Boley Law Library: Finding & Researching Your Paper Topic: Choosing a Topic

Use Print & Online Sources

It might seem obvious, but choosing a paper topic is not as simple as searching online for inspiration. The best tactic is to use a combination of print and online sources to find your topic.

Search the catalog
Browse the shelves
Use current awareness tools
Talk to a expert in the field, whether it's a professor or legal practitioner
Read blogs
Follow experts on social media

Current Awareness Tools Online

Practicing attorneys use current awareness tools to stay up-to-date with breaking news, statutory and regulatory changes and appellate court opinions in their field of practice. You should learn how to use these tools in law school.

American Society of International Law Insights
ASIL Insights provides brief, balanced accounts of the international law issues raised by newsworthy late-breaking events.
Circuit Split Roundup
Monthly circuit splits as reported in U.S. Law Week. Log in with your L&C Law School Bloomberg Law account. Don't have one? Contact the Reference Desk at lawlib@lclark.edu. You will search the US Law Week for "circuit splits reported".

E&E News This link opens in a new window
E&E News is a subscription-based news organization that reports on essential energy and environment issues in five daily publications: E&E Daily, Climatewire, Energywire, Greenwire, and E&E News PM.
Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) This link opens in a new window
Find environmental law news and analysis; the ELR Update; laws & regulations; federal, state & international materials; briefs & pleadings.

For subscriber access to the Guidance & Policy Documents section, ask a law librarian for username and password.
In Focus This link opens in a new window
Browse Bloomberg's editorially curated pages to find the latest news, commentary, litigation filings, regulatory developments, and practice tools on emerging issues and other topics of note to legal practitioners. Log in with your Bloomberg Law username and password. Don't have one? Ask at the reference desk.
Law360 This link opens in a new window
Login to with your Lexis account to access Law360.com and to sign up for newsletters:
1. Log into Lexis as usual at https://plus.lexis.com/
2. Click on the 9-dot grid up top, then select Law 360
LawMemo This link opens in a new window
LawMemo provides labor and employment appellate law updates. Sign-up for your personal law school account and receive the Employment Law Memo, the NLRB Law Memo and the Arbitration Law Memo.

Law Commons (bepress Digital Commons)
Working papers and pre-prints from scholars and professionals at top law schools around the world, organized by subject or search.

Portland Business Journal This link opens in a new window
Unlimited and full-text access to the Portland Business Journal online. For off-campus access, go to https://bit.ly/2sY3Fnx and sign into your Primo account to view the login information. You must login with these credentials to view full-text articles from off campus.
SSRN Legal Scholarship Network This link opens in a new window
Working papers related to law, economics, and business in 61 different subject areas. Part of the larger Social Science Research Network (SSRN).

Supreme Court Current Awareness Tools (L&C Law)
SCOTUSblog, Supreme Court Today, U.S. Law Week, and more.
Law.com (Bloomberg Law)
Access law.com articles and over three dozen ALM legal news titles on Bloomberg Law.

National Law Journal This link opens in a new window
NLJ and other ALM publications are available through your Lexis account. NLJ covers Federal and state court litigation; the U.S. Supreme Court; legislative issues; verdicts; and more.

Current Awareness Services in Print

Some services providing analysis of current development 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.”

Social Media Tools for Current Awareness

Social media is another great place to discover and keep up on the latest legal issues.

Blogs

There are a number of law blogs ("blawgs") in specialized subject areas written by attorneys, professors, judges, students, and other legal specialists. Use the links below to find a blog of an interest.

LexBlog
Subscribe to email newsletters for any of its collections by topic
ABA Journal Blawg Directory
BlawgSearch
Law Professor Blogs Network

Research Help

We're here to help. Contact a research librarian for help with an assignment, project, or resource.

Hours:
Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm
503-768-6688
lawlib@lclark.edu

Reference Hours