Legal Research and Writing

 "How To" tutorial videos on some of WestlawNext's many research tools.

While searching through statute and case books in the library can be resourceful, most of the quick research that is required for memorandums and appellate briefs can be done through online legal research systems. The first of these is WestlawNext, which is a computer assisted legal research service that is created and maintained by West Group, a subsidiary of Thomson Legal Publishing. WestlawNext provides access to an immense amount of legal information at both state and federal levels, including the full text of legislation, administrative material, executive decrees, and judicial decisions, as well as summaries of jury verdicts and settlements. Furthermore WestlawNext has a collection of nonlegal material, including daily newspapers from each of the 50 States, telephone and address directories, death records, credit bureau-listing, stock prices, annual reports of public companies, profit and loss statement of private companies, and personal asset holdings.  This website has a lot to offer a young researching lawyer.