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Local Legal Collections and Services |
The Santa
Monica Public Library Main Library has a good selection of legal
materials for the lay person but it is not a law library. Case law and legal
reporters are not included in the collection with the exception of general
material on historic decisions of the Supreme Court. The Library has the United States Codes
Annotated, the California Codes, and the Santa Monica Municipal Code as well
as a large selection of
Nolo Press books.
Nolo specializes in
self–help legal books and they are available in both the reference and
circulating collections.
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The Los
Angeles County Law Library, at 301 W. First St. in Los Angeles, is
open to the public and the law librarians are available to assist the
general public as well as attorneys and other legal professionals.
Their Website is an excellent place to begin legal research and the library
has a comprehensive collection of legal materials. A branch of the Los
Angeles County Law Library is located in the County Building at 1725 Main
St. (2nd Floor, Room 219) in Santa Monica. The telephone number is
(310) 260-3644. |
Santa Monica City Attorney
serves the City and its residents.
The
Consumer Protection Unit enforces Local and State laws to assure that
consumers are treated fairly and lawfully by local businesses. The Unit also
enforces the
City's tenant harassment law, and handles complaints of housing
discrimination. |
Los Angeles City Attorney
and the Los Angeles County
District Attorney offer consumer services, victim services, crime
prevention education, and other services to the residents of the City and
County of Los Angeles. |
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Legal Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |
Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law
(Gale Virtual Reference Library)
Library online database. The Encyclopedia of Everyday Law is the
online, full text of this
easy-to-understand, two-volume reference work. In the Library
Reference Collection you will find standard works like
Black's Law Dictionary as well as encyclopedic works such as West's
Encyclopedia of American Law and Oxford Companion to American Law. |
Cornell
Legal Research Encyclopedia
The Legal Research Encyclopedia is a
topical and jurisdictional arrangement ofresources including print,
microform, WESTLAW, LEXIS and the Internet. Citation to research tools
and direct links are provided. While citations may not be useful to
the layperson, the Internet links (selected by law librarians) to
authoritative materials and organizations can be extremely helpful.
For general information suitable for the layperson, try
Nolo's Encyclopedia of Everyday Law is in the Library Reference
Collection. |
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Legal Assistance and Self-Help |
American Bar Association Find Legal Help
Excellent resource to
help you find legal help from a lawyer or other source if you need to
resolve a legal matter. Includes a section on getting free legal help.
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Law Library of Congress Guide to Law
Annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available
online. Includes international, multinational, federal, and state law links
selected by the law librarians. |
FindLaw
Comprehensive set of
legal resources on the Internet for professionals, businesses, students and
the general public. Includes cases and codes, legal news, and covers topics
on every aspect of the law. |
Legal Grind
Located in
Santa Monica, Legal Grind provides an online Ask an Attorney service, a
State Bar Certified attorney referral service, and a popular Coffee &
Counsel service where for a modest fee ($25) you can consult with an
attorney on a variety of legal matters. |
Locating the Law
An online handbook produced the the Southern California Association of Law
Libraries with basic information about California and Federal legal
materials. For further study we suggest the book
Legal Research: How To Find and Understand the Law by Stephen Elias. |
Your Public Law Library
The Council of California County Law Libraries provide information on
self-help and legal research, links to Websites, and an online interactive
"chat" reference service staffed by law librarians. |
WashLaw
Washington University Law
School provides invaluable help on all legal topics: research; legal
forms; state, federal, and international law; libraries; and even sites for
locating people. |
California Public Law Library
The Council of California County Law Libraries offers self-help,
mini-research classes, law library links, and other legal links. The
Legal Links portion of the site may be viewed in Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, German, French, Japanese, and Korean. |
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For free and low-cost legal services, try the
Los Angeles County Social Service Rainbow Resource Directory available in
the Library Reference Collection. Additional Library resources
are available on the Library Legal
Resources page. |
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