Choosing a Paper Topic

From the faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School. Grouped by broad legal subject areas, these paper ideas are provided to help L&C Law students choose a paper topic and to point students towards the forward edges of the law. L&C email username and password required.
Links: Paper Topic Ideas

ACS ResearchLink collects legal research topics submitted by practitioners and faculty for law students to explore in faculty-supervised writing projects for academic credit.
Links: ACS Research Link | Student info

BNA's United States Law Week summarizes the most significant federal and state court and administrative cases each week. Among the criteria: Cases which further split the circuits, establish new legal precedent, address new statutes, or contribute to emerging legal doctrines.

Use the Circuit Split Roundup link to find splits by topic; click our Search link to find the latest circuit splits.
Links: Circuit Split Roundup | Search for the Latest Circuit Splits | US Law Week
Also: Check the Split Circuits blog, regularly posting in-depth discussion of current circuit splits.

JURIST's Topics page, with a raft of research resources available in what must be over a hundred different continually-updated topic areas.

JURIST is a leading legal news and research website out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Every JURIST post provide news, background and, significantly, links to the primary source materials - judicial decisions, legislation, testimony, reports and releases - behind the legal news.
Links: JURIST Current Awareness | JURIST Home

Periodic review of online resources on topics of the day, prepared by a BNA librarian drawing on materials from the many BNA publications available. Fine source to browse the pressing legal topics of the day, complete with links to the primary legal documents and relevant background materials.
Link: BNA's Web Watch Reading Room

The Law Library subscribes to over 100 specialized BNA current awareness services online. Coverage in 28 topic areas, including environmental, intellectual property, labor & employment, business, corporate and tax law. Browse titles and subscribe to an email alert service in your legal area of interest for the latest legal news and analysis.
Links: BNA Databases by Subject | A-Z List | Email Updates | About
Also: Locating Paper Topics Using BNA Publications (pdf)

News and analysis (and much more) of environmental, health and safety, toxic tort, natural resource and land use law. Be sure to check the ELR Update, latest developments newsletters, and News & Analysis Journal.
Links: Environmental Law Reporter | also see BNA's environmental law titles | also see E&E Newsletters

Free electronic newsletters published by ASIL, the American Society of International Law. International Law in Brief provides twice-monthly updates on general developments in international law. ASIL Insights contains periodic analysis of important developments and issues in international law.
Links: Subscribe to ASIL E-Newsletters | Read online International Law in Brief | Read online ASIL Insights

Three employment-law related email alert services provided by LawMemo.com. Employment Law Memo (M,W,F), NLRB Law Memo (Weekly), and Arbitration Law Memo (Monthly).
Links: Subscribe to a LawMemo | More info

Timely access to the latest law review articles in over 500 publications. Each week CILP presents citations to articles organized by legal subject, along with the tables of contents of all indexed journals. Direct links to articles on LexisNexis & Westlaw are included.
Links: CILP

Blogs, short for weblogs, are easily updated web pages that often provide commentary and links on current issues. There are a growing number of law blogs ("blawgs") in specialized subject areas written by attorneys, professors, judges, students, and other area specialists.

Links:
Taxonomy of Legal Blogs  - Well organized collection of links to all matter of legal blogs
Blawg Republic - read all blog entries by category, or find subject blogs via the directory
Law Professor Blogs Network - 50 blogs, 50 legal topics, all law professor bloggers
Justia BlawgSearch - New, leading directory of blogs by category, combined with powerful search engine
:: Blawgs.fm - Legal podcast directory and search engine
Blawg.org - Legal blog directory

Many services providing analysis of current developement in the field and reports of recently decided cases are available in print in the Law Library. Searching the catalog for these tools can be difficult at times. Consider using "reporter" and your legal topic as a keyword search. Other words that may prove useful include "weekly", "alert", "current", "news", "analysis", or "newspaper" and then use one of these in conjunction with "law" or "legal." Browsing the shelves still works! Go to your subject area of interest in the stacks and look for multi-volume looseleaf services, in particularly ones by BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) or CCH (Commerce Clearing House).
Links: Lewis & Clark Libraries Catalog | also search for looseleaf services with LawTRIO

This book covers everything from choosing a topic (chapter I) to getting your paper published (chapter VII), and in the process gives fine advice on writing. Even addresses a key question: What topics to avoid.
Links: Lewis & Clark Copy | Author's Website

Covers the field, including rich chapter on choosing and developing a paper topic.
Links: Lewis & Clark Copy | Publisher's Website

Clear and accessible guide to the mechanics and style of legal writing.
Links: Lewis & Clark Copy | Publisher's Website

Rules and advice in another clear and accessible guide to legal writing, with examples.
Links: Lewis & Clark Copy | Publisher's Website