This web page was created to assist our students and faculty during their summer activities. Below you will find contact information and instructional materials to help with your summer legal research. Also keep in mind the various Research Resources and Guides available.
Reference Help
The Reference Desk will be staffed from 10:00 a.m. - 12 noon and 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday throughout the summer. If you are not in the law school, you may contact us via telephone (203-432-1606) or e-mail. After hours, please feel free to leave a voicemail message or send an e-mail, and we will respond during the next Reference Desk shift if not sooner.
Computer and IT Issues
For help gaining off-campus IP access, see the IT Services webpage on YLS Inside. Most YLS users connect to the Yale network using VPN for Mac or Windows. For other IT questions, please review the IT Services webpage. If assistance is still required, please contact IT Services' Help Desk via e-mail, telephone: 203-432-0821, or walk-in: L2, Room 007A.
For Passwords to the Yale Databases (available only to the YLS community), see the Library Databases page on the old Blackboard via the Community tab and the Organizations List, or contact the reference team.
Westlaw and Lexis Summer Access Policy (pdf)
Basic Legal Research
Introduction to basic legal research (pdf)
Beginning your research with Secondary Sources:
Research Guide (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Researching Federal Statutes:
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Introduction to the Federal Courts (includes Circuit and District maps):
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Where to find Federal Court Rules:
Research Guide (pdf)
Research Guide (word)
Researching Federal Case Law (methodology can be applied to state case law research):
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Instructional slides for using Citators (Shepard's and Key Cite):
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Lexis also has an Online Guide to Shepard's
How to research Administrative Law:
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Free websites for case law, codes, and other materials:
GPO Access (federal government information - C.F.R., Fed. Reg., U.S. Code, Legislation, etc.)
Official U.S. Supreme Court website
Library of Congress' Thomas (federal legislation)
Cornell's Legal Information Institute
LexisOne - legal forms and recent case law
FindLaw
Legislative History Research
Where to find legislative history documents:
Research Guide (pdf)
Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C. Inc.'s Legislative Sourcebook
LLSDC's Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws in Electronic Format
Yale Law Library's Microform Guide (pdf)
State Legislative History Research Guide
Tax Law Research
Researching Tax Court opinions (includes Tax Court structure and a brief history):
Instructional Slides (pdf)
Instructional Slides (ppt)
Where to find Tax Court and Federal Court tax cases (chart):
Research Guide (pdf)
Where to find foreign and international tax laws:
Resource Guide (pdf)
Immigration Law Research
Immigration Legal Services website is quite comprehensive
Foreign Law Research (including national and regional databases and research guides)
Start here: Yale's Foreign and International Resources
And here: Guide to Foreign and Comparative Research at Yale (pdf)
And here: Country-by-Country Guide to Foreign Law Research
Foreign Law Guide
WorldLII
International Law Research (including topics such as human rights and environmental law)
Start here: Yale's Foreign and International Resources
American Society of International Law's EISIL (Electronic Information System for International Law)
Treaties Library via Hein Online and Oceana (select "Connect via IP Access in left column for Oceana)
United Nations Documents via ODS (Official Document Systen), UNBISnet (Catalogue of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library), and Access UN
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (scroll down to find database; 8th from bottom in list)
*Databases in ITALICS are subscription-baseed with IP access required. All of the databases can be found on the library's list of databases or the Foreign and International databases page.