The Goodson Blogson

Legal researchers often have good reason to locate and compare legislation or regulations from multiple jurisdictions. For example, over the last three years, about a dozen states have enacted laws to prevent employers from demanding access to employees' personal social media accounts. The most recent example, Louisiana's Personal Online Account Privacy Protection Act , was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal last week. Researchers in a state which has not yet passed a law on the same issue may wish to compile these various state laws in order to present a comparative perspective in a legal filing, or to aid in the drafting of model legislation for their own jurisdiction. Unfortunately for legal researchers, the process of searching for similar statutes from a variety of jurisdictions can be time-consuming. Thankfully, publications known as 50-state surveys provide quick access to various jurisdictions' statutes and/or regulations on a particular subject. Although t...

Black's Law Dictionary , the leading dictionary for American legal researchers, has recently been released in its new 10th edition . Its publisher has created an announcement page highlighting the history of the dictionary, which first appeared in 1891. The publisher page, as well as a recent ABA Journal article by longtime dictionary editor Bryan A. Garner , gives a look behind the scenes of the new edition's development. More than 7,500 new entries have been added, and thousands of other entries have been revised and updated. The dictionary has also expanded its coverage of Latin maxims, with assistance from expert classicists and a former Oxford University professor of Roman law. The Goodson Law Library will soon add the 10th edition of Black's to its collection, where it will replace the 2009 9th edition in Reference and on Reserve . There is no word yet on when the new terms and definitions will be added to the BLACKS database on Westlaw , which currently contain...

The Goodson Law Library has recently subscribed to LexisNexis Quicklaw , a database for Canadian legal research. It's available to the Law School community with a NetID and password, as well as in person to visitors of the Goodson Law Library via the Reading Room computer terminals. Quicklaw contains case law, legislation, journal articles and scholarly commentary, and even forms for the Canadian federal government, provinces, and specialized tribunals. The database layout and search functionality is very similar to LexisNexis Academic , a legal research platform which is available campus-wide. (LexisNexis Academic also contains a good deal of Canadian legal content, such as case law and current codes; however, Quicklaw contains several unique and valuable sources, such as the legal encyclopedia Halsbury's Laws of Canada , which are not provided by LexisNexis Academic.) For recommendations of other Canadian legal research sources, check out the library's research guide ...