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Paralegal Studies: Finding legal material

This guide gathers sources from the library collection, Galileo and the Web that complement the Paralegal program. Additionally, this guide is designed to point students to Library/LRC resources that support their program of study, and to provide links to

Finding Georgia legal material in print

  • Legal Encyclopedia:
    • Look up terms in the general index.
    • Go to the legal topic and section number (i.e., Family Law § 444).
    • Read summary and find cases by looking for the footnotes.
    • Always check the pocket part.
  • Statutes and Codes:
    • Look up your terms in the General Index.
    • Jot down the statutory citation
    • Open that section and examine the table of contents of case notes that help interpret the statute to find a relevant case.
    • Sometimes it also points you to other useful secondary tools like legal forms. Check pocket part
  • Legal Digest:
    • If looking for a definition of a legal term use the Words and Phrases Index.
    • If looking for general case law, use the Descriptive Word Index to find your legal issue.
    • Jot down the citation for your legal issue.
    • Find the appropriate volume, read the case summaries and check pocket part.
      Jot down the case citation: (i.e., 207 S.W. 2d 723)
    • Find your case in the SE. Reporter and update it via Shepard's Citations

Finding legal citations at the Law Library and Online

Primary Sources--Cases:

  • In reference
    • West’s Georgia cases reported in South eastern reporter
    • Georgia blue & white book.
    • Georgia cases reported in South eastern reporter
  • Online

Primary Sources--Statutes

  • In reference:
    • West’s Code of Georgia, Annotated

Georgia Secondary Sources

  • In reference:
    • Georgia Jurisprudence
    • Georgia Digest

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