Federal Legislative History

New law clerks are often assigned the job of researching the legislative history for a particular state or federal statute. The goal is to look at the documents produced throughout the various stages from bill to public law to interpret the meaning or intent behind various sections. For a federal law it may involve looking at different versions of the bill, testimony in the Congressional Record, hearings or committee reports.

Compiling a legislative history can be a time consuming process that may result in a large bill for the client, so before you start researching, it makes sense to see if someone has already done the work for you. Compilations can be found by searching the online catalogs of area libraries such as the University of Denver’s Westminster Law Library, University of Colorado Law Library, Colorado Supreme Court Law Library, or Denver Public Library. The U.S. Federal Legislative History library of the HeinOnline Database contains digitized compilations that can be searched by popular name, Congress or Public Law number. To access, click on the link above or go through the library's Databases / Indexes section on our website. You will need your DU ID to log on through the proxy server if your are not on campus.

Other databases  offer a wealth of compiled legislative history resources. The FED-LH database on Westlaw contains the GAO's  collection of legislative history documents compiled for Public Laws enacted from 1921 to 1995. (Password required). They also have topical databases for legislative histories in securities, tax and immigration. Be sure to check out the Arnold and Porter database of legislative histories while you are on Westlaw. Arnold and Porter is a large law firm with more than 800 attorneys in nine offices including Denver.Lexis includes many legislative history options as well. Search the directory under Federal Legal - U.S. Legislative History to see if what you are looking for is available.


The Department of Justice has digitized and made available to the public some legislative histories that their staff has compiled. Topics vary, but some of the major compilations include the Administrative Procedure Act, the Child Custody & Visitation Act, The Federal Tort Claims Act Amendment and the War Crimes Act.


So what happens if you have looked at these various resources and no one has done a compilation on your particular federal statute? What online resources (free or fee-based) are the most useful? The Westminster Law Library has created an online research guide on Federal Legislative History to assist you with your research. See this article, Researching Federal Legislative History, published in the Colorado Lawyer in 2010, for details on the sources and steps need to compile a legislative history. Investigating older laws may mean that you need to use more print resources since the material may not all be available online. This article, Uncovering Federal Legislative History - Part II, focuses on print resources that can be found at many academic law libraries or larger public libraries.

Written by Patty Wellinger, Reference Services Coordinator

Lexis - Cost Effective Searching Class

• Monday, April 2 at Noon in Room 170
• Monday, April 2 at 4:50p.m. in Room 125
• Tuesday, April 3 at Noon in Room 410 
• Wednesday, April 4 at 4:50p.m. in Room 180

This class will include cost information and savings tips for both Lexis.com and Lexis Advance.  This is essential information for all students, but especially for those with summer internships or 3Ls with new associate positions.  Your attendance is worth 400 points and you can earn a bonus 500 upon completion of the Certification quiz after class.  You'll also receive an entry to win $250 from J. Crew and lunch or dinner.  Please sign-up  on the MySchool tab at www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool.

Why get Lexis Certified?   To show employers that you know what you are doing!  Being Certified means you are an efficient legal researcher and are aware research costs.

How does Certification work?  It is a two-part series.  The first class is called "Practice Tools" and the second class is called "Cost Effective Research".  Practice Tools is offered next week and Cost Effective will be offered after Spring Break.  To become certified, you need to attend both classes and then take a quiz.  If you pass the quiz, then you will get listed on our National Certification Registry and can put "Lexis Certified" on your resume.

This year there is an added incentive!  One person at DU who attends a Certification class will win a $250 J. Crew gift card and an ABA membership!  The entire program is worth 1300 Lexis Rewards points - 400 for each of two classes and 500 for passing the quiz.

Questions? Contact: 

 

Katherine Sparks

Account Executive, Law Schools

Colorado and Wyoming 

katherine.sparks@lexisnexis.com

1-800-45LEXIS  Customer Service

Public Domain Citation in CO

Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael L. Bender has adopted a new way to refer to Colorado Supreme Court and Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions in legal briefs and other documents.  The purpose is to support the use of Colorado case law in both book and electronic formats, and to make it more affordable and accessible to attorneys and the public. 

"Slip opinions" were the opinions delivered by the Courts, but lacked a formal citation format until published in the Pacific Reporter.  Instead of “slip opinions”, which do not receive a citation to the Pacific Reporter for some time, the Court’s will immediately assign a “Public Domain Citation” (PDC) when the opinions are released for publication.  This promotes quicker access for attorneys, researchers, and pro se litigants to find, research, use, and cite to Colorado case law in both print and electronic formats. 

Chief Justice Directive 12-01 is effective January 1, 2012, and requires that the Clerks for both Courts assign a “Public Domain Citation” to all opinions announced for publication.  

See the “Chief Judge Directives” underneath the Administration topic, and right above the category “Adopted and Proposed Rule Changes”. Publishers of Colorado cases are being requested by the Court to include this public domain citation within the heading of each Colorado opinion that they publish on or after January 1, 2012.

Legal practitioners and self-represented parties will be permitted—but not required—to

use the public domain citation format instead of citing to the Pacific Reporter.  Irrespective of

the citation format used, a parallel citation to the other format is not required.See the Directive itself for how to create or use a PDC.

The following is an example of how this will look online.  To see the whole case click on 2012 CO 4 below.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS COLORADO SUPREME COURT MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2012

OPINIONS

Supreme Court of the State of Colorado 101 West Colfax Avenue, Suite 800 • Denver, Colorado 80202

ADVANCE SHEET HEADNOTE

February 6, 2012 Click on the case number to view the opinion in pdf format.

2012 CO 4

No. 11SA82, Colorado Mills, LLC v. SunOpta Grains and Foods Inc. – Regardless of whether arbitration is involved or not, a district court has the same authority to enforce subpoenas in civil actions. A district court, as a matter of state sovereignty, has no authority to enforce civil subpoenas against out-of-state nonparties. Instead, such enforcement, if any, is left to the states in which the discovery is to take place.

Opinions of the Colorado Supreme Court are available to the public and can be accessed through the Courts homepage.  Opinions are also posted on the Colorado Bar Association homepage and free websites.  

 Written by Catharine Cott, Reference Librarian

Changes to Accessing Databases Off-Campus

The Westminster Law Library catalog was recently merged with the Penrose Library catalog.  Much of what you see looks the same, but there are several new features.  The most notable difference is how authentication is done when you log into your patron record or use the proxy server for off-campus access to databases.  All students, faculty and staff will now need to log in using their DU ID and passcode. The passcode is the password that you use when logging into DU’s WebCentral system.

Another feature is the ability to search all DU libraries at the same time.  To do this, select “All DU Libraries” from the drop-down menu on the search screen.   

Some other changes are not as noticeable.  You can now view your search history, and run previous searches or searches that you have saved as “Preferred”. You can set up your account preferences so that you receive notices from the library via email or postal mail. You can also create lists of records, save them and view them later.

The catalog’s new URL is:  http://bianca.penlib.du.edu/search~S9

If you have any questions about these new features, please contact the Reference Desk at x16206.

Colorado Legal Research Class

Reminder: Summer Semester priority registration begins Sunday, March 25 and continues through the end of the month. Check classes http://www.law.du.edu/index.php/registrar/class-schedules by clicking Summer 2012. We recommend Colorado Legal Research, a skills class, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45pm until 4:25pm.

This course will introduce students to legal materials in print generated by executive/administrative, legislative, and judicial branches of Colorado government. Students will develop research strategies for answering legal questions using primary and secondary resources and learn how to relate the various sources of authority to the structure of Colorado government. Students are required to bring laptop computers to classes and enrollment is limited to ten students. 

Class topics include statutes, legal dictionaries, legislative history, reporters/cases, digests, Shepard’s citations, American Law Reports (A.L.R.), practice materials, legal periodicals and indexes, legal forms and directories, administrative materials, and court rules.

This skills class will be taught by Sheila Green, Reference Librarian. Register for Colorado Legal Research on March 25.

HeinOnline Law Journal Library

Law journals can be a great research tool.  As a secondary source they help you learn about a legal topic you are researching.  Law journals also provide citations to primary law such as cases, constitutions, statutes, codes and agency regulations.  Some journal articles are written by attorneys practicing in a specific area of law, often found in bar journals or topic specific journals.  The American Bar Association journals are often published by the different topical sections and committees.  When you hear the term “law review”, it is usually a reference to the academic journals published by law schools such as the Sturm College of Law.  Our own Westminster Law Library has many law journals in print on Level 1.  However, if you do not have a citation for an article from another source it is difficult to search print journals by topic.

The HeinOnline Law Journal Library database is an excellent tool to find journal articles.  It can be found on the library’s homepage in the drop down list of databases under the “Research” section. his database is purchased for anyone to use, including SCOL alumni, attorneys, students, and the public.  After you graduate, it often makes sense to begin your research in free resources.  HeinOnline has “libraries” for many additional topics.  

The Law Journal Library has extensive help guides to enhance your research.  You can also access their many User Guides online.

Written by Catharine Cott, Reference Librarian 

Electronic Citation Guide

Read Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2011) by Peter W. Martin, Jane M. G. Foster Professor Law, Emeritus,  which includes:

(1.) WHAT AND WHY? Introduction, Purposes of Legal Citation, Types of Citation Principles, Levels of Mastery, Citation in Transition, and Who Sets Citation Norms.

(2.) HOW TO CITE . . . Electronic Sources, Judicial Opinions, Constitutions and Statutes, Agency and Exec. Material, Arbitrations, Court Rules, Books, Law Journal Writing, and Case Documents.

(3.) EXAMPLES – CITATIONS OF . . . Electronic Sources, Judicial Opinions, Constitutions & Statutes, Agency andExec. Material, Arbitrations, Court Rules, Books, and Law Journal Writing.

(4.) ABBREVIATIONS AND OMISSIONS USED IN CITATIONS: Words in Case Names, Case Histories, Omissions in Case Names, Reporters and Courts, States, Months, Journals, and Spacing and Periods.

(5.) UNDERLINING AND ITALICS: in Citations, in Text, and Items Not Italicized.

(6.) PLACING CITATIONS IN CONTEXT: Quoting, Citationsand Related Text, Signals, Orders, and Short Form Citations.

(7.) CROSS REFERENCE TABLES: Introduction, Changes in The Bluebook, Table: Bluebook, Table: ALWD Manual, and Table: State-Specific Practices.

Load an e-book version of this guide on a dedicated reader (Kindle, Nook, Sony, etc.) by clicking Introduction to Basic Legal Citations: e-book versions fall 2011.

Written by Sheila Green, Reference Librarian