06 April 2011
The Search For Legislative Intent
Legislative history research is a skill all aspiring lawyers should gain. Because this type of research doesn't come up as often as statutory or case law research, it can be difficult to remember how …
21 March 2011
State Secrets
If you're interested in researching the state secrets privilege, you may be interested in a new State Secrets Archive from the Georgetown Law School. The archive has case law, litigation documents, executive branch materials, news …
11 March 2011
Topic Bank
Trying to come up with a topic can be one of the hardest parts of researching and writing a paper. To help, the Litigation Section of the Utah State Bar has recently initiated a topic bank focused …
17 February 2011
Historical Utah Senate Bills
State legislative history can be a beast, especially when you have to go beyond the 1990s. Luckily, the Utah State Archives is working to make things a bit easier for Utah legislative history …
10 February 2011
Legislative Process
Understanding what happens on the floor of the House or Senate can be complicated. You've heard about filibusters and cloture, but there are a number of other particular rules and procedures followed on …
02 February 2011
Google Scholar Legal Opinions by Court
It's been over a year now since Google Scholar's addition of free, searchable legal opinions. This is a great option for law students and attorneys looking to do some cheap searching to find …
19 January 2011
Fastcase
The Law Library has recently acquired access to Fastcase, a low-cost alternative to Westlaw and LexisNexis. As attorneys look to cut costs, legal research systems like Fastcase are becoming more popular. Currently 18 …
07 January 2011
Ask Us
With a new semester upon us we want to remind you of your options for getting research help. Hopefully you are aware that reference assistance is available in person at the 2d floor …
19 November 2010
Law Libraries After Law School
Attorney, Edward Elkins, explores some of the reasons to head back to the law library after graduation in "Your Law School's Library is Your Best Friend...Really." Attorneys are welcome in our library and …
08 November 2010
Utah Session Laws
HeinOnline has recently completed their run of Utah Session Laws, taking them back to 1851. This is a tremendous asset to Utah legal researchers, as HeinOnline's Utah session laws previously only went back …
27 October 2010
Effective Date on Westlaw
Legal researchers often ask me how to find out what a specific statutory section said on a specific date. There are a few ways to approach the problem. Westlaw's effective date tool is …
21 October 2010
Public Lands News
The BYU Law School community now has access to Public Lands News, a bimonthly newsletter detailing changes and issues affecting public lands policy. If you are interested in the area of public lands, …
21 October 2010
Free and Low-Cost Legal Research
In law school we focus a lot on Westlaw and LexisNexis, and with good reason. They are the leading legal research systems available. However, they also cost a lot of money-- something law …
06 October 2010
Ratification of the Constitution
Each year we celebrate Constitution Day to celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. It took, however, until 1791 for the Constitution to be ratified by the States. This …
26 August 2010
Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, 1620-1926
This summer the law library purchased the third installment of the Making of Modern Law Series, Primary Sources, 1620-1926. This digital historical collection contains published records of the American colonies, documents published by state …
17 August 2010
Loislaw
Loislaw is a low-cost alternative to Westlaw and Lexis. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles as those two, it does provide primary legal materials in a searchable format for a …
14 July 2010
Law Library ScholarSearch
If you've searched our library catalog lately, you've noticed that things look quite different. We have recently implemented a Law Library version of the Lee Library's ScholarSearch. We hope it will help you …
07 June 2010
HeinOnline Search Enhancements
A number of times on this blog I have made two points about HeinOnline. First, it's an outstanding resource and law students must be familiar with it. And second, law students don't use …
