Using Law Reviews *

What are law reviews?

Law reviews are periodical publications of law schools, bar associations, or commercial publishers that contain articles providing analysis of legal issues or practical legal information.

Why use law review articles?

Law review articles serve many important purposes for the legal researcher. Often providing both historical perspective and a statement of the current state of the law, they can be an ideal starting place for legal research in a new area. Since law review articles are well documented with footnotes, they provide the researcher with quick access to cases and statutes on point. Finally, as impartial writings, they are often highly persuasive in convincing judges of a particular interpretation of existing case law and statutes .

How do I find citations to law review articles?

Citations to law review articles and other legal periodical literature can be found most easily through print or electronic indexes or through full-text computer searching in the LexisNexis and Westlaw computer-assisted legal research systems.

An index leads a researcher to citations of relevant law review articles. A full-text computer search locates discussion of particular terms within complete ("full-text") articles in the database. Law review databases capable of full-text searching can be found on LexisNexis and Westlaw, which are available on line at the Pierce Law Library to Pierce Law students, staff and faculty only.

An increasing number of law reviews have established an electronic presence on the Internet. To find electronic journals, visit the Virtual Law Library at http://vlib.org , and select "Law," then "Browse by information source," and select "Law Journals."

When should I use law review indexes?

Law review indexes are used to approach research questions by subject. Indexes lead the researcher to articles that have been characterized as treating a subject based on analysis by an editor.

Use law review indexes for the most comprehensive searches. Law review indexes provide access to articles in hundreds of journals. Print indexes can provide access to historical materials not contained in computer indexes, which generally contain citations to articles written after 1980 only.

Indexes vary in years of coverage, frequency of publication, type or number of journals indexed, organization and format (book, microfilm or computer-readable records). Indexes also vary in the selection of index terms to be used. The most common of these, the Library of Congress subject headings, attempt to use terms that specifically describe the article's contents.

How can I use indexes effectively?

If you need to do a comprehensive search, use more than one index. While you may be led to the same reference more than once, you minimize the chance of missing something very important.

Use subject heading lists or thesauri to make sure that you have found the preferred subject headings. Many appear in the indexes themselves.

Check cross-references, more specific topics, or more general topics that include your subject to find additional articles that discuss your subject.

Use information you already have, such as relevant cases or statutes, by looking in the Tables of Cases or Statutes Commented Upon sections found in many indexes.

Decipher any abbreviations you don't recognize by checking in the abbreviations listing in the index itself.

When should I use an online full-text search to find law review articles?

Full-text computer searching of law review databases on LexisNexis and Westlaw provides access to a much smaller number of articles than index searching.

Use full-text searching to find particular terms discussed in an article. Because researchers select the terms to search for within the text of the articles themselves, full-text searching allows the researcher to find articles that mention specific terms, even if the primary subject of the article is something else, or the article title does not contain the search terms.

Computer searching, whether of full-text or index databases, also allows the use of Boolean connectors such as "and," "or" and "not"; proximity connectors such as within "n" words; and grammatical connectors such as same sentence or paragraph.

Since new journals are being added to LexisNexis and Westlaw all the time, it is best to consult the online list of journals on each system and the dates of coverage for each journal.

LexisNexis - selected articles beginning 1980 Law review databases on LexisNexis contain every article in the law reviews LexisNexis contains, unless the author of the article has refused to allow its inclusion on LexisNexis. These reviews may be searched individually or all at once.

Westlaw - selected articles beginning 1981 The JLR (journals and law reviews) database on Westlaw contains selected articles from the journals that Westlaw contains. Unlike LexisNexis, which includes almost every article that appears in the selected journals, Westlaw's editors include only those articles in which they feel there is significant interest. Individual journals, topical journal databases, or the texts and periodicals database may be separately searched.

What are the differences between the various law review indexes and what formats are they available in?

Law review indexes can be general or specialized in their scope and theory of indexing. Also, some are published only in print, while others are available in print as well as a number of electronic formats.

What follows is a brief discussion of the law review indexes at the Pierce Law Library, including their coverage, organization, frequency of publication, and special features. The current general law review indexes are discussed in a chart on the following pages, which allows for easier comparison of formats as well as contents. The specialized indexes, which are available to Pierce Law researchers in print, are discussed in a more narrative form on the subsequent pages. Print indexes are shelved in the Compact Shelving area on the first floor.

Current General Law Review Indexes

Index	Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (we hold this title and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals)	Current Law Index	Current Index to Legal Periodicals
Scope	Covers over 500 law reviews and bar journals, including international materials. Very short articles are excluded. It recently began including selected books as well. Student-authored works are included, but until the early 1990s were not searchable by the author's name. Recent student-authored works are searchable by author as well as by subject.	Covers over 875 law reviews and bar journals, including international materials and student-authored works (searchable by name as well as by subject). Legal newspaper articles are available in the electronic versions, but not the print version, of the CLI.	A weekly publication that lists very recent articles published in over 300 legal periodicals.
Index	Index to Legal Periodicals and Books	Current Law Index	Current Index to Legal Periodicals
Print Version	Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Compact shelving area in the first floor of the library 1926-Present (updated monthly) Four sections: author and subject, cases commented upon, statutes commented upon, and book reviews.	Current Law Index Compact shelving area in the first floor of the library 1980-Present (updated monthly) Four sections: author, subject, cases commented upon, and statutes commented upon.	Not available in this format
CD-ROM	Not available in this format	InfoTrac/LegalTrac Available on the work station outside the Compact Shelving area	Not published in this format.
Web-Accessed	Not available in this format	LegalTrac 1980-present	Current Index to Legal Periodicals 1999-present
Via LexisNexis	Long name: Index to Legal Periodicals Short name: LAWREV;ILP 1980-Present	Long name: Legal Resource Index Short name: LEXREF; LGLIND 1980-Present	Not available on LexisNexis.
Via Westlaw	Database Identifier: ILP 1980-Present	Database Identifier: LRI 1980-Present	Database Identifier: CILP Westlaw keeps most recent 8 issues only.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals - 1960 to date

Indexes selected legal periodicals dealing with international law, comparative law, and local law of countries outside the common law system. The index is divided into four sections: subject index, geographical index, book review index, and author index. It is published quarterly with annual cumulative bound volumes.

LAW REVIEWS AT PIERCE LAW LIBRARY

Which law reviews can I find at Pierce Law Library and where are they?

The Pierce Law Library subscribes to most of the law reviews indexed in the major legal periodical indexes.

Law reviews are cataloged in MelCat, Pierce Law's online library information system. Law reviews with the library location designation of Main Periodicals are kept in the Compact Shelving Area on the first floor in alphabetical order. Law reviews with the library location of IP Periodicals are kept on the third floor periodical open shelving.

Which law reviews are published at Pierce Law?

Pierce Law publishes two student law reviews.

Pierce Law Review

Originally published as RISK. The Pierce Law Review has moved from the focus on human health, safety, and environmental concerns of RISK and instead is dedicated to a wide area of scholarship on diverse issues of legal interest. The Pierce Law Review is published twice a year.

IDEA

IDEA, The Journal of Law and Technology, is a forum for the analysis of a broad range of intellectual property issues from the disciplines of law, business, and science. Topics explored include domestic and international patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, and other related intellectual property issues. Four issues are published each year.