EC104: Library Resources for Legal Environment of Business
Library instruction provided for Block 5, 2009 class.
To find Federal or State legal cases by case name:
Using LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe :
1) Click on the “LEGAL” tab at the top of the page.
2) Click on “Federal & State Cases” in the left menu
3) Under “Sources” review your options in the pull-down menu
You may choose to search all cases, only Federal or only State
4) Next you have the option of entering the case name, for example:
Hoff & Leigh v Byler
5) Once you find a case, look at the end of the text to find hot links to relevant codes applying to that case.
To look up Federal and State Codes:
Using LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe :
1) Click on the “LEGAL” tab at the top of the page.
2) Click on “Federal & State Codes” in the left menu
3) Under “Sources” review your options in the pull-down menu
You may choose to search all the UCSC, parts of the UCSC or only State codes
4) If you know the exact citation, click “Terms and Connectors” and enter the code number, for example, pull-down the menu to “Colorado Revised Statutes,” then enter:
12-61-802
5) Once you find a particular code, there might be references to legal cases within or at the bottom of the text.
To find articles in law reviews and journals in order to identify case law related to a particular topic:
In LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe :
1) Click on the “LEGAL” tab at the top of the page.
2) Put in your search terms, using either “Terms and Connectors” or “Natural Language.”
3) Leave the SOURCES pull-down menu as “U.S. Law Reviews and Journals, Combined”
4) You will have to do some tweaking of terms and narrowing. Once you find a promising article, check references within the article for case law references.
In West’s Encyclopedia of American Law:
This legal encyclopedia is online in the Tiger catalog, as well as in print in the reference section (REF KF154 .W47 2005). There are also annual Yearbooks for this title online in Tiger.