Stuck on a topic and none of your Westlaw or Lexis searches seem to be helping? Want a lot of in-depth information about a topic quickly? Find an American Law Report (A.L.R.) annotation on your topic. A.L.R.s are published by West but are available on both Westlaw and Lexis under secondary sources (and are available in print in the law library, if you are into that sort of thing). Each A.L.R. annotation is often long and encyclopedic but is meticulously indexed so that a researcher can choose what case law they want to study based on what state or circuit they are interested in. A.L.R. annotations each cover one topic and include federal and state appellate cases that the editors believe are the most vital for researchers to understand. A.L.R.s will also include sections of in-depth summaries on sub-issues for researchers to consider. A.L.R.s cover a range of topics including corporations, tax, immigration, and labor and employment. The next time you’re stuck on a research topic try finding an A.L.R. on your topic.

Blog post written by: Hope Collins (3L)

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