundamentals

Finding Case Law

• Find cases by name, citation, and topic
• Use Lexis-Nexis.
• Tip: Use Lexis-Nexis tips at the bottom of the search screen.

Finding Law Review Articles

• Find law review articles by topic and author.
• Tip: Use Lexis-Nexis.

Cases to be Heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Current Term 

• Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases (Lexis-Nexis)

Preview offers advance analysis by legal experts of the issues, facts and significance of each case being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Tip: Search for specific case, or enter “supreme” to pull up all cases by month.

• Articles on upcoming Supreme Court cases by Linda Greenhouse in the New York Times in column called Supreme Court Roundup.
• Tip: In Lexis Nexis, go to news, then general news.  Use “guided search” form, and search for Linda Greenhouse as author and the word roundup in “headline and lead paragraph(s)”.

Biographies of U.S. Supreme Court Justices

• Almanac of the Federal Judiciary (WESTLAW-- Database Identifier: AFJ)

Biographical information on currently serving federal judges, including U.S. Supreme Court justices.

• Tip: example:  ju (Scalia)

Legal Encyclopedias

• American Jurisprudence 2d, a legal encyclopedia aimed at lawyers, contains over 400 separate titles on a broad range of legal topics which, taken together, systematically describe the entire field of American legal doctrine.  There is a print version of the encyclopedia.
• Tip: On WESTLAW use the database identifier amjur.
• Search by word, or use of the table of contents.

• WEST’s Encyclopedia of American Law, Walsh Library, reference section, call number Ref. KF154 W47 1998.  This 12-volume encyclopedia is aimed at the non-lawyer.  The encyclopedia contains over 4,000 entries devoted to terms, concepts, events, movements, cases, and persons significant to U.S. law.

Reference Desk :  (973) 761-9437

Ask-A-Librarian online form:  http://library.shu.edu/forms/refquest.htm

Richard Stern
sternric@shu.edu
(973) 275-2046

01.29.02

Updated: 01/09/06                                                    since 01/30/02