LibGuides: Summer Legal Research Tips: Secondary Sources: A Good Place to Begin

Practice Aids

Westlaw - Practical Law
This link will prompt you to log in.
Lexis Practice Advisor
This link will prompt you to log in. Pull down the Practice Areas tab to select your topic.

Bloomberg Law This link opens in a new window
Bloomberg Law contains similar content to Westlaw Edge and Lexis Advance, including case law and analytical material. It also contains PACER dockets.
This subscription is available by login and password and limited to College of Law students and Faculty. To obtain login credentials, go to https://profile.bna.com/bloomberglaw-activate/ Limited access is also available on-campus.
Overdrive This link opens in a new window
Lexis Overdrive is a collection of online Bender and Lexis treatises that can be checked out with a University of Illinois Net ID and password.
ProView This link opens in a new window
Electronic treatises from Thomson Reuters on a variety of topics including Illinois law, evidence and family law.
West Academic Study Aid Suite This link opens in a new window
Unlimited access to Nutshells, Concise Hornbooks, Concepts and Insights, Black Letter Series, Career Guides and others.

Journals

Westlaw - Journals & Law Reviews
Westlaw's Law Review & Journal page. Notice there are Indexes on the right side of the page
Lexis Law Reviews & Journals
Alphabetical list by the title of the journal

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Provides law reviews and journal articles prior to the dates traditionally covered by Lexis and Westlaw. Provides full text search capabilities.

Other LibGuides

You may want to also look to other LibGuides for subject specific or jurisdiction specific information. These guides can also be a great source when you need to locate non-law information as part of your research. Many libraries, both law and non-law, have research guides available. Below is the full listing of a few LibGuide resources, including the full listing of the LibGuides at Illinois.

Complete list of Law Library LibGuides
Complete listing of subject-specific LibGuides available through the UIUC Law Library. Includes an Illinois specific guide as well.
Georgetown Law Library guides
Complete listing of Georgetown Law Library research guides, including many great state resource guides.
Univ. of Washington Law Library guides
Full listing of research guides and resources at the Gallagher Law Library.

A Quick Guide to Secondary Sources

See especially PRACTICE AID which we did not cover in the Legal Research Course fall semester:

Source	Example	Good for	But	Where to find it
PRACTICE AID	Consumer bankruptcy law and practice by Henry J. Sommer	practical advice on a topic, often including checklists, sample forms & pleadings	they are generic and must be adapted to your situation and facts	See Practice Aids in the column on the left
NUTSHELL	Legal Research in a Nutshell	quick and simple overview	no detailed analysis, may be a year or two old	Library Catalog
TREATISE	LaFave on Search & Seizure	comprehensive coverage of a single topic, often updated at least annually	often more scholarly than practical	BloombergLaw Getting Started - Books & Treatises Westlaw - Seconary Sources - Texts & Treatises Lexis - Browse - Sources - Category - Secondary Sources - Treatises
JOURNAL ARTICLE	Reforming Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Reorganizations Ralph Brubaker, Robert M. Lawless, Charles J. Tabb 2015 U. Ill. L. Rev. 507	in-depth coverage of a specific topic	not updated, tend to be scholarly and idealistic	See Journals in the column on the left
AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)	Liability of swimming facility operator for injury or death allegedly caused by failure to adequately fence facility	detailed analysis of narrow topic covering numerous jurisdictions	there may not be one on your topic	Print, Lexis, or Westlaw
ENCYCLOPEDIA	Bankruptcy -Setoff	overview of broad topic, primary sources in footnotes	uses hidebound terms - start in the INDEX	Print, Lexis, or Westlaw
UNIFORM LAW	Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act	acts designed to be adopted in all 50 states - with comments	The law you need may not have been adopted in your jurisdiction	Uniform Law Commission
RESTATEMENT	Restatement of the Law on Contracts, 2d	black letter law, plus comments and illustrations	There may not be one for your topic	Print, Lexis, or Westlaw

Westlaw Precision This link opens in a new window
Westlaw contains primary Law for all U.S. jurisdiction plus secondary sources and analytical material. See also Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law.
This subscription is available by login and password and limited to College of Law students and Faculty.

U of I Catalog
This includes only the holdings at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.

Bloomberg Law This link opens in a new window
Bloomberg Law contains similar content to Westlaw Edge and Lexis Advance, including case law and analytical material. It also contains PACER dockets.
This subscription is available by login and password and limited to College of Law students and Faculty. To obtain login credentials, go to https://profile.bna.com/bloomberglaw-activate/ Limited access is also available on-campus.
Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
New interface for LexisNexis. Lexis Advance contains primary Law for all U.S. jurisdiction plus secondary sources and analytical material. See also Westlaw Next, Lois Law and Bloomberg Law.
This subscription is available by login and password and limited to College of Law students and Faculty.

Uniform Law Commission
The Uniform Law Commission is an organization which promotes uniform laws throughout the fifty states. The website contains model laws and information about which states have adopted each model law.