Legal Researcher's Desk Reference (formerly Internet Guide for the Legal Researcher)

This database contains legal research reference guides and resources. To access this database, please contact the circulation desk to obtain a user name and password.

*Database is accessible to all Baylor students and faculty.

Law Library Microform Consortium

The Law Library Microform Consortium contains a digitized collection of historical legislative materials, federal cases, and administrative decisions.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty.

LawTRIO

LawTRIO is a searchable database of various bibliographic guides, including Legal Looseleafs in Print, Legal Newsletters in Print, and the Directory of Law-Related CD-ROMs.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

Legal Scholarship Network (SSRN)

This website is designed to improve the distribution of research, particularly at the prepublication stage. It includes abstracts, working papers, and accepted papers from more than 40 journals covering major areas of law. Users may register by selecting "Subscribe to Networks and Journals." When registering, please enter your personal information and list "Baylor University - Law School" as the organization.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty.

LegalTrac

LegalTrac is an online index of legal periodicals published since 1980. The articles indexed in LegalTrac are identical to those in Current Law Index, which is shelved on the third floor of the Law Library.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty through Baylor University Libraries.

LexisNexis

*Database is accessible off-campus (limited to law school students and faculty).

LexisNexis Courtroom Cast (Courtroom View Network)

This database offers downloadable MP3 files of court opinions as well as streaming trial videos. Coverage includes cases on products liability, commercial law, and mergers and acquisitions. To register for the database, go to the registration link and select "a member" in step one and "school" in step two. Then select Baylor from the list and complete the form. Database users must register with their law school email addresses.

*Database limited to law school students and faculty. Authorized users may access upon registering on the site.

Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative, and International Law, 1600 - 1926

This database contains treatises and related materials concerning Roman Law, Islamic Law, Jewish Law, Ancient Law, and international, foreign, and comparative law.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800 - 1926

This database provides digital PDF images of 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law published from 1800 through 1926.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty through Baylor University Libraries.

Making of Modern Law: Landmark Records and Briefs from the U.S. Courts of Appeals

This database contains selected records and briefs from the United States Courts of Appeals from 1891-1980.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources 1620-1926, 1763-1970

This database contains U.S. constitutional conventions and compilations, city charters, state codes, state administrative decisions, law dictionaries, and various published records of the original American Colonies.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600 - 1926

This database is a collection of court transcripts and trial accounts based on the holdings of the law libraries of Harvard, Yale, and the Library of the Bar of the City of New York.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty through Baylor University Libraries.

National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)

This database provides access to companion materials for various manuals published by the NCLC. Topics covered in the materials include bankruptcy, credit discrimination, fair debt collection, and foreclosures.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

Oxford Constitutions of the World

This resource provides access to full-text versions of the constitutions of more than 200 countries, and an additional 200 subnational jurisdictions, which have been translated into English.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty through Baylor University Libraries

ProQuest Congressional

This database contains the full text of historical and current Congressional documents. Portions of the database have the same information as what is found in the Congressional Information Service legislative histories.

*Database is accessible off-campus to all Baylor students and faculty through Baylor University Libraries.

RIA Checkpoint

This database provides electronic access to titles produced by the Research Institute of America, including various tax and business publications.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

The Texas Lawbook

An electronic publication focusing on lawyers who represent businesses in litigation, transactional, and regulatory matters in Texas.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty

U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs

This database contains records and briefs from cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court from 1832-1978.

*Access limited to law school students and faculty.

VitalLaw
(formerly Cheetah) (Wolters Kluwer)

VitalLaw provides access to the Wolters Kluwer Academic Legal Professional Library, which includes various Commerce Clearing House (CCH) publications that cover topics such as bankruptcy, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, securities law, and tax law.

Westlaw

*Database is accessible off-campus (limited to law school students and faculty).

*Law students seeking information concerning summer access to Westlaw should contact Baylor Law's Westlaw representative. Contact information for our representative can be found on the database's opening pages.

Legal Research Websites

Texas State Government Resources

• Legislative Reference Library of Texas
• Texas Attorney General
• Texas Constitution and Statutes
• Texas Courts Online
• Texas Secretary of State
• Texas State Legislature

For federal government resources, please see the Government Documents page.

Selected Legal Research Guides

• Legal Information Institute (LII) - Cornell University Law School
• Georgetown Law Library
• Tarlton Law Library - University of Texas School of Law
• Underwood Law Library - Southern Methodist University
• University of North Texas Digital Library
• GlobaLex - New York University School of Law

Self-Help Resources and Legal Assistance Programs

• Baylor Law School Immigration Clinic
• Baylor Law School Intellectual Property Law Clinic
• Baylor Law School Veterans Clinic
• Disability Rights Texas
• Family Abuse Center
• Lawyer Referral Information Service (State Bar of Texas)
• Lone Star Legal Aid
• Texas Law Help - A comprehensive self-help resource covering many areas of Texas law.

U.S. Government Resources

• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)
• CONGRESS.gov (formerly THOMAS) (U.S. Congressional and Legislative Information)
• Congressional Research Service (Selected Congressional Research Service Reports)
• Copyright.gov (Copyright information and laws)
• DATA.gov (Home of the U.S. Government's open data)
• Disability Resources (Access to information on disability-related programs, services, policies, laws, and regulations.)
• eBenefits (Benefit information for U.S. veterans)
• Federal Courts
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
• FedStats (Statistics from over 100 federal government agencies)
• FOIA.gov (Website containing information about how to file a Freedom of Information Act request)
• govinfo (Free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government)
• GPO Metalib (Federated search engine for U.S. Government databases)
• HealthCare.gov (Health insurance information)
• IdentityTheft.gov (Free, one stop resource to help people fix problems caused by identity theft)
• Historical Congressional Documents (Library of Congress)
• Medicare.gov (Official online resource for Medicare)
• MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health)
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service
• National Technical Information Service (NTIS) (Government reports and information)
• Office of Justice Programs (USDOJ)
• Oversight.gov (Federal Inspector General Reports)
• Regulations.gov
• Science.gov (Authoritative U.S. government science information)
• Supreme Court of the United States
• United States Courts Opinions
• U.S. Energy Information Administration
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• USA.gov

Additional Online Resources:

• UNT Digital Library Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports Database (Comprehensive collection of over 40,000 reports)

• Government Information Online (Free online information service supported by the Federal Depository Library Program and member libraries)

CALI's eLangdell® Press publishes free, open eBooks for legal education.

• The casebooks are compatible with devices like smartphones and e-readers, as well as print.

• Educators can adopt and edit eLangdell's Creative Commons licensed casebooks, for free.

• Students and faculty can use eLangdell casebooks for free.

How to access CALI

Baylor Law students who wish to use the CALI resources on the web will need to register and enter the school's authorization code. Email BaylorlawIT@baylor.edu if you are a Baylor Law student and need the authorization code.

During the registration process, you will create a password. In subsequent visits, you will only need to enter your email address and password.

To register, go to the CALI website and click on the "create new account" link.

Find more information about registering for CALI lessons in this CALI FAQ: How Can I Get Access to CALI Lessons and Other Resources?

Hein Online Access for Baylor Law Alumni

Baylor Law School Alumni enjoy free access to Hein Online's Law Journal Library. Use the links below to sign in, or to create your Alumni ID and password
 

Note: You will need to select the "Login Type" of AlumniID before logging in.