Law

This guide lists sources of information for law and paralegal issues. It is not inclusive, but is meant to provide a starting place when you are looking for information. For additional information, please talk with a librarian.

Locating Books

Use Minerva, the library's online catalog, to search for books owned by the library. To search Minerva, click on Finding Books and then "Access Minerva Now". Typical subject headings to search under include: law and legislation; legal assistants; labor laws and legislation; commercial law. Also, do a keyword search and combine the term law with other terms, such as education, nursing, or nonprofit, to narrow your search results. For browsing purposes, the call number for United States law is KF, and for Maine it is KFM. Books about laws of a particular subject are shelved with the subject, so that books about legal aspects of nursing are shelved with nursing books.

Locating Journal Articles

Click on Finding Articles. Scroll down and click on the Go to Online Resources and Journal Indexes Now link. To find articles in journals, choose an index or resource from the alphabetical list. Or, click on one of the subject areas to see only the indexes and resources appropriate for that subject. A few of the appropriate resources for legal topics are listed below. You have to check our List of Journal Subscriptions to see if Sawyer Library owns the journal an article is in. The list may be accessed from the Finding Articles page. Printed copies are also available.

If you are looking for journal articles about legal issues of a particular subject, choose a database which indexes that subject.

MasterFILE Premier
An index of articles from over 1,770 periodicals covering nearly all subjects including general reference, business, health and much more. *It includes the full text of many articles. Searches may be limited to only peer reviewed articles.

Westlaw
An online legal research service that provides fast and easy access to an extensive collection of legal resources, news, business, and public records information (including cases, statutes, treatises, forms, journal articles, etc.) in 17,000+ databases. *Please see librarian for required password.

FirstSearch
A service which provides access to approximately 60 bibliographic and full-text databases. *Searches may be limited to articles found only in journals owned by the Husson Library. It includes the following indexes that are most appropriate for law and legal issues:

Article1st
A bibliographic index to articles from nearly 12,500 journals.

LegalPeriodical
A bibliographic index of international legal covering all areas of jurisprudence.

SIRSResearcher
A bibliographic index covering international social, scientific, economic, and political issues.

Some of the journals owned by Husson's Library covering law and paralegal issues include:

American Business Law Journal

Business Law Review

Law Office Computing

Legal Assistant Today

Maine Law Review

National Law Journal

Other Resources

Bar Directory of Maine [ Ref. Maine State Doc. KF 192 M3 B29 2001]

Black's Law Dictionary [Ask for at circulation desk].

Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation [Ref. KF 245 B581 1991]
Accompanied by User's Guide to the Bluebook [Ref. KF 245 B582 1991].

Code of the City of Bangor [Ref. KF 5313 B36 1998]

Maine Reporter [CD-ROM. Ask for at circulation desk]
The text of cases argued in Maine , as well as Maine Attorney General Opinions.

Maine Revised Statutes Annotated [Ref. KFM 30]
The laws of Maine.

Shepard's Atlantic Reporter Citations [Ref. KF 135 A72 S5]
Index for locating citations of court cases.

West's Atlantic Reporter [ Ref. KF 135 A7 A82]
The text of cases argued in Maine and some other states.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law [Ref. KF 154 W47 1998]
Supplemented with annual yearbooks.

World Wide Web Sites

Internet Legal Resource Guide [http://www.ilrg.com/]

Nolo Press Plain English Law Centers [http://www.nolo.com/index.html]

West Law [http://www.westlaw.com/]

FindLaw [ http://www.findlaw.com/ ]
FindLaw is a legal Web site, providing access to a comprehensive set of legal resources for legal professionals, businesses, students and individuals. These resources include Web search utilities, cases and codes, legal news, an online career center, and community-oriented tools, such as a secure document management utility, mailing lists, message boards and free e-mail.