Law Library Reference Resources

Leah Sandwell-Weiss
Reference Librarian

Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary (Gale Group)

Assists researchers in identifying acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations. Law Library buys every other year. Available online.

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 online.

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National Five-Digit Zip Code and Post Office Directory (U.S. Postal Service)

Provides zip code reference information for the United States. Annual. Available online.

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Encyclopedia Britannica (15th ed., 1989)

The Encyclopedia Britannica provides general information on numerous topics. Location: Law Reference AE 5 .E363 1989. Also available online.

Encyclopedia of Associations (Gale Group)

A guide to over 22,000 national and international organizations including contact information. Latest hard copy version in library is from 2009. Location: Law Reference HS 17 .G332. Also available online.

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. While available online, only current through 2009.

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Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (16th ed., rev. & enl., Little, Brown & Co. 1992)

Provides sources for numerous quotations. Location: Law Reference PN 6081 .B27 1992. Bartlett's 10th ed., 1919, also available online.

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Roget's International Thesaurus (5th ed., Harper Collins 1992)

Provides synonyms and definitions for numerous words. Location: Law Reference PE 1591 .R73 1992.

American Heritage Roget's Thesaurus (Houghton Mifflin 2013)

Available online.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 online.

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 online.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 online; 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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Research Category

Legal Research

Law (General)

Research Guides

Reference Materials