Legal Research

Need to do some legal research?  This page contains links to research-useful sites, and to sites that have a "scholarly" orientation.  Most of these sites are free; those that require a subscription or payment are noted.

• ABA Journal  This is an online version of the traditional ABA Journal, with selected articles and references reproduced in electronic format.
• American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center  This is a great site with lots of useful information about technology and the legal world.  Find out how technology can improve your practice, and learn how others incorporate the latest innovations into their law offices.
• American Bar Association Supreme Court Preview  The Supreme Court Preview provides information about pending and recently-decided Supreme Court cases of interest.  Also available are copies of the merit briefs filed in all cases slated for oral argument.
• The Avalon Project  This site, maintained by Yale Law School, has links to lots of historical legal documents from the United States and other countries.  Extremely cool stuff.
• Chicago-Kent College of Law Information Center  The Law Information Center contains links to federal and state legislative, executive, and judicial websites.
• Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute  The Legal Information Institute is one of the most comprehensive and best organized legal reference sites.  Organized by subject matter, the site is very user-friendly.
• Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act  This page has links to lots of Freedom of Information Act resources available through the Department of Justice and other federal agencies.
• FindArticles  The LookSmart FindArticles site is a searchable database of more than 3.5 million articles from 700-plus publications dealing with non-legal subject matter.  You can search for and retrieve full-text articles on a variety of topics, including business, finance, computers, technology, news, and more.
• Findlaw  One of the best-known and most comprehensive legal sites, Findlaw includes, among other things, links to federal and state constitutions, codes, and case decisions.  Articles and other reference materials are available, too.
• Global Legal Information Institute  Maintained by the Library of Congress, this site contains international legal reference materials.  A search function allows you to search by jurisdiction.
• Institute of Continuing Legal Education Michigan Law  A finding resource for some Michigan primary legal resources.
• Internet Law Library  The Internet Law Library is a well organized site with plenty of resources to get your legal research started.
• Jurist  This site bills itself as being for law professors, but there's a lot here for anyone interested in the law or in legal research.  You can link to law professors' legal subject matter guides, and to online course pages.
• Law.Com  This is American Lawyer Media's online legal information site.  Lots of useful legal resources here, but some of the best stuff requires a subscription.
• Law Library of Congress  It's not as big as you might think, but this site does contain links for federal, state, and international legal reference materials.
• Law and Policy Institutions Guide  LPIG provides law and policy reference information on United States and international law.
• Legal Theory Blog  Maintained by Professor Larry Solum, this is a great site for information on legal theory and jurisprudence, legal scholarship, law and philosophy, and much more. 
• LEXIS  One of the two major commercial legal databases, a subscription or fee is required to access reference materials.
• LEXIS One  This site provides free access (registration required) to U.S. Supreme Court decisions, some federal and state materials (generally only 1996 to present) and some other materials like legal forms.
• Library of Congress  Yes, THE Library of Congress.  This site is huge, and obviously it's not limited to legal reference materials.
• Michigan Administrative Code  Access the Michigan Administrative Code via this site maintained by the Michigan Department of Management and Budget Office of Regulatory Reform.
• Michigan Automobile Insurance Manual  Authored by James Borin of Garan, Lucow, Miller, this manual (large PDF file) is a great reference for Michigan automobile insurance law.
• Michigan Bar  There are lots of links (click on "Links of Interest") to federal, state, and local sites that may be useful in doing legal research.
• Michigan Courts  A great site with lots of materials including online court rules (including the Michigan Uniform System of Citation rules), jury instructions, and a searchable database of Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals decisions.
• Michigan Supreme Court Briefs  Links to briefs filed in the Michigan Supreme Court for cases this term; note that the files (in PDF format) can be quite large.
• Michigan Government  This is the official site for the State of Michigan.  By surfing the site, you can link to agency websites (e.g., Consumer and Industry Services) with information that may be helpful to your research.
• Michigan Lawyers Weekly  This is the online version of the print publication.  To get most of the content you really want, you'll have to subscribe.
• Michigan Legislature  This is another terrific state law resource.  You can search the Michigan Compiled Laws and Public Acts, and download full-text results.
• Michigan Legislative Histories  Maintained by the University of Michigan Library, this site has links to legislative histories on Michigan laws (and much more) generally dating back to the mid- to late-1990s.  Some of the information requires access to the University of Michigan system. 
• Michigan Medical Malpractice Law  A comprehensive guide to Michigan medical malpractice law written by Ian Simpson with Garan, Lucow, Miller.  Note that it is a large PDF file.
• Michigan No-Fault Insurance Manual  This reference manual (large PDF file), authored by James Borin of Garan, Lucow, Miller is an excellent guide to Michigan No-Fault for attorneys and paralegals.
• National Center for State Courts  This site has lots of information that will be of interest to those concerned with the operation and administration of court systems.
• National Federation of Paralegal Associations  This well organized online research page has pretty much everything you need to get your research started.
• Public Record Sites  Maintained by BRB Publications, Inc., this page links to sites where you can find business, civil, criminal, real estate, and other public records online.  The site is organized by state. 
• Social Science Research Network  A great site, you can link to (and usually download for free) scholarly articles from a wide variety of social science disciplines, including the law.  Be aware, though, that authors sometimes post here drafts of works in progress; the final version of something you download may be different from what you downloaded!
• THOMAS  Another site maintained by the Library of Congress, you can find the text and legislative history of federal statutes. 
• University of Michigan Law Library Electronic Reference Collection  Links to electronic legal and other resources available through the U of M Law Library.  Some materials are restricted access.
• Villanova Law School Federal Court Locator  A great site with links to official and unofficial federal court sites. You can locate things like court rules and case decisions.  Some official sites do charge a fee to download.
• Villanova Law School State Court Locator  Villanova's state court counterpart to the federal court locator.
• The Virtual Chase Legal Research Guide  This page has links to a variety of legal research resources, as well as articles and tips about how to do legal research.
• WashLaw  A no-frills, but very comprehensive, guide to legal information on the Internet.
• Westlaw  The other major commercial legal database, a subscription or fee is required to get the reference materials you really want.
• Wikipedia  An open-content encyclopedia, you can search for what you're after, or use the handy subject matter classification.