Legal Research Material

• Law Review Articles
  U.S. law reviews, which are scholarly articles covering a variety of legal topics. From LexisNexis. 1982-present.


• Federal & State Court Decisions
  From LexisNexis.
  • Tips using LexisNexis including screen shots of what we discussed in class.


• PACER
  Provides case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts. See Stephanie for access or create free account (credit card required, but not billed if less than $10.00 in charges per quarter. more info.)

Congressional Information

• THOMAS (Library of Congress)
  Legislative information on the U.S. Congress. Includes the full text of the Congressional Record, which is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. Also includes all bills introduced into Congress since 1989. Try searching for Computers and Information Technology or Technology Assessment or Internet and Video Services. 


• LexisNexis Congressional
  Current and historical bills, testimony, and reports from the U.S. Congress. Summaries and some full-text of publications from and about the U.S. Congress.

Government Agency Information

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)


• Federal Trade Commission


• U.S. Copyright Office


• USA.gov
  Great search engine for anything from the U.S. government, at the federal, state, and local levels. Includes FTC materials and links to related government sites such as broadband.gov.


• WTO Documents Online
  Comprehensive collection of WTO documents online. Search or browse WTO documents by subject. (try "information networks" OR "privacy" OR "telecommunications")

Other Resources

Use both of these with cautious knowledge, as we discussed in class.

• Social Science Research Network (SSRN) 
  Handy for pre-prints, drafts, and archived copies of articles.  


• Google Scholar
  Handy Google search for scholarly articles. Limit results to "Legal opinions and journals." Read Stephanie's thoughts about Google Scholar. Great last place to search.

Helpful Tips

Great Google searches:

• site:gov "domain name" seize 
  Search for the phrase domain name and the word seize on U.S. government websites.
• site:fcc.gov "white space" spectrum
  Documents on the FCC's web site which include the word "white space" and spectrum.

Law Reference

• Legal Abbreviations
• Online Legal Dictionary
• Black's Law Dictionary Legal definitions and abbreviations. In print in the Park Library (law reference).
• Nolo's Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions
  Defines terms and includes links to encyclopedia entries on related topics.
• Legal Information Institute (LII)
  Includes explanatory guides for roughly 100 areas of law. Includes Wex, a legal encyclopedia; entry on media law provides background and links to related government sites. Links to all Supreme Court decisions since 1992. Free resource from Cornell.

Find Research Ideas

• Law Blogs
• Internet Law Web Sites