Florida Legal Research
This Florida Legal Research Library Guide seeks to assist patrons at NSU Shepard Broad College of Law as a starting point for Florida legal research.
Florida Legal Research Library Guide
This Florida Legal Research Library Guide seeks to help NSU patrons with links to selected resources including, but not limited to, secondary and primary sources.
General Information about Florida Legal Research
Library Guides
Selected Print Resources about Legal Research
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Florida Legal Research, 5th ed.
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This book fulfills the need of beginning legal researchers--and experienced researchers new to Florida sources--for concise explanations of Florida's essential legal resources. It combines information about specific sources with an introduction to research methods that will enable researchers to move beyond the sources described in the text as new legal research tools emerge. The fifth edition expands the treatment of online research using the current platforms for Westlaw and Lexis, as well as free or low-cost providers and governmental websites. The text emphasizes sources of Florida state law; a separate chapter on federal sources makes this book a compact tool for learning both state and federal law research. The chapters have been reorganized so that the process of legal research is covered at the beginning of the book. New material explains how to receive assignments from supervisors and prepare to research, making the process accessible to novice researchers. An early chapter on secondary sources covers a variety of practice tools, and introduces apps, blogs, and library guides. The text also provides an overview of current citation rules for Florida sources. This book is part of the Legal Research Series, edited by Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, now teaching at the University of Idaho College of Law.
Call Number: KFF75 .R69 2020ISBN: 9781531016708Publication Date: August 1, 2020 -
Guide to Florida Legal Research
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This manual is another work in a continuing series of publications designed to aid Florida lawyers to practice more efficiently and effectively.
Call Number: KFF 75.S78 2008ISBN: 9781422440100Publication Date: January 1, 2008 -
Legal Research Demystified, 2nd ed.
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Legal Research Demystified offers a real-world approach to legal research. The textbook guides law students through eight steps to research common law issues and ten steps to research statutory issues. These research steps are demonstrated through many hypotheticals and visual aids. Students have praised the textbook for its screen captures, checklists, and descriptive charts, such as charts demonstrating Boolean searching and comparing features of citators. Professors have appreciated that the book educates students on how to do legal research instead of discussing finding tools and resources in a vacuum. The second edition includes multiple updates. The chapters on research plans and secondary sources have been moved to their own section because these initial research steps apply to all legal issues. The chapters on secondary sources, citators, and keyword searching have been revised and expanded. New assessment questions on research tools and concepts have been added to almost every chapter. The revised introductions and additional cross references make it easy to assign the chapters out of order. With the purchase of a new book, students gain free access to the assessment and teaching platform of Core Knowledge for Lawyers. That online platform contains interactive questions and exercises that map to Legal Research Demystified. Almost 200 auto-grading questions from the end of each chapter. Hundreds of interactive questions and explanations that walk students through the steps for researching common law and statutory issues on Westlaw and Lexis+. Instant feedback after each question--similar to Core Grammar and MBIE. Robust instructor dashboard--professors can view individual and class performance.
Call Number: KF240 .V53 2022ISBN: 9781531021306Publication Date: July 1, 2022 -
Basic Legal Research, 7th ed.
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Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies, Seventh Edition by Amy E. Sloan is known for its clear, step-by-step instruction in the basics. Using a building-block approach, the textbook breaks material into discrete, readily comprehensible parts. Self-contained chapters on sources make the book flexible for any type of legal research course. Useful pedagogy throughout the text includes end-of-chapter checklists, clear examples, and summary charts. Helpful sample pages and examples of research sources guide students through the presentation. Key Features: New narrated videos that walk students through research examples from the book Updated coverage of Westlaw, Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law - Completely revised material throughout, providing thorough instruction in the latest features and functions of the main research platforms Flexible organization that accommodates any approach to instruction in print and online research, including instruction focused exclusively on online sources Self-contained chapters on research sources that make the book adaptable to any type of legal research course Increased coverage of free and low-cost sources of information
Call Number: KF240.S585 2018ISBN: 9781454894018Publication Date: February 28, 2018 -
Researching the Law, 3rd ed.
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Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on CasebookConnect, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities; practice questions from your favorite study aids; an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. Learn more about Connected eBooks Researching the Law: Finding What You Need When You Need It, Third Edition, guides students through a decidedly contemporary approach to legal research. Widely respected author Amy E. Sloan presents legal research as a process of efficiently filtering a vast quantity of available information. Simply put, students learn how to locate and identify the most pertinent and authoritative information available with the greatest possible expedience. Sloan's clear, concise explanations of essential research sources are presented in a context that speaks to the way lawyers do research today, with a flexible approach that works in a rapidly changing research environment. Part I explains how to define a research question; pre-filter content before beginning a search; conduct research using a variety of search techniques; and establish post-search criteria for filtering results. Part II describes essential features of individual sources of authority and search strategies unique to each source. Part III contains research flowcharts to help students plan research strategy for different types of research projects. New to the Third Edition: The material on the weight of court opinions has been redesigned to address jurisdiction before level of court. The discussion of techniques for drafting effective word searches has been expanded and includes sample searches. New resources for evaluating and updating case research, such as visual mapping technologies and document analysis tools, are included. Professors and students will benefit from: Complete coverage of fundamental principles A book that teaches students how to: Define a research question Pre-filter content before beginning a search Search for information using a variety of techniques Create and use post-search filtering criteria to target the most relevant information Learn the essential features of important legal authorities, as well as the research strategies unique to each one Use flowcharts to plan research strategy A concise and practical writing style that appeals to today's students. An approach to legal research as a filtering process to identify the most pertinent and authoritative information from vast search results Diverse coverage of online sources, not solely emphasizing only one of the prominent ones
Call Number: KF240.S586 2020ISBN: 9781543813364Publication Date: February 27, 2020 -
Winning Research Skills, 6th ed. by This is a guide for first-year law students and others interested in learning how to find the law.Call Number: KF240 .J63 2002Publication Date: 2006
Selected Electronic Resources about Legal Research
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Examples and Explanations for Legal Research
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Examples & Explanations: Legal Research is designed to meet the needs of law students who have come to expect that they will instantly receive answers to their questions. Rather than cataloging sources or outlining processes, this text starts where today's law students are when they realize they have a research problem. By that time, their research problem is not locating sources, but knowing what to do with them. The Legal Research E & E guides students through examples and explanations of the kinds of sources they've found, using the context of interesting and entertaining real-world problems. The text helps students determine which sources are the most useful for the current project and which ¬ it leads students to understand how one source affects and relates to the others; and--equally important--it shows students how to write about the sources they have found. Because this book covers the kinds of research projects faced not only by beginning law students but also by advanced students and even new lawyers, its value to its readers is long-lasting. Even experienced researchers will learn more about working with the difficult, as well as the easy, research questions that today are addressed by an array of sources.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781454886549Publication Date: November 9, 2016 -
Legal Research in a Nutshell
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Finding and using legal resources effectively is an essential skill for lawyers. This comprehensive but succinct guide covers research procedures using major online services, free Internet resources, and library materials. The most heavily used commercial databases and authoritative, free online sources are discussed and placed in context for effective and productive use in research. Discussion includes coverage of primary and secondary legal resources, as well as legislative history, administrative law, specialized and interdisciplinary resources, and research in international and comparative law. Appendices list state research guides and leading treatises by subject.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9798887865782Publication Date: May 30, 2024 -
A Short and Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research, 2d ed.
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Legal research can be costly for students and practitioners in two ways: time and money. A Short & Happy Guide to Advanced Legal Research, 2nd identifies available free and fee-based legal research options as good, cheap and/or fast. This book compares free and fee-based legal research resources for each stage of civil litigation, including the initial case assessment; discovery and investigation resources to find information on judges, attorneys, experts, and companies; and resources to find pleadings, motions, and briefs for pretrial action. Although this book is designed for law students taking an Advanced Legal Research course with unlimited access to Bloomberg Law, Lexis+, and Westlaw Edge, it is also a valuable reference for anyone who graduated from law school prior to 2019, interested in learning about the new litigation analytics and artificial intelligence features. Ann Walsh Long is the Head of Research & Digital Collections/Associate Professor of Law at the Lincoln Memorial University School of Law and teaches Legal Research, Advanced Legal Research, and Competitive Intelligence. Ann also worked at the Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters Library and in four "Big Law" firms. As a former law firm librarian, Ann taught hundreds of summer and new associates how to conduct cost-effective legal research, and advised firms on how best to recover those costs from clients. This book may also serve as a valuable reference when renegotiating your next legal research license and offers guidance on evaluating content to add to your flat-rate contract that will lead to a more cost-effective practice.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781684675456Publication Date: November 8, 2021 -
Principles of Legal Research, 4th ed.
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Principles of Legal Research provides comprehensive yet concise coverage of resources and research methods suitable for all researchers. It explains the latest features of the major legal research platforms as well as hundreds of other free and subscription online resources. An introductory survey of research strategies is followed by discussion of major secondary source types, thorough treatment of the sources of U.S. law created by each branch of government, chapters on specialized resources for practitioners, and an overview of international and foreign law. This wholly revised edition adds coverage of artificial intelligence and its use in legal research, and other features include summary introductions to the book's parts, a reorganized case research chapter, and an expanded section on American Indian law. Legal citation tips and instructive illustrations are included throughout, and an appendix lists multivolume treatises by topic.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9798887863719Publication Date: July 8, 2025
NSU Library Catalog
WorldCat
WorldCat is a global catalog that provides library listings from over 72,000 libraries in 170 countries.
Inter-Library Loan Request
NSU patrons with an NSU Library card may request materials that are not available at NSU. The Panza Maurer Law Library uses Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to borrow materials from other libraries.
Resources about Terms and Connectors
Westlaw
- Westlaw: Searching with Terms and Connectors
- Westlaw: Power Searching
- Westlaw: Quick Reference Guide - How to Search with Boolean Terms and Connectors
LexisNexis
- LexisNexis: Search Commands and Connectors
- LexisNexis: Using Terms and Connectors
- LexisNexis: Search Connectors
Additional Resources
CALI Lessons
The CALI Legal Research Outline allows you to search for terms of art for topics. Below please find a list of selected topics.
Florida Free Resources
- Broward County Bar Association
- Online Sunshine: Official Site of the Florida Legislature
- Florida Office of Attorney General
- The Florida Bar
- Florida Administrative Code
- Myflorida.com
- Florida Department of State
- Get Help Florida
- Executive Office of the Florida Governor
- Findlaw: Florida Supreme Court cases
- Florida Courts
- Florida Supreme Court Online Video Portal
- Florida Supreme Court Law Library
- Florida Free Legal Answers
- Online Sunshine: Information Center
Florida State Courts Self-Help Information
Florida State Courts Resources and Services
Florida Free Legal Answers
Pro Se Appellate Handbook
The Florida Bar
Florida Jury Instructions
Selected Databases
Briefs
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
- Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Briefs on Westlaw
- Eleventh Circuit Trial Court Documents on Westlaw
Florida Courts: Trial Documents, Jury Verdicts, and Settlements
Florida Briefs, Pleadings, and Motions
Other Databases based on Subject Area
Florida Estate Planning
Florida Family Law
Florida Real Property
Video Resources
Aspen Learning Library
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Legal Research and Writing: In Other Words Video Series
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The videos from the In Other Words series cover fundamental topics in law. Each lecture is written and presented by a law professor or legal practitioner. In these Legal Research and Writing lectures, Todd M. Stafford discusses Conventions of Legal Writing-Genres of the Legal Writer, The Paradigm, Predictive vs Persuasive Analysis (Parts IV and V), The Conclusion, Topic Sentences in Explanation, Topic Sentences in Application, Clarity and Readability, Point Headings, Large Scale Organization of the Discussion, and Issue Statement-Question Presented.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781543824131Publication Date: February 6, 2020
West Academic Study Aids
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The Legal Research Survival Manual with Video Modules
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This text and the accompanying videos provide a basic introduction to the mysteries of legal research, giving the new legal researcher the tools necessary for success. The title Legal Research Survival Manual is chosen with care. The work does not provide comprehensive coverage of legal materials, and is not designed to replace traditional legal texts. Instead, it is an easy-to-read introduction for students at the very start of their career. It is designed to be an approachable resource to launch them into the first year of law school or as a legal research refresher for those starting their first jobs or internships. The videos can be watched in conjunction with the book or separately. Video topics include: Structure of US Court System How Cases Came to be Published The Parts of a Judicial Opinion How to Read a Judicial Opinion Overview of the Online Systems Hints for Online Case Searching Citators and How They Can Save You Bluebook Citation and You Legislation--What You Need to Know Administrative Law and Legislative History Secondary Sources Research Strategy
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781683284659Publication Date: April 1, 2017
LexisNexis
Please click here and left-click "create class" for videos on topics such as terms, connectors, and segments.
Westlaw
Please click here for on-demand training on topics such as searching and filtering cases.
Quimbee
Please click here for a legal research and writing course exploring topics, including but not limited to, the legal research process.
Audio Resources
West Academic Study Aids
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Sum and Substance Audio on Legal Research by In this 3.25 hour audio lecture, Professor Robert C. Berring will lead you step-by-step through every topic in legal research. The information and ideas you struggled with previously are now brought to life simply and succinctly. These audio lectures are time saving, convenient and effective.Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: May 10, 2016
Aspen Learning Library
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Legal Research and Writing: In Other Words (Audio Series)
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The audio files from the In Other Words series cover fundamental topics in law. Each lecture is written and presented by a law professor or legal practitioner. In these Legal Research and Writing lectures, Todd M. Stafford discusses Conventions of Legal Writing-Genres of the Legal Writer, The Paradigm, Predictive vs Persuasive Analysis (Parts IV and V), The Conclusion, Topic Sentences in Explanation, Topic Sentences in Application, Clarity and Readability, Point Headings, Large Scale Organization of the Discussion, and Issue Statement-Question Presented.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781543823929Publication Date: February 6, 2020
