Business: Business Law

Prepared by Marcy Carrel (mcarrel@nelson.usf.edu)

July 2007

Finding Articles (Suggested Databases):

If you are off campus, please login through Blackboard and click through to the USF Libraries homepage. Under the tab “Resources,” click on “Databases by Title/Subject,” to search for databases of interest.  If you have any questions, please contact the Nelson Poynter Library Reference Desk at 727-873-4124.

Selected Databases: General business

ABI/INFORM Global

This is a premier business database which provides access to a wide variety of business literature, covering nearly 1800 business periodicals and scholarly journals, as well as the Wall Street Journal.  Much of the database is full-text. 

LexisNexis Academic  NEW SEARCH INTERFACE

LexisNexis is a premier database for business and legal research.  Under the top level “Search” tab, select the “business” sub-tab to search by and for company information.  Sources include Hoover’s directories, Disclosure (financials), and Investext reports.  To search business publications, select the top level “Sources” tab, then browse “by news & business topics” or by “industry”.  Publications can be filtered by country/region and selected individually or as a group.

Selected Databases: Legal

The two premier legal research services are LexisNexis and Westlaw.  Other databases index and include the full text of legal journals, periodicals, and resources.

LexisNexis Academic – Legal Research NEW SEARCH INTERFACE

LexisNexis is a standard database for legal research.  From the initial “Search” page, select the sub-tab “Legal.”  The default screen is for searching law reviews.  Other search screen options, from the menu on the right, include federal & state cases; Shepard’s citations (Supreme Court cases only); federal & state codes; tax law; Canadian court cases; Canadian legislation; and patents.  To search by publication type or area of law, go to the top level tab “Sources”.  The Martindale Hubbell Law Directory and law school directories are available under publication type = law directories.  Under “areas of law”, sources are grouped by categories such as banking & finance law, commercial law, and corporate law.  Helpful tutorials and assistance are found at the top level “Search” tab, lower right.

WestLaw Campus

WestLaw Campus is a user-friendly legal research tool that allows searching of primary and secondary legal sources.  Primary law sources include the U.S. Code Annotated, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, all federal and state court cases, and state statutes and regulations.  Secondary sources include the American Jurisprudence encyclopedia, American Law Reports, and a collection of over 700 full-text law reviews and journals.  Citing references and history are available through West’s proprietary KeyCite system – the “Help/FAQs” tab provides useful tips.  Also highlighted on the main page are a set of legal guides and “famous documents” such as Plessey v. Ferguson.

Index to Legal Periodicals Full-Text (Wilson)

Index to Legal Periodicals is a bibliographic database with indexing of over 1,025 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, bar association publications, university publications, and government publications.  Full-text is provided for about 270 resources from 1995-present.  Covers a wide range of specialties, including business law.

LexisNexis Academic – Congressional

Allows searching and access to U.S. congressional publications and legislative research.  Included are House and Senate reports, member biographies, committee hearings, congressional testimony, the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, the U.S. Code, legislative histories, bills & laws, and political news.

JSTOR Law

Scroll down to select “Law” and search a collection of 41 legal journals.  JSTOR collections are full-text journal articles in PDF format, with long back files of titles but excluding the most current one to five years.

Selected Periodicals: Business Law

To locate additional related journals (print or electronic), search or browse the USF Libraries catalog.  To specifically locate only electronic journals, select “E-Journals by Title.”  Please note that this information changes often.

Finding Books (USF Online Catalog):

Books on law are classified in K under the LC classification system.  Law of the United States is classified in KF and federal U.S. law is in KF1-9827.  Within the general law classification, civil law is found in K623-968; commercial law in K1000-1395; and “regulation of industry, trade, & commerce and occupational law” is in K3840-4375.

Searching the catalog by subject headings or keywords will identify e-books to read online, as well as the books on the shelves.  Reference books are on the first floor of the Poynter Library; books in the circulating collection (A-HN) are on the second floor; and HQ-Z is on the third floor.

Selected Reference Books:  (Poynter Library, first floor)

Black’s Law Dictionary (REF JF156.B53 1999)

First published in 1891, this renowned dictionary provides basic definitions for more than 20,000 words and phrases related to the study of law.

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (REF KF245.U55 2005)

Detailed instructions on how to cite legal resources from the “definitive style guide for legal citation in the United States.”

Desktop Encyclopedia of Employment Law (REF KF3319.3 .D47 2002)

This single-volume reference publication is arranged by topic such as gender discrimination, wrongful discharge, and wage & hour laws.  It includes an alphabetical table of cases and a table of cases by state.  Older editions are in the circulating collection.

Legal Research, by William H. Putman (REF KF240.P884 2006)

Useful and current handbook on how to conduct legal research.  Includes information on interpreting legal citations, case law analysis and search tips for Westlaw and LexisNexis.

Legal terminology, by S. Whittington Brown.  (REF KF240 .B767 2006)

From the West Legal Studies series, this 500+ page book explains and includes information on areas of law such as antitrust, torts, contracts and sales, property law, securities regulation, real estate law, labor and employment law, and discrimination in employment.

Wiley CPA examination review (REF HF5661.G44 2007)

This annual publication is issued in two volumes:  Volume 1 provides outlines and study guides; volume 2 is problems and solutions.  There are also separate publications covering “Financial Accounting and Reporting” (REF HF5661.C7232 2007); “Business Environment and Concepts” (REF KF889.5 .C16 2007); and “Regulation” (REF KF889.5 .C165 2007).  Older editions are in the circulating collection.

Selected Web sites:

There are many business and legal Web sites, of varying quality and covering a variety of related topics and categories.  Some of the sites I have bookmarked can be located at http://del.icio.us/marcylibrarian/legal.  (This list changes often!)  A few selected sites are noted below:

Online Sunshine: The Florida Legislature (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm)

“Online Sunshine” is the official Internet site of the Florida legislature, providing direct access to Florida laws, statutes, and the state constitution.  Also provides entry to both the Florida Senate (http://www.flsenate.gov) and the Florida House of Representatives (http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/), where you can search for bills by number or text.  

THOMAS: Legislative information on the Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov/)

Sponsored by the Library of Congress, THOMAS was designed to make federal legislative information available to the public.  Included are bills and resolutions, activity in Congress, the Congressional Record, treaties, and other government resources.

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/)

Search for U.S. patents and trademarks. Also provides news, information, and useful guides on patents, trademarks, and copyright law. 

Remember, you may contact a Reference Librarian in person, by phone (727/873-4124), or via chat (from the Ask a Librarian link on the USF Libraries web site).