50-State Law Surveys

Cheryl NybergMarch 17, 2007Dallas Association of Law Librarians

Preview• What types of 50-state law

surveys are available?

• Where and how are they published?

• How can I find a 50-state law survey on a specific topic?

• How does she do that?

Why Me?• Compiler &

editor since 1980

• Identified 16,000+ surveys in 20 volumesSubject Compilations of State Laws

Subject Compilations

• 21 volumes

• 1970s-date

• Annual

• 17,000+ state law surveys

• Hundreds of subjects

Survey Says . . .• List

• Identify

• Describe

• Summarize

• Reprint

Charts

• Sometimes include citations

• Examples−An Overview of Abortion

Laws [link]−Third-Party Visitation [link]

Tables

• Usually include citations

• Examples−Gift Cards & Gift

Certificates [link]−State Laws & Published

Ordinances—Firearms [link]

Summaries• Usually include citations

• Examples−Congress Passes

Prohibition of Qualified Civil Claims Against Gun Manufacturers and Distributors [link]

−State Pet Shop Laws [link]

Full Text

• Examples−Clergy as Mandatory

Reporters of Child Abuse & Neglect [link]

−Open Government Guide [link]

Sources• Law review articles

• Books & looseleaf services

• Websites & commercial databases

• Federal & state documents

• Court briefs & opinions

Sources

How Does She Do That?Law Reviews

They Call Me “Flipper”

Law Reviews

• 700+ US law school, association & commercially published periodicals

• Most indexed in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals [link]

Last Week

• 63 issues

• 404 articles

• 15,177 pages

Using Law Reviews

• LexisNexis & Westlaw versions link to statutes [link]

•Except: tables & charts may be omitted or not linked [link]

Using Law Reviews• Hein Online PDFs don’t

allow text selection

• Use “View Text” option

OR

• Use Adobe online conversion tools [link]

On the Internet• 80+ from the

last 3 years

• Findlaw [link]

• Law Reviews Online [link]

• USC Legal Journals [link]

Brainstorm!6. Abortion (159)

7. Attorneys (155)

8. Limited liability companies (152)

9. Sodomy (142)

10.Health insurance (141)

Top Five Subjects?

Top Five Subjects5. Sex offenders (162)

6. Sexual abuse of children (174)

7. Labor law (193)

8. Living wills (284)

9. Capital punishment (328)

Super Subjects

• Business & commerce

• Criminal

• Family

• Health & medicine

• Labor

Books & Looseleafs

Law for the Layperson

How Does She Do That?Books & Looseleaf Services

They Call Me “Flipper”

Sources: Print• Current Publications in Legal

& Related Fields (Rothman)

• Law Books & Serials in Print (Bowker)

• Legal Looseleafs in Print

• Book reviews, footnotes, etc.

Sources: Online• Amazon [link]

• LX [link] & WL [link]

• OCLC WorldCat [link]

• Publisher catalogs & websites

• IndexMaster [link]

How Does She Do That?Websites

Citation Searching

Ann. 44 states

Stat. 25 states

Code 23 states

Rev. 14 states

Google

Subject with

• “states have laws”

• “state laws on”

• “state statutes on”

• “state regulation of”

To Be Fruitful, Multiply!

• Multiple searches

• Multiple search engines

Search Engines

• Search Engine Watch [link]

• Meta search engines−Clusty [link]−Dogpile [link]−Kartoo [link]

The Usual Suspects• Associations

• Government agencies

• Public interest organizations

Brainstorm!• Abortion

• Animals

• Criminal justice

• Education

• Firearms

• Freedom of information

• Seniors

• Traffic

Abortion• Guttmacher

Institute [link]

• NARAL Pro-Choice America [link]

Animals• Animal Legal &

Historical Center [link]

• Animal Protection Institute [link]

• Humane Society of the US [link]

Criminal Justice• Am. Prosecutors

Research Institute [link]

• Legal Momentum [link]

• National Center for Victims of Crime [link]

Education• Education

Commission of the States [link]

• Home School Legal Defense Association [link]

Firearms• National

Rifle Association [link]

• US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms [link]

Freedom of Information

• Freedom of Information Center [link]

• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [link]

Seniors• AARP Public

Policy Institute [link]

• National Center on Elder Abuse [link]

Traffic• Insurance

Institute for Highway Safety [link]

• US National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. [link]

Un-Subs• Encyclopedia of Associations

(WL: EOA)

• Associations on the Net [link]

• Gateway to Associations [link]

• InfoPlease, US Societies & Associations Directory [link]

National Conferenceof State Legislatures

• 200+ surveys

• Surveys & legislation tracking databases [link]

More Treasures

• Congressional Research Service reports [link]

• Findlaw [link]

SURVEYS = 260

1311

3013

623

924

5049

3 29

SURVEYS Sources

• Leiter, National Survey of State Laws, 5th ed.

• West-created• Legal Research Center,

Inc.

WL Sources Not in SURVEYS

• Causes of Action 2d (COA)

• Lobbying, PACS & Campaign Finance (LOBBYPCF)

• Religious Organizations & the Law (RELORGS)

• Child labor

• Disability discrimination

• Drug testing

• Family & medical leave

• Military leave

• New hire reporting

• Plant closing

• Polygraph testing

• Protected classes

• Smoking

• Unemployment insurance

• Voting leave

• Whistleblowers

More Subscription Services• ADR World [link

]

• Am. Insurance Ass’n [link]

• Am. Resort Development Ass’n [link]

• ComplianceAid [link]

• 50 State HIPAA Privacy Study [link]

• LienLawOnline [link]

• National Ass’n of Boards of Pharmacy [link]

Government Documents

• Targeted Internet searches

• Catalog of US Government Publications [link]

• National Technical Information Service [link]

• The Usual Suspects

• StateList [link]

Evaluate• Best

available?

• Current enough?

• Acceptable format?

Update & Enhance

Shepard’s Brief

Suite [link]

WestCiteLink

[link]

Praline Ponders the Possibilities

• Subject Compilations

• LexisNexis & Westlaw

• Targeted web searches

• Usual suspects & Un-subs

• LawLib & Phone-a-friend

Cheryl Nyberg

• (206) 543-7672

• cnyberg@u.washington.edu

• Slideshow athttp://lib.law.washington.edu/_cheryl/07dall.ppt