Law Library as a Resource

[Frank]

I visited the local law library today for the first time. It was very eye opening and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to research. I used just the first resource I was directed to and spent 3 hours mining it.

The staff was very friendly and gave me cheat sheets on how to use the library. The most important one was How to Read a Cite. It named 3 different ways something could be cited, and how each would break down into case name, volume number, book title, and page number.

I started with the Descriptive Word Index of <b>West's California Digest</b>. I located the book in the series with the Fraud subject, but caught a tangent and went to the book that covered Conspiracy. Under each subject there were many subheadings, each with citations regarding decisions and outcomes. Each citation would have a summary, some of which caught my eye. I wrote those down and then went looking for the exact book they cited.

The two I checked the most were Federal Reporter and California Reporter. There I found Appellate case summaries, some of which had a wealth of information. Copies weren't expensive so I made a bunch to take home with me.

If you have a Law Library in your area, definitely make it a point to visit!