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BA Law - Research Guides

INTRODUCTION

This guide is intended for students who are enrolled in the University of Arizona's B.A. in Law Program.  BA in Law students at affiliated micro-campuses outside the U.S. might also be able to access these sources, with the exception of students at Ocean University.

The guide is designed to support the Law Core portion of  the BA in Law curriculum by connecting students to free, web-based materials as well as to subscription content made available by the University of Arizona Library and the Cracchiolo Law Library at the Rogers College of Law. 

 

RESEARCH MATERIALS FOR ALL COURSES

All of the materials included in this guide are e-only format so that students can can access on campus or remotely. Your UANetID will be required for remote access. 

Web

  • Black's Law Dictionary (2d ed. )-online version at The Law Dictionary. Yes, it's a very old edition (1910) but for basic legal definitions of a general nature that you might need to know for core courses, it is fine.
  • Bouvier's Law Dictionary Desk Edition on Nexis Uni. This 2011-2012 update of an old classic legal dictionary includes both the original 1839 definitions and more modern usage.
  • Findlaw Legal Dictionary - online dictionary containing over 8,000 legal definitions. 
  • Law.com Legal Dictionary- includes legal and law-related definitions.
  • Merriam-Webster Law Dictionary - has over 10,000 legal terms and phrases written in 'plain language.'
  • Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)- Cornell University is one of many institutions worldwide providing access to primary sources of law as part of the Free Access to Law Movement. The Legal Information Institutes represent most jurisdictions. Cornell's LII is focused on primary sources of American law including the U.S. Code. Materials include WEX, Cornell LII's law dictionary and legal encyclopedia. 
  • Law Library of Congress - the LLOC has materials on US law including research guides, historical  items, and primary law sources. 

UA Law

  • West Academic Study Aids includes the Nutshell Series and the Concise Hornbooks. Helpful titles include American Law and the American Legal System.
  • Hein Online - this is a good place to search for academic law journals as well as some specialized materials that might be useful in subject-specific elective courses. Hein Online also includes the complete U.S. Code as well as all state codes. 

UA Main Library

 

HOW DO I ... ?

West Study Aids

You can register for the West Academic Study Aids package in either of two ways:  

1) Go to the West Study Aids link on the Law Library page. You'll see Welcome, University of Arizona College of Law Guest at the top of the page  The service is available at this point because you are recognized as an authorized user on the network. You may choose to set up an account on this page which will allow you a few extra features such as note-taking. 

Or, to sign up remotely:

2) Go to https://subscription.westacademic.com/  while not on the campus network and click on Create Account. Use your UA email address.

Nexis Uni

Go to Nexis Uni and click on Sign In/Register in the upper right corner.  You will be taken to a self-registration page where  you can select your own ID and passord. You can use Uni as a guest but creating an account allows you to save documents and searches as well as set up alerts to update your searches.

LEGAL RESEARCH TEXTS

The following legal research tools are available on the West Study Aids package: