Foreign & Intern’l Legal Research Seminar (Law 623A)

Roy L. Sturgeon, J.D., M.L.S., LL.M. (Chinese Law)Foreign & International Law Librarian, Library Liaison to the Public Advocacy Center, & Library Faculty

February 5, 2009, 3:30-5:15pm, Rm. L308

Foreign law

• Foreign law is the law of a nation (or group of nations with a common legal system, e.g., the European Union) not one’s own

• It may consist of constitutions, statutes/codes, regulations, & court decisions

• It doesn’t have effect outside that nation’s (or group of nations’) boundaries, but may regulate/bind foreign entities & persons inside it

Important: court decisions in foreign nations aren’t always primary law as in America

Touro’s FIL hardcopy/print collection

Where is it?

• Journals - concourse level & reserve room

• Ready reference - 1st floor, north wing, near the reference office

• Main collection - 2nd floor, call #s JZ3-KZD5625, south of the NY books

• Judaica Room - 3rd floor, south wing

• Microforms - concourse level, ask a librarian for help because it may be hard to find and use at first

Common law jurisdictions/systems

• “The body of law based on the English legal system.” – Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed.)

• Primary sources include constitutions, statutes/codes, regulations, & court decisions

• Secondary sources include scholarly commentary (e.g., treatises, law reviews)

• Australia, Canada, UK, USA (except Louisiana), & Hong Kong & India (sort of)

• Q: Besides a legal system, what else do the above places have in common?

Getting started/back to the basics

5 simple---but important---research rules:

1. Plan

2. Think time, money, & resources

3.When in doubt, get context

4. Find someone who has already done the work for you

5. Know when to stop

Let’s find Australian law!

What’s our plan?

How much time & money do we have? And what kind of resources exist?

Where can we get context?

Who has already done the work for us?

When shall we stop?

Our plan

1. Search TLC’s Online Public Access Computer (OPAC) – keyword search

2. Search the subscription databases – LexisNexis & Westlaw

3. Search the free internet – Google, Yahoo, Dogpile (remember to vet your results!)

Q: Why do steps 1 & 2 before 3?

4. Ask a law librarian for help – you might not need to the more effective (& empowered) a legal researcher you become

Time, money, & resources

From now until 5:15pm today at the latest---the sooner the better as I’m sure there’re other things we must or want to do

Because we’re affiliated with a law school, money isn’t as big of an issue as if we weren’t affiliated with a law school---but still, get in the habit of being mindful of this for post-law school practice

Because we’re affiliated with a law school, & Australia shares our language & legal system, we should have access to adequate, if not substantial, resources (print & online)

Context tools

Reference works (general & specific)+ Encyclopedias, dictionaries, periodical indexes, practitioner treatises, loose-leafs

Monographs/student treatises+ Single volume about an area of law written by a scholar or expert

Scholarly articles + Law reviews

Newspaper/magazine stories+ LexisNexis, World Press Review

Who has already done the work for us?

Bibliographies

+ Annotated (brief descriptions/evaluations)

+ Unannotated

Research guides/pathfinders

+ Books (Hein publishes some)

+ TLC Library

+ GlobaLex (NYU)

+ LLRX

When to stop?

Time expires (e.g., 5:15pm today)

Start seeing the same things come up during our search

Satisfied that we’ve found relevant & reliable information

Be confident of our research skills!

In conclusion . . .

• Effective attorneys are effective legal researchers

• Think of legal research as a way of empowering yourself. The better you are at researching, the more empowered you become

• Don’t ever be afraid of asking a librarian---at Touro or elsewhere---for help. Most will be glad to help you because they view it as central to what librarians do