Skip to Main Content

Judicial Externship Legal Research Sources & Information

A brief overview of resources and suggestions for Case Western Reserve Law School students serving as judicial interns.

Legal Definitions

  • BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY (Bryan A. Garner ed.)  Print:  Law Library Reference KF156 .B53 2014.  Westlaw.
  • Bryan A. Garner, A DICTIONARY OF  MODERN LEGAL USAGE (2003).  Print: Law Library Reference PE2827 .G37 2003. 
  • WORDS AND PHRASES (1940 - [2008]).  Print: Law Library Stacks KF156.W6
  • (Permanent Ed., 1658 to date. All Judicial constructions and defintions of words and phrases by the State and Federal courts from the earliest times, alphabetically arranged and indexed).
    • Each definition contains a citation from the court that provided the definition.
    • Now integrated into the search system of Westlaw.
      • WORDS AND PHRASES  field search in Westlaw cases and statutes databases.  Example:
        • WP (“essential witness”)
      • Users can do similar searching via Lexis Advance although Lexis does not provide access to the official Thomson Reuters Words and Phrases publication: Example:
        • Lexis Advance -Headnote (“essential witness”)
        • Or:  “essential witness” w/s meaning or defin!