Lawyers and law firms use a variety of resources to prepare for representing their clients in civil and criminal matters, including legal reference books and legal dictionaries.

A great deal of American law is based on precedent. This is the concept that a given case is similar to prior cases; therefore, the judge or court’s decision in the prior case sets a precedent which may be applied in the current case. In order to cite the results of prior cases, attorneys must be able to read and know about those prior cases. Many volumes of legal reference books relate to these prior court decisions, and are essential to building up your legal library.

The decisions of the Supreme Court are published in bound volumes called United States
Reports. There are now more than 500 volumes in this series. In addition, individual states publish volumes called “Reporters.” These volumes contain the results of cases decided by courts that have appellate jurisdiction. There are also “Reporters” for other federal and appellate court decisions. There is a digest system available that organizes and indexes case results in categories and sub-categories to make it easier to find cases with similar circumstances.

Another reference tool is the Bluebook, the most widely used style guide for writing legal citations. However, some states have citation standards that differ substantially from the Bluebook and a few publish their own style guides.

Attorneys must also be able to reference the actual laws. These are found in volumes like the United States Code (USC) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and a variety of other federal and state regulations and statutes. A law office is most likely to have specific information for the particular state where they practice and possibly neighboring states.

All lawyers need a selection of dictionaries. In addition to an ordinary English dictionary and thesaurus, a lawyer will use legal dictionaries and encyclopedias to reference legal terms, usage, and concepts. If he is able to speak languages other than English, he will likely have multilingual legal dictionaries.

Legal Resources:
Must-Have Books For Starting Your Legal Library – Part 1
Must-Have Books For Starting Your Legal Library – Part 2
Must-Have Books For Starting Your Legal Library – Part 3
10 Must-Have Legal Reference Books, Part 1
10 Must-Have Legal Reference Books, Part 2
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