Guide To Legal Information

A GUIDE TO LEGAL INFORMATION RESOURCES

Whether you're writing a paper on a legal topic or searching for consumer-oriented legal information, this guide will point you to resources to begin your search.

The Wake County Public Library system assumes no responsibility for any information, advice or services provided by any site or source listed in this guide.

Subjects to use when searching the online catalog:

Courts - United States
Law - United States
Lawyers - United States
Legal research - United States

Reference Books
(In Library Use Only)

ABA Family Legal Guide
R 349.73 American
Covers a wide range of legal areas, including family law, home ownership, small business, consumer credit, wills and estates, and the rights of older Americans.

Black's Law Dictionary
R 340 BLA
Preeminent Legal Dictionary

Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
R 342.73 Ency
Over 2000 entries pertaining to all facets of the Constitution and related doctrinal concepts, specific judicial decisions, important people, and historical periods in American constitutional development.

Landmark Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court
R 347.73 Landmark
Covers key cases in American history, from birth control and equal pay issues to decisions concerning the Slave Ship cases and Leary's marijuana case.

National Survey of State Laws
R 349.73 NAT
The book is organized into eight broad sections covering 42 topics of business, consumer, criminal, education, employment, family, real estate, tax, and general civil law. Each section begins with a narrative overview of the types of law to be covered, areas of possible controversy, and terms commonly used in discussing the topic. Within each section, charts compare the salient points of each area of state law.

Nolo's Encyclopedia of Everyday Law
349.73 Irving
A practical book for non-lawyers, providing clear answers to frequently asked questions in 74 different areas of the law.

U.S. Supreme Court
R 347.73 United
Focuses primarily on biographies of the Supreme Court justices, but has very helpful chronological timelines. The volumes are separated by the Court terms.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law
R 348.73 West
This twelve volume set is simply organized, has very thorough explanations of over 4,000 legal terms and important legal events, and devotes a whole volume to a comprehensive legal dictionary.

Databases Available Through the
Wake County Public Library System

CQ Researcher
Published in print and online 44 times a year, the single-themed CQ Researcher report offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy.

Legal Websites

American Bar Association
Information and links concerning consumer legal help
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.html

Findlaw
Online forms, articles and guides concerning legal topics, as well as links to both federal and state case law, statutes and administrative codes.
http://www.findlaw.com/

GlobaLex
GlobaLex is an electronic legal publication providing a guide to the United States federal legal system and Web-based public resources. GlobaLex provides access to information regarding legislation, the judiciary, the executive branch, administrative law and presidential documents.
http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/United_States1.htm

Government Printing Office
Includes the U.S. Code, as well as the Code of Federal Regulations (rules passed by executive departments of federal agencies), the Federal Register (rules, proposed rules and executive orders) and the Government Manual.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html

Internet Legal Resource Guide
Includes a variety of legal forms
http://ilrg.com/

LawGuru.com
Ability to submit legal questions and receive answers for free; has legal forms for a price.
http://www.lawguru.com/

Legal Information Institute
One of the best web sites for accessing federal and state rules of court, case law and statutes.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/

LexisONE
Creating an account and signing up is required, but the site contains numerous forms, well-organized links and access to the most recent five years of federal and state case law.
http://www.lexisone.com/

Martindale-Hubbell online
Search for lawyers by name, areas of practice or location.
http://martindale.com/

Municipal Codes
Includes Raleigh and numerous other municipalities in the Triangle
http://www.municode.com

North Carolina Court System
http://www.nccourts.org/

North Carolina General Assembly
Includes NC Statutes and NC Legislation
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us

Thomas
Contains the text of and information about the votes on bills, the Congressional Record and both House and Senate Committee information.
http://thomas.loc.gov/

Local Law Libraries
(* Indicates Libraries serving as Government Document Repositories)

North Carolina Legislative Library
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/LegLibrary/index.html
500 Legislative Office Building
300 N. Salisbury St.
Raleigh, NC 27603
919-733-9390

North Carolina Supreme Court Law Library*
http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/html/sc_library.htm
5th Floor of the Justice Building
2 E. Morgan St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-733-3425

D.H. Hill Library*
North Carolina State University
2205 Hillsborough St.
Raleigh, NC 27695
919-515-2935
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/
(May not be complete collection but is a Government Documents Repository)

Duke University Law Library*
http://library.law.duke.edu/
Science Drive and Towerview Road
Durham, NC 27708
919-613-7128

Kathrine R. Everett Law Library*
UNC-Chapel Hill
100 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
919-918-5542
http://library.law.unc.edu/

North Carolina Central University Law Library
1512 S. Alston Ave.
Durham, NC 27707
919-530-6333
http://web.nccu.edu/law/library/index.html