How To Use Legal Indexes

Much like a library catalog organizes books, a legal index compiles and organizes articles from various publications such as legal journals, case law reporters, statutes, regulations, and legal treatises.  An index organizes these legal materials based on different criteria, such as subject matter, jurisdiction, statutes, or case names.  An index provides bibliographic information, including the title of the document, author, volume, issue, page numbers, publication date, and one or more subject descriptors.  Subject descriptors are keywords that describe the content of each document listed.  They allow researchers to quickly identify documents that are relevant to their research topic.  

Researchers can search a legal index by conducting keyword searches, subject searches, citation searches, and Boolean operators or proximity searches.  Legal Indexes often include cross-references to related legal materials, such as citing cases, related statutes or regulations, or secondary sources discussing similar legal issues.  Legal indexes may include navigation aids such as tables of contents, tables of cases, tables of statutes, or other reference tools to help users locate relevant legal materials efficiently.  

Legal indexes will be especially useful for preemption checking, i.e., when you are researching to discover all articles written on your topic/subject. Indexes will frequently provide email alerts to inform you about new scholarship and articles on your topic. 

• Step 1: Determine the specific legal topic or issue you need to research
• Step 2: Select the Appropriate Legal Index
  • Choose the most relevant legal index for your research needs based on the subject matter, jurisdiction, and type of legal materials you require.  Charleston School of Law provides students with access to LegalTrac, Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CLIP), and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP). 
  • Complete researching will likely require you to check more than one index. 
• Step 3: Understand the Index
  • Familiarize yourself with the structure and navigation features of the legal index. Understand how the index is organized, including its search mechanisms, subject headings, cross-references, and browsing tools.
• Step 4: Conduct Your Search 
  • Begin your search by entering relevant keywords, phrases, or subject terms related to your research topic into the search interface of the legal index. Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine your search and broaden or narrow your results as needed.
• Step 5: Refine Your Search 
  • Review the search results and refine your search criteria if necessary. Use advanced search features to filter results by publication date, document type, author, or other relevant criteria to focus on the most pertinent materials.
• Step 6: Access the Full Text 
  • Access the full text of the legal materials referenced in the index. Depending on the index, you may be able to directly access the full text within the database or obtain it through the library's collection, interlibrary loan services, or online sources.
• Step 7: Cite Your Sources 
  • Properly cite the legal materials you use in your research according to the Bluebook to provide proper attribution to authors and publications.

Charleston School of Law provides access to different legal indexes, including LegalTrac, Current Index to Legal Periodicals, and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.  To access these databases, go to Charleston School of Law's library page and click on "Law Library Databases."  Then scroll down to the section titled "Indexes" and click on the hyperlink to access the databases.  

LegalTrac indexes legal publications such as law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals, and international legal journals. It offers bibliographic information and abstracts for articles, along with indexing of legal cases, legislation, and legal commentary. LegalTrac enables users to search for legal materials by subject, keyword, author, or citation.  

Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CLIP) provides a weekly list of new legal articles, a wide range of legal periodicals, including law reviews, bar association journals, legal newspapers, and international legal publications. CLIP provides bibliographic information, abstracts, indexing for articles, and references to legal cases, statutes, and regulations. Users can search CLIP by subject, keyword, author, or citation, facilitating efficient and current access to relevant legal materials for research purposes. 

The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) is a bibliographic database specializing in foreign and international law literature. It indexes a wide array of legal periodicals from around the world, including scholarly journals, bar association publications, government reports, and more. IFLP provides comprehensive coverage of legal topics from various jurisdictions, offering bibliographic information, abstracts, and indexing for articles, as well as references to relevant legal materials such as cases, statutes, treaties, and legal commentary. Researchers can search IFLP by subject, keyword, author, or citation. It also provides a monthly list of current publications.