This week in the Law Library we welcome our 1-L students, transfer students, and those taking short courses; provide additional summer legal research tips; and cover selected success guides to law school.

Welcome!

We’re so glad you’re here!

Law Library Orientation

Join us on Thursday, Aug. 17th from 9:00am – 10:00am in room 160 for an introduction to the law library and library resources.

Hours & Access

Building doors are unlocked Monday – Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm except during University of Cincinnati holidays. Law students, faculty, and staff have 24/7 access with their UC Bearcat ID cards.

Library Circulation Desk Hours This Week

Monday – Friday: 9:00am – 5:00pm

Fall 2023 Hours

Monday – Friday: 8:00am – 5:00pm; Law students 8:00am – 6:00pm (except during fall break which will be 8:00am – 5:00pm)
Monday, Sept. 4 – CLOSED
Thursday, Nov. 23 – Friday, Nov. 24 – CLOSED

Law School Success

5 Resources to Help Prepare for the Year Ahead

The resources below are available through the Law Library’s study aid subscriptions. For more information on accessing our study aids, view our Introduction to Study Aids video and our 1-L Study Aids page on the 1-L Survival Guide.

1L of a Ride by Andrew J. McClurg

Coming to Law School: How to Prepare Yourself for the Next Three Years by Ian Gallacher

Get a Running Start: Your Comprehensive Guide to the First Year Curriculum

This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, covers all the major concepts taught in each of the courses most commonly offered in the first year of law school: criminal law, torts, civil procedure, constitutional law, property, and contracts. Features include: an introductory chapter offering advice on how to structure a successful preparation and study process starting with the summer before law school and running straight through exams; insiders’ advice from successful law students and recent graduates on class preparation, course selection, career development, and managing the stress of law school; short lessons that provide readers with an introduction to the major concepts for a day or week of law school classes in 10-15 minutes; complete course coverage that will allow readers to get a global overview of a first-year law course in the span of an afternoon.

A Weekly Guide to Being a Model Law Student by Alex Ruskell

This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, gives law students weekly checklists explaining the skills necessary to successfully navigate their first year of law school. Each chapter provides a checklist of things to do that week, such as briefing cases, going over notes, outlining classes, or doing practice questions. When a new concept is introduced, this book clearly explains the concept and its purpose and provides examples. It also includes a bank of over 100 short, medium, and long practice questions in six first year subjects.

Summer Legal Research Tips

Previously, we looked at initial steps to take when you get a summer research project, researching secondary sources, the structure and organization of statutory codes and where to find them, statutory finding tools, using citators to validate statutes, researching historical codes, statutory surveys, finding cases, validating cases, general legislative history research, and state and federal legislative history research. This week we will briefly cover researching administrative law.

Federal Administrative Law Research

Any time you have a statutory issue, you will need to find any applicable administrative regulations and update those regulations. You will also want to consult administrative adjudications. Congress creates administrative agencies and delegates to them the authority to act, but they are part of the executive branch. Administrative agencies generate rules and regulations, much like a legislature generates statutes. These administrative rules and regulations help further interpret a statute. Additionally, agencies may conduct hearings and issue decisions concerning matters that fall under their jurisdiction, much like a court. Finally, agencies may also investigate and enforce violations.

E-CFR

Rules that are immediately effective are integrated into the “Electronic Code of Federal Regulations” also known as the e-CFR. The e‐CFR is an unofficial editorial compilation published by the Office of the Federal Register and the Government Printing Office. It is the most up-to-date version of the CFR.

CFR

The official publication of Federal rules is the Code of Federal Regulations that is published annually by the Government Printing Office. The CFR is divided into 50 subject matter titles. Each of the 50 titles are republished each year on a staggered, quarterly basis. Titles 1-16 are revised as of January 1, titles 17-27 are revised as of April 1, Titles 28-41 are revised as of July 1, and Titles 42-50 are revised as of October 1. Each title is divided into chapters usually bearing the name of the issuing agency. At the back of each CFR volume is an Alphabetical List of Agencies Appearing in the CFR, showing the title and chapter where an agency’s regulations are codified. Each chapter is further subdivided into parts which cover specific regulatory areas. Large parts may be subdivided into subparts; all parts are organized in sections, and most citations to the CFR will be provided at the section level.

Finding Regulations

Secondary Sources & Annotated Code References

So how do you find regulations? If you are following the research process, hopefully your secondary source would have given you some citations to regulations when talking about your issue. For example, if we were researching a Fair Labor Standards Act issue of overtime for outside sales employees, we would find references to the applicable regulations in the secondary source, FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook.

Your annotated code also will often refer you to relevant CFR sections. In Westlaw codes, you can find this under Context and Analysis. In Lexis Codes, it is under Research References.

If you are using online sources on Lexis or Westlaw, you can just jump to the hyperlinked CFR citations. If using a print secondary source or code, once you have a citation to a specific CFR section, you can retrieve the section by citation in Lexis and Westlaw just like you would any other document. You can also retrieve it by citation in HeinOnline and you can retrieve it by citation for free at the e-CFR or govinfo.gov.

Finding Regulations by Subject

If you don’t have a citation from a secondary source or the annotated code, you might also want to look at finding regulations by subject. The CFR has an index. You can access this index on Govinfo.gov and on HeinOnline. Lexis and Westlaw also have a CFR Index. Note that it is not the same index as the one that the Government Printing Office provides. To access the index on Westlaw, simply go to the CFR, look off to the right under Tools and Resources, and select the CFR Index. To access the index on Lexis, begin typing CFR Index in the big search box. When using either the GPO Index or the indexes on Lexis or Westlaw, one helpful hint is to start by looking under the agency or sub-agency. Remember that you can also do keyword searching for regulations. When searching administrative regulations on Lexis or Westlaw, you can add a little precision to your search by using fields and segments.

State Administrative Law Research

Administrative law in the states operates similarly to the federal system, although there will be some differences in terminology, agencies and agency structures, and rulemaking requirements. State legislatures give state agencies the power to create administrative law just like Congress empowers federal agencies. Once you know the state jurisdiction that controls, learn the state law that applies to regulations. This means finding the enabling acts for state agencies and the administrative procedure acts that govern agency process. In Ohio, for example, the Administrative Procedure Act is found in Ohio Rev. Code §§ 119.01 to 119.14. An additional abbreviated rulemaking provision, that does not require notice and comment, is at Ohio Rev. Code § 111.15.

Most states have a state publication similar to the Federal Register (but not necessarily published daily) and that can be called a register, bulletin, or journal. Most states also have an administrative code. A good resource to find state registers and state codes is the website of the Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) Section of the National Association of Secretaries of State. They link to each state’s “register,” code, and manual.

In Ohio, when an agency intends to adopt a rule, the agency gives public notice of its intention to adopt the rule in the online Register of Ohio at least 30 days before its scheduled hearing on the proposed rule. At least 65 days before adopting the rule, the agency files the notice, the proposed rule, and a rule summary and fiscal analysis with the Secretary of State and the Legislative Service Commission. The agency also files the notice, proposed rule, and rule summary and fiscal analysis with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review for legislative review. The agency holds a public hearing on the proposed rule. Sixty-six days after filing the proposed rule, and if the time for legislative review has expired, the agency may adopt the proposed rule and file it in final form. The final rule is published in the Register of Ohio and the Administrative Code.

Ohio also has a print publication called The Ohio Monthly Record which gives notice to the public of repealed rules and proposed rules and publishes new and amended rules in chronological order on a monthly basis. The Ohio Administrative Code is divided into chapters, alphabetically, by agency.

Regulations “adopted by reference” are not contained in the Ohio Administrative Code. You must locate the text in other documents. An example of this would be the building code, which incorporates the Ohio Building Code by reference. The Ohio Legislative Service Commission and Ohio Secretary of State can provide the text of the regulations adopted by reference.