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Legal Research - Guide to Basic Sources: Dictionaries & Directories

This guide provides information on resources used for legal research.

Dictionaries & Directories

Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations: a Reference Guide for Attorneys, Legal Secretaries, Paralegals, and Law Students, by Mary Mills Prince. 5th ed. Buffalo: Hein, 2001. 
(Ref Desk KF246 .B46 2001)

Lists accepted and recognized citation forms for federal and state law reports. Alphabetized as if each entry were one word. Definitions are not given.

Black's Law Dictionary, edited by Bryan A. Garner. St. Paul: West, 2014 
(Ref Desk KF156 .B53 2014)  Other editions are available in the Main, Reference, and Law collections.

Comprehensive standard work for legal definitions.

Burton's Legal Thesaurus, by William C. Burton. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, c2007. 
(RefDesk KF156 .B856 2007) 

Covers legal and non-legal words, legal concepts and foreign phrases commonly used in legal profession. Indexed.

Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, by Bryan A. Garner. 2nd ed. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1995 
(Ref KF156 .G367 1995)

law.com Legal Dictionary 
http://dictionary.law.com/

Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. New Providence NJ: Martindale-Hubbell. 
(Law KF190 .M37 2007)

Comprehensive American law list geographically arranged by state, then by city of all law firms and lawyers licensed to practice. Separate biographical sections for lawyers and law firms. Has no single alphabetical list of lawyers.

Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary 
(Main KF156 .N654 2009)

1001 Legal Words You Need To Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003 
(Main KF156 .A113 2003)

Covers essential and important legal words.

Real Life Dictionary of the Law: Taking the Mystery Out of Legal Language. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1995. 
(Main KF156 .H55 1995)

An attempt to clarify the language of law with simply worded definitions.

 

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