Library Information for
Judicial Externs

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» Court Libraries

» Criminal Law Materials

» Jury Instructions

» Rules of evidence

» Procedural information

» Minnesota legal information

» Family Law Materials

» Sample Forms

» Regulations

» Legislative History

» Research Help

» A Paid Clerkship

Court libraries

Anoka County Law Library
Dakota County Law Library
Hennepin County Law Library
Ramsey County Law Library
Washington County Law Library
Directory of County Law Libraries (.rtf format, compiled by the MN State Law Library)
Minnesota State Law Library
8th Circuit Minneapolis Branch Library
8th Circuit St. Paul Branch Library

Criminal law materials

Research guide to federal and Minnesota criminal procedure: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/criminalprocedure.html

For Minnesota criminal jury instructions, see volumes 10 & 10A of the Minnesota Practice Series (green books). These are on Westlaw as MN-JICRIM.

Federal criminal jury instructions are on Lexis as Federal Pattern Jury Instructions 8th Circuit - Criminal, and on Westlaw as part of the FED-JI database.

Sentencing:

Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines and Commentary

Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines and Commentary Annotated (Deb Dailey ed.). KF209 .M54x 1995- no.1167

Federal Sentencing Guidelines. These are published as part of Title 18 of the United States Code. The Guidelines are also published in The Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The current edition of the Manual and previous editions back to 1994 are posted on the Internet by the U.S. Sentencing Commission (www.ussc.gov), along with any subsequent amendments. The Guidelines are on Westlaw in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FCJ-FSG) database and on Lexis as USCS Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Federal Sentencing Law and Practice. St. Paul, Minn.: West Pub. Co., 1989- . KF9685 .F44

Jury instructions

For Minnesota civil jury instructions, see volumes 4 & 4A of the Minnesota Practice Series (green books). These are on Westlaw as MN-JICIV.

For federal jury instructions, see Federal Jury Practice and Instructions: Jury Trial (on Westlaw as FED-JICIV). This includes the 8th Circuit Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions. Or use Modern Federal Jury Instructions (on Lexis as Modern Federal Jury Instructions -Civil).

For Minnesota criminal jury instructions, see volumes 10 & 10A of the Minnesota Practice Series (green books). These are on Westlaw as MN-JICRIM.

Federal criminal jury instructions are on Lexis as Federal Pattern Jury Instructions 8th Circuit - Criminal, and on Westlaw as part of the FED-JI database.

Rules of evidence

The Minnesota Rules of Evidence are contained the Minnesota Statutes Annotated. You can also get them on Lexis as Minnesota State & Federal Court Rules, or on Westlaw as MN-RULES. (Westlaw also includes them in its MN-ST-ANN database.)

Procedural information

To research federal or Minnesota civil procedure, start with the Law Library's guide, http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/ResearchingCivPro.html

Minnesota legal information

To get started on legal topics other than the ones covered here, see the Law Library's research guide to Minnesota law, http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/minnresearch.html

Family law materials

Start with the Law Library's research guide to family law: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/familylaw.html

Sample forms

Many judges have their own collections of forms. Here is the Law Library's guide to finding forms: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/legal-forms.html

Westlaw has a database called MN-TRIALORDERS that contains selected civil trial court orders from Minnesota (state courts only).

Regulations

You may be asked to research state or federal regulations (sometimes called "rules"). For help, see the Law Library's research guide to administrative law, http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/fedreg.html

Legislative history

If you're asked to find legislative history for a federal law, start with the Law Library's guide, http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/federallegislativehistory.html

For Minnesota legislative history, start with the Minnesota State Law Library's guide, http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/Leghist/histstep.asp

Research help

To get help with your research, you have several options. Contact the Law Library: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/reference-lawstudents.html We now offer chat reference.

After hours, contact the Lexis and Westlaw support for help with finding a database or creating a search.

You can also contact the law librarian for the court where you're externing. (See the list of law libraries above.)

A paid clerkship

Law Clerk Handbook: A Handbook for Law Clerks to Federal Judges, 2d ed (2007).

The Online System for Clerkship Application and Review (OSCAR) is a single, centralized resource for providing notice of available clerkships, clerkship application information, and law clerk employment information

See also:

Strauss, Debra M. Behind the Bench: The Guide to Judicial Clerkships, Reserve KF 8771 .S77 2002.

Chipchase, Calvert G. Federal District Court Law Clerk Handbook, Reserve KF8807 .C48 2007.

If you have questions about other resources needed for your work, please contact the Reference Office (625-4309), or Suzanne Thorpe (625-0187).