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Check Out Our Research Guides to Help Start Your Legal Research Journey
Legal research can be challenging, especially when you don't know where to start. The librarians at Jenkins have created 66 research guides to help those who need guidance with their legal research. These guides highlight free online resources (when available), databases available 24/7 to Jenkins members, and the legal subscription databases Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law (available in the library - now open by appointment).
A number of our guides focus on the very basics of legal research, including how to find primary legal materials like statutes, regulations, court rules, and case law.
We have guides specific to Pennsylvania courts:
And Federal courts:
- United States Code (the federal statutes)
- Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register (the federal regulations)
- Federal Court Rules
- Federal Caselaw
Once you know how to find primary legal materials, it is a good idea to know the key secondary materials and how to find them. These resources typically include large treatise and form sets. They usually provide an overview of the law in a particular area and may offer practical tips. Jenkins has three guides that list some of the key secondary materials for practice in Pennsylvania and Federal courts:
Trial practice can be a unique experience, and we have guides to help with some of the basics of trial practice and preparation:
Some areas of the law can be quite specialized, and we've developed topic specific research guides to help those practicing in some of these areas:
These are just some of the research guides we have created at Jenkins. Find these and all our guides on our website: https://www.jenkinslaw.org/research/guides.
