Law Reporting Bureau Legal Research Portal

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New York Official Reports: Legal Research Portal

There are numerous resources available for learning about the various court systems in New York and the rest of the United States. We've compiled a list of websites for your convenience on this page. We also provide links to other imporant agencies on our other sites of interest page .

Table of Contents

New York State Court Resources New York State Agency Resources New York State Legislative Resources New York City and Other Local Sites Ethics Resources Federal Legal Resources Comprehensive Legal Services Legal Writing Resources: Clarity, Plain English, Grammar, Punctuation, Diction

New York State Court Resources

NY State Law Reporting Bureau

Comprehensive and searchable collection of New York State court decisions and motions

NY Court of Appeals

Decisions of New York's high court, along with records and briefs

NY State Court of Claims

Cases against the State of New York

NYS Unified Court System: Office of Court Administration

Court information, rules and publications

NYS Unified Court System eCourts

Case searching and tracking for New York local, supreme, criminal and family courts

NYS Unified Court System: Criminal Jury Instructions and Model Colloquies

Criminal charges to New York State juries and baseline colloquy scripts

NYS Unified Court System: Guide to New York Evidence

A compilation of New York's existing evidentiary rules

Historical Society of the New York Courts

Large library of NY judiciary historical documents, biographies of Judges, and profiles of state courts

NYS Unified Court System: Court Forms

Court forms for various state court actions and proceedings

Rules of NYS Courts

Rules of the Court of Appeals

Practice Rules of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division (PDF)

Rules of the Appellate Division, First Department

Rules of the Appellate Division, Second Department (PDF)

Rules of the Appellate Division, Third Department (PDF)

Rules of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department (PDF)

Uniform Rules for the Trial Courts

Rules of the Court of Claims

Rules of the Commercial Division

Rules of various state courts

New York State Agency Resources

Unofficial New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, as maintained by Thomson Reuters Westlaw

Unofficial New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, as maintained by Thomson Reuters Westlaw: New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (19 NYCRR parts 1219-1229)

NY State Library

Home of Excelsior, an exhaustive catalog of state government documents

New York State Library, State Government Information

Access to a variety of state government information including agency publications

New York State Government

Links to many state agencies

New York State Department of State, State Register

Weekly State Register provides information on the rulemaking activities of state agencies

NY State Department of State Local Laws Search

Local Laws adopted by the legislative body of a local government (county, city, town or village) are filed with the Department of State pursuant to

section 27 of the Municipal Home Rule Law. The NY Department of State maintains an electronic database of local laws and county codes filed after 1998 and 2015, respectively.

Office of the New York State Attorney General, Opinions of the Attorney General

New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Policy Directives

New York State Committee on Open Government

New York State Comptroller, Legal Opinions

New York State Education Department, Office of Counsel, Commissioner's Decisions

New York State Department of Financial Services, Industry Guidance

New York State Workers' Compensation Board, Select Full Board and Panel Decisions

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Guidance

Selected state agency opinions, decisions, codes and regulations

New York State Legislative Resources

New York State Assembly

Check bill text and status of current state bills

New York State Senate

Senate information, current legislation

New York State Legislative Library

Collection of state legislative resources, including Senate and Assembly debate transcripts

New York State Legislature Consolidated Laws of New York

Browse or search New York laws courtesy of the State Legislature

New York State Archives Digital Collections, Legislative Bill and Veto Jackets

Files, or “jackets,” which document the Governor’s legislative decision-making process on bills that have been signed into law or vetoed by the executive

HathiTrust--Historic Laws of the State of New York

New York Session Laws dated between 1800 and 1922 preseved on HathiTrust by the University of Iowa

New York City and Other Local Sites

New York City Official Website

General information on NY City; links to city agencies.

New York City Green Book Online

Official directory of the City of New York

American Legal Publishing Code Library, New York City

Navigate to searchable Administrative Code of the City of New York, New York City Charter, and Rules of the City of New York on the website of the City’s official rule publisher.

New York City Council, City Local Laws Search

Searchable full text of NY City Local Laws, Introductions and Resolutions.

New York City Planning Commission, Zoning Resolution

Current NY City Zoning Resolution and maps

New York City Public Schools, Chancellor's Regulations

New York City Department of Education's Chancellor's regulations covering a wide range of policies including student-related issues and employee issues

New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, The City Record Online

Database of notices published in the City Record newspaper which includes: public hearings and meetings, public auctions and sales, solicitations and awards and official rules proposed and adopted by NY City agencies.

International Code Council, Municipal Code Library

Extensive collection of municipal codes searchable by state

Ethics Resources

NY State Bar Association Ethics Opinions

Advisory opinions issued by New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics

New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, Advisory Opinions

Formal advisory opinions issues by the Commission and its predecessor agencies

NYC Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics

Browse or search the Committee's formal and informal ethics opinions

New York State Unified Court System, Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics

Browse or search the committee's opinions and Rules Governing Judicial Conduct

New York Rules of Professional Conduct with New York State Bar Association Commentary (PDF)

Read the Rules of Professional Conduct and commentary

American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics

National code of ethics for physicians

Federal Legal Resources

Congress.gov

Federal bills, Congressional Record, treaties, committee reports

United States Code, prepared by the United States House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Includes a link to the Popular Name Tool, which enables you to search or browse the United States Code Table of Acts Cited by Popular Name

US Government Publishing Office, Discover United States Government Information

Free online access to official publications from all three branches of the federal government, including: United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, United States Court Decisions, Compilation of Presidential Documents, Congressional Bills, Congressional Documents, Congressional Hearings, Congressional Record, Congressional Reports, Economic Indicators, Public and Private Laws, Additional Government Publications

US Supreme Court

Provides links to opinions, dockets, argument transcripts, argument audio, free online access to the US Reports and the Preliminary Prints that precede bound volume publication

GovTrack.us

Easily track the status of federal legislation, find information about the activities of Congress generally and specific members, and more

United States Courts, Federal Courts Finder

Comprehensive listing of federal courts

United States National Archives and Records Administration

National Archives Office of the Federal Register's codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders , with a link to the Executive Orders Disposition Tables Index

Library of Congress

United States Constitution and Bill of Rights; Congressional Bills (House 1799-1873, Senate 1819-1873); Congressional Committee Reports (US Serial Set 1833-1917); Congressional Debates (1789-1877); documents from the Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention; US Treaties (1795-1945) and Other International Agreements (1950-1982)

Law Library of Congress

Provides links to: collections; researcher resources; legal reports

The Founders' Constitution

Provides links to historical documents related to the development of the Constitution

Yale Law School's Lillian Goldman Law Library: The Avalon Project

Large compilation of historical documents, e.g., Federalist Papers, presidential papers, early state constitutions

United States Department of State

Treaties in Force , and Texts of International Agreements to which the US is a party

Summary of the Major Laws of the United States Department of Labor

Information about many of the major laws administered and enforced by the US Department of Labor

Free access to the Department of Labor's Wirtz Labor Library , providing the general public with a wealth of labor resources

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Conduct preliminary patent and trademark searches

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Client Information Policy Systems

Online resource for forms, handbooks, policies, and other related information

Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. Legislative Source Book

Compilation of links to federal research guides, tables of information, and out-of-print sources.

United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services--Manuals

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Online Manual System is used to administer CMS programs and offers day-to-day operating instructions, policies, and procedures based on statutes and regulations, guidelines, models, and directives.

International Legal Resources

International Legal Research Tutorial

A collaboration between Duke University School of Law and University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, this tutorial teaches research strategies and methodology for research print and electronic sources of international legal materials

Comprehensive Legal Services

FindLaw Case Law Resources

Free access to a range of federal and state resources and materials from other countries; also offers forms for purchase.

Justia

Free access to a range of federal and state resources.

LexisNexis Legal Insights

Sign up for access to legal blogs, top cases and more.

Harvard Law School Library, Research Guides

Collection of resources for free legal research

George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, Free Legal Research Sites

Organizes free legal research websites, search engines and databases

Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute

Full-service federal and state site with comprehensive Supreme Court collection

Georgetown Law Library Tutorials

Free video tutorials for conducting legal research, including Administrative Law, Legislative History and Treaty Research.

University of Maryland, Francis King Carey School of Law, Thurgood Marshall Law Library Guide to Legal Research

Guide to general legal research

ECOLEX — an information service on environmental law

Information service on environmental law that includes information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature. Users have access to the full text of most of the information provided

Digital Commons Network-Law Commons

Free access to a large number of law articles.

American Bar Association, Law Practice Division, Law Technology Today

Free full-text online law review/journal search.

Legal Scholarship Network

Database containing scholarly working papers and articles recently accepted for publication.

Legal Writing Resources: Clarity, Plain English, Grammar, Punctuation, Diction

Practice Law Institute, Thinking Like a Writer: A Lawyer's Guide to Effective Writing and Editing, The Principles of Super-Clarity (PDF)

United States National Archives and Records Administration, Regulatory Drafting Guide, Principles of Clear Writing

United States National Archives and Records Administration, Regulatory Drafting Guide, Preferred Expressions

A Collection of Works on Legal and Judicial Writing Published by The Honorable Gerald Lebovits

William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style (1999), portions available on Bartleby.com

Capital Community College Foundation, Guide to Grammar and Writing

Purdue University, The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

A Research Guide for Students: Explanation of Verb Tense Consistency

Scribbr: Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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