Finding Law Journals/Law Review Articles
Finding a good law review article can help the research both understand a legal topic, as well as finding the primary law resources that are most relevant.
There are many sources of law review articles.
Benefits of law review articles include coverage of cutting-edge topics which may not be covered by other secondary sources, as well as a summary of the primary law sources related to the topic.
Negatives of law review articles include that they lack updates and they may be written by law students.
Getting Help!
Reference Desk: 216.368.5206 lawref@case.edu
Interlibrary Loan: 216.368.8862
Or contact your Personal Librarian.
Google Scholar
Searching Google Scholar is quick and easy, and it will retrieve some articles from databases which for which CWRU has subscriptions, especially HeinOnline and JSTOR.
sample search: sanction and "United States" and (Russia OR Putin)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2022&q=sanction+and+%22United+States%22+and+(Russia+OR+Putin)&hl=en&as_sdt=0,36
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2022&q=sanction+and+%22United+States%22+and+(Russia+OR+Putin)&hl=en&as_sdt=0,36 (2022+)
Benefits: quick and easy and will probably retrieve a relevant article
Negative: Results may not be as precise as one of the other options. And there will be books in the results, not just articles.
Legal Index (OhioLINK research database)
Legal Collection includes full text for nearly 250 of the world's scholarly law journals, including a mix of law-school based journals, peer-reviewed journals, bar journals, and other genres of legal literature. Provides index, abstracts and selected full text.
Sample search: keyword = sanction and Russia and United States
More precise: search by TITLE field: TI= sanction and Russia and United States
search by SUBJECT field: SU =
RUSSIA-Ukraine Conflict, 2014-
INTERNATIONAL sanctions
FOREIGN relations of the United States
HeinOnline
Law Journal Library
https://heinonline.org/HOL/LuceneSearch?collection=journals&searchtype=field
https://heinonline.org/HOL/LuceneSearch?terms=Russia+AND+sanctions+AND+United+States&collection=journals&searchtype=advanced&typea=text&tabfrom=&other_cols=yes§ions=article§ions=comments§ions=notes§ions=reviews§ions=legislation§ions=case§ions=decisions§ions=misc§ions=index§ions=editorial§ions=external&submit=Go&sendit=
Benefits
Literally just searching law review articles.
Can search by title field and can limit by (publication) date.
Can search for newer articles that cite an older, relevant article that one finds.
Availabel to CWRU Law alumni at the present time
Negative:
Searching is less precise than is possible on Lexis, Westlaw, and Legal Collection
Searching is not as precise as other options, but one is
Digital Commons (Scholarly Commons)
https://network.bepress.com/explore/law/ (legal articles)
https://network.bepress.com/law/international-law/ (international law)
Benefits: Open Access -- free to anyone, anywhere
Negative: Searching is not very precise; thus, the results lack precisions, as well, especially compared to Lexis, Westlaw, and Legal Collection.
Lexis or Westlaw
Benefits: Both Lexis and Westlaw each offer a database of combined law journals (under Secondary Sources)
Very precise searching -- Boolean searching, field searching, proximity searching, ATLEAST#
Negative: Subscription required.
Are Law Review Articles Not Helping?
Study Aids
If one is having trouble understanding basic concepts, LLM students have access to online study aids from West, Lexis, Aspen Learning, and CALI.
https://lawresearchguides.cwru.edu/c.php?g=813189&p=8983331
West Study Aids offer nutshells, explain legal concepts at a basic level, as well as (concise) hornbooks which go into the "letter of the law" for a specific legal topic.
Wex - online legal definitions
Treatises
For a source that is usually more authoritative, comprehensive, and (usually) more current, try a legal treatise on the topic.
Negative: Subscription required/must be a current law student.
Example: Contracts
Business Source Alumni Edition
Designed for the business research needs of post-college professionals, Business Source Alumni Edition provides current information from essential business magazines and journals.
Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost)
Indexing and abstracts for scholarly, peer-reviewed business and business law-related articles back to 1886. Many full-text articles. Searchable, cited references for more than 1,200 journals.