LibGuides: Research Guide for Foreign LL.M. Students and Visiting Scholars: Web Resources

About

The WWW offers an array of helpful resources related to U.S. law and legal research. See the box at right for a list.

Legal Blogs ("Blawgs")

A blog is a log or journal of chronological entries (called “posts”) by an individual, a group, or an institution, made available at a particular site on the WWW. Legal blogs are sometimes referred to as “blawgs." Blogs or blawgs may include a variety of types of articles, such as commentary on recent decisions, analyses of legal issues in the news, or lists of the author's favorite web links. A consensus is emerging that blawgs are having a transformative impact on the world of legal scholarship, due to their ability to allow for the rapid, unfiltered dissemination of legal ideas. When a “hot topic” legal issue erupts, bloggers are the first to provide reactions, suggest lines of inquiry and provide perspective.

Justia Blawg Search
A directory of popular law blogs, with links to blogs by category, a list of most popular blogs, and a legal blog search engine.
Law Professor Blogs
The Legal Scholarship Blog
The go-to site for listing conferences, calls for papers and workshops.

Empirical Legal Research

For a guide to empirical legal research, see the LibGuide posted on New York University Law Library's website.

Helpful Free Online Legal Research Resources

The list below Includes federal, university, and organizational websites.

Congress.gov
The legislative information website developed and maintained by the Library of Congress that provides access to U.S. Congressional bills, Public Laws, and legislative history documents. Also includes profiles of U.S. congressmen/women and videos explaining the legislative process.
Constitution Annotated
Source description: "The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation ("Constitution Annotated" or "CONAN") provides a legal analysis and interpretation of the United States Constitution based on a comprehensive review of Supreme Court case law and, where relevant, historical practices that have defined the text of the Constitution. This regularly updated resource is written in "plain English" and useful for a wide audience: from constitutional scholars to those just beginning to learn about the nation's most important legal document."
Court Listener
Court Listener is a the core project of the Free Law Project, which "seeks to provide free access to primary legal materials, develop legal research tools, and support academic research on legal corpora." The website provides free access to millions of state and federal court opinions. The site also offers access to selected oral arguments as podcasts.
FindLaw
This site provides links to various state and federal legal information resources and legal forms.
GovInfo
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) website includes links to official U.S. government publications, such as the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, and the U.S. Code.
The Oyez Project
This is a multimedia web-based archive that focuses on the work of the U.S. Supreme Court. The website provides thousands of hours of audio archival material, including recordings of the Court's oral arguments. The Project also provides transcripts of most of the oral arguments, a virtual tour of the Supreme Court building, and extensive information on current and former Justices.
U.S. House of Representatives
The U.S. House website includes information on legislative activity, current House members, and House Committees. Webcasts of House sessions are also posted.
U.S. Senate
The U.S. Senate website includes information on legislative activity, current Senate members, and Senate Committees. Webcasts of Senate sessions are also posted.
U.S. Supreme Court
The Court's official website offers opinions, docket information, Court Rules, and information on past and current Justices.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is located in Chicago. There are 12 regional judicial circuits in the U.S. See the map below right for geographic coverage of each Circuit.
United States Courts
This site offers links to the websites of all federal courts, as well as general information, statistics, and educational resources on the U.S. court system.
United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois)
Located in Chicago, the Northern District is one of three District (trial level) federal courts in Illinois. The website includes docket information, forms, Local Rules, and information on the court's judges.
USA.gov
The U.S. Government's official WWW portal includes an A-Z listing of administrative agencies.

Federal Court Locator

The linked map below shows the U.S. courts structure. Chicago is located within the Northern District of Illinois (federal trial court level) in the Seventh Circuit (appeals court).

Federal Courts Structure

PowerPoint on Researching U.S. and Illinois Law (2019)

Researching U.S. and Illinois Law (2019)