Visual Legal Advocacy Seminar

You may contact Bill Sleeman, the course liaison, for research-related questions at bsleeman@law.umaryland.edu.

Getting Started | Journals and Law Reviews | Databases | Primary Authorities (legislative, administrative, judicial material) | Secondary Authorities (encyclopedias, commentators) | Bibliography | |Additional Electronic Resources | Free Non-copyrighted Music, Sound Effects and Clip Art Sites

Getting Started

As in all projects, unless you are already knowledgeable about the topic area, it is best to start with introductory resources and then to consult more focused works; moving from secondary to primary resources.

Articles and books can provide you with an overview of your topic and help you think of search terms that you might not have thought of otherwise. They will also cite primary authorities such as statutes and case law. You can then use the primary sources cited in the secondary sources as a jumping off point to find other primary sources.

Journals and Law Reviews

The two main indexes to law journals are LegalTrac and Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (which includes books as well). These indexes include references to many journals not included in Westlaw or Lexis databases and in some cases provide access to the full text electronically. Each of these two online indexes has a parallel print version: the Current Law Index (K33 .C87), and the Index to Legal Periodicals (K9 .N32) are shelved near the print journals on level 1. The Index to Legal Periodicals is particularly helpful if you need to find articles published prior to 1980.

Additionally, many journals not subscribed to directly in a print version are available in electronic form via one of the library's databases. The list below of subscription databases should help you get started in locating these resources.

Most print journals are shelved on level 1 of the library, in alphabetical order by journal title. Many of these titles also have an electronic version. To find out if the library has a particular journal title in electronic format, first check the Full Text Citation Linker (be aware that the Linker does not offer full coverage of all online full text at the library, and requires a Blackboard login, journal title, and year), or ask a librarian for help.

Databases

  • Academic Search Premier. A general academic tool offering indexing and abstracts for more than 4,500 journals, including access to the full text of more than 3,600 journals.
  • HeinOnline. Full-text, image-based collection of more than 700 legal periodical titles. Coverage for each journal starts at its inception and continues to the most current volume allowed under contract between Hein and the journal. Hein-On-Line also includes coverage of the Federal Register from 1936 to 1980.
  • LEXIS. Database of legal and nonlegal information. Requires valid Lexis password.
  • LLMC Digital (Law Library Microform Consortium). This is the digital version of the LLMC microfilm collection, which consists primarily of historic government documents. An excellent resource for federal laws, administrative regulations and administrative decisions.
  • Making of Modern Law. Full-text online archive of historical legal treatises from the United States and Great Britain. The collection covers nearly every aspect of law, encompassing a range of analytical, theoretical, and practical
  • U.S. Law Week/Supreme Court Today (Tracks every Supreme Court petition and case on the docket, from filing to final disposition and highlights important federal and state legal developments, non-decisional and pre-decisional, across specialized fields).
  • Westlaw. Database of legal and nonlegal information. Requires valid Westlaw password.
  • WorldCat. An online catalog and database of books, audio, video and archival materials available in libraries around the world.

 

Primary Authorities

"Primary authorities are authorized statements of the law by governmental institutions. Such documents include the written opinions of courts (case law); constitutions; legislation; rules of court and the rules, regulations and opinions of administrative agencies." An Introduction to Legal Research. Jacobsten, Merskey and Dunn (1998).

Legislative Materials

Administrative Materials

Judicial Materials

NOTE: for both more comprehensive and more precise case law searches be sure to check either Lexis or Westlaw.

Lexis Tip: If you find one good case on Lexis, you may be able to find others by identifying the headnote that best describes the issue of interest to you, then clicking "More Like This Headnote," or by Shepardizing the case to find other cases that have cited it for the issue represented by the headnote.

Westlaw Tip: If you find one good case on Westlaw, you may be able to find others by identifying the headnote(s) that best describes the issue of interest to you, then clicking "Most Cited Cases" for that headnote. You could also try clicking "KeyCite Notes" to fine other cases that have cited your case for the issue represented by that headnote.

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Secondary Authorities

"Secondary authority is anything other than primary authority that a court could use as a basis for decision, should the matter you are researching come before a court...Secondary authority includes commentary sources...treatises, periodicals, dictionaries, and encyclopedias of various sorts." The Process of Legal Research: Successful Strategies. Kunz, Schmedemann, et al. (1992).

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias are a secondary source for understanding the law. They are an excellent resource for starting research particularly in an unfamiliar area of the law. Usually arranged alphabetically by subject the brief articles will contain citations to case law and statutes relevant to the topic.

  • West's Maryland Law Encyclopedia (KFM1265.W3)

Two other, more general, legal encyclopedias are:

  • Corpus Juris Secundum [commonly referred to as CJS] ( KF154 .C57)
  • American Jurisprudence [commonly referred to as AMJUR] (KF154 .A51)

Commentaries

Like legal encyclopedias commentaries are a secondary source that can provide valuable background when approaching a topic area that may be new to the researcher. There are a number of commentary types available although almost all share some basic features - detailed analysis of the issues represented by a particular case or series of cases; annotations to case law and relevant statutes; and some type of internal finding aid or index. The American Law Reports is one of the most frequently consulted type of commentary.

  • ALR (American Law Reports) (REF KF132.L2)

Additional sources of secondary material: hornbooks, nutshells, treatises, and restatements can be located by using the library's catalog.


Bibliography:

Almog, S. Creating Representations of Justice in the Third Millennium: Legal Poetics in Digital Times. Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal v. 32 no. 2 (2006) p. 183-245.

Ausburn, D. Make your case with a digital brief. Trial v. 42 no. 4 (April 2006) p. 40-2, 44-5.

Austin, R. Super Size Me and the Conundrum of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class for the Contemporary Law-genre Documentary Filmmaker. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review v. 40 no. 2 (Winter 2007) p. 687-718.

Austin, R. Engaging Documentaries Seriously. Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal v. 16 no. 3 (Spring 2006) p. 707-13.

Banks, Taunya Lovell. "Judging the Judges - Daytime Television's Integrated Reality Court Bench" in Lawyers in Your Living Room: Law on Television, Digital Commons. Michael Asimov, ed. American Bar Association (2009), p. 309-320.

Banks, Taunya Lovell. What Documentary Films Teach Us About the Criminal Justice System - Introduction, Digital Commons. 8 University of Maryland Law Journal on Race, Religion, Gender & Class 1 (2009).

Beckman, D., et. al., Lights, Camera . . .. American Bar Association Journal v. 92 (October 2006) p. 56.

Davis, J. B. "So, this lawyer walks into a bar...". American Bar Association Journal v. 93 (August 2007) p. 9.

Documentaries & the Law: Symposium. Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal v. 16 no. 3 (Spring 2006) p. 707-867.

Foreman, R. Digital Legal Authority: Accuracy, Authentication, and Preservation [Part of Symposium on Digital Legal Authority]. The Michigan Bar Journal v. 88 no. 7 (July 2009) p. 19.

Gabaldon, T. A. Virtual Virtuous Living: How Can the I-generation of Lawyers Best Love and Serve its Neighbors. Valparaiso University Law Review v. 43 no. 3 (Spring 2009) p. 1045-74.

Jarvis, Robert M. and Paul Joseph. Prime time law : fictional television as legal narrative. Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, c1998. PN1995.9.J8 P75 1998

Kerr, O. S. Digital Evidence and the New Criminal Procedure. Columbia Law Review v. 105 no. 1 (January 2005) p. 279-318.

Lange, Michele C. S. Electronic evidence and discovery: what every lawyer should know now. Chicago, Ill.: Section of Science & Technology Law, American Bar Association, c2009. KF8947 .L36 2009

Martin, P. W. Reconfiguring Law Reports and the Concept of Precedent for a Digital Age. Villanova Law Review v. 53 no. 1 (2008) p. 1-45.

Mauet, Thomas A. Trials: strategy, skills, and the new power of persuasion. Austin: Aspen Publishers, c2009. KF8915 .M384 2009

Myers, R. Crime Victims as Subjects of Documentaries: Exploitation or Advocacy. Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal v. 16 no. 3 (Spring 2006) p. 733-88.

Ritter, G. C., et. al., How to Create a Winning Trial Database. California Lawyer v. 29 no. 12 (December 2009) p. 35.

Rothman, R. L. Digital Trials in a Digital World. Litigation v. 34 no. 4 (Summer 2008) p. 1-2, 64, 72.

Sarat, Austin. Exploring the Hidden Domains of Civil Justice: "Naming, Blaming and Claiming" in Popular Culture. 50 DePaul Law Review (2000).

Scheindlin, Shira A. Electronic discovery and digital evidence in a nutshell. St. Paul, MN: West, c2009. KF8902.E42 S34 2009

Sherwin, R. K., et. al., Law in the Digital Age: How Visual Communication Technologies Are Transforming the Practice, Theory, and Teaching of Law. Boston University Journal of Science & Technology Law v. 12 no. 2 (Summer 2006) p. 227-70.

Sherwin, R.K. When the Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line Between Law and Popular Culture. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). KF300 .S48 2000

Silbey, J. Videotaped Confessions and the Genre of Documentary. Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal v. 16 no. 3 (Spring 2006) p. 789-807.

Silbey, J. Judges as Film Critics: New Approaches to Filmic Evidence, 37 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 493 (2004).

Additional Electronic Resources

Free Non-copyrighted Music, Sound Effects and Clip Art Sites

free clip art - http://free-clipart.net/

free sound effects - http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html

animated graphics - http://www.externalharddrive.com/graphics/animations/index.html

free original music - http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/02/02/105102.php

free music - http://freeplaymusic.com/ free music

free music - http://www.cypherrecords.com/

free original music - http://www.musicandyou.com/OriginalMusic.htm

Sounds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sound/list

 

 

 

 


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