Starting Your Research
When starting legal research, there are several questions to be considered. Is your issue state or federal? Is the matter civil or criminal? The answers to these questions will impact where you look for your information.
Another major question is whether the matter is one of primary authority or secondary authority. Primary Authority is what attorneys cite in legal documents, usually cases, statutes, or regulations. Secondary authority explains and cites to primary authority, usually journal articles, legal books or treatises, legal encyclopedias, etc.
You may wish to go to a law library and consult a reference librarian to obtain background information on your issue. This guide provides links to free, useful legal research tools and databases on the web.
Michigan Legal Research
- Michigal Free Legal Research LibguideIf you have a question about Michigan law, try the guide to free Michigan legal resources.
Legal Citation Finder
The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute Legal Citation Finder Bookmarklet allows you to add the citation finder to your favorites and then highlight a legal citation on any subsequent web page to search for it.
Major Legal Research Sites
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
Legal Research Guides on the Web
- Nolo Press Free Legal ArticlesIncludes free legal articles and a guide to legal research.
Finding Lawyers and Judges/ Directories
- American Bar Association Find Legal HelpFind lawyer referral services and free legal aid services in your area.
Policy/Issues
- Open CRSThe Library of Congress Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides background information and analysis on issues before the Congress. Although technically not available to the public, selected CRS reports have been made available on the web by various groups.
Free Online Reference Service
- Government Information OnlineGet live chat help from a government reference Librarian.
- Federal National Contact CenterThe National Contact center will try to find someone at a government agency who can answer your question about Federal programs, benefits, or services. The Consumer Information Center also provides free and low-cost consumer information publications.