Court & Hearings

Sometimes in legal research, it may be easier to start with a secondary source. Secondary sources are background materials that can give you a summary of an area of the law. They can also point you to the primary sources you should take a look at. Secondary resources are not the law. But, they can help you start your research, and are generally a trustworthy source of information on the law. 

Below, you can find a list of secondary resources that can help you get started.

Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE)

IICLEs are practice handbooks and forms by Illinois attorneys. The handbooks are very helpful and are updated regularly. To access them online you need to pay for a subscription, but you can go to your local county law library to access the print version of IICLEs. Please note that you must use them in the library. You cannot check them out. The following law libraries have public access to IICLEs:

• The Cook County,
• Dupage County,
• Lake County, and
• Kane County 

If you are going to a different county law library, you should call ahead to see if they have IICLEs available for public use. Find a law library near you. The Illinois Supreme Court website has guides that list the relevant IICLEs for certain topics. 

Treatises

Treatises are books that provide summaries of the law by topic. They are a good place to start your legal research because they summarize the current state of the law, and tell you what specific cases and statutes might be important. Treatises may be easier to understand than a statute, because treatises are usually written in less formal language. 

Below are some treatises that you can ask for at your local law library. Be sure to ask for the latest edition. The list below does not include every available treatise. If you don’t see a treatise that applies to your situation below, you can ask the law librarian for help finding a treatise on the kind of law you are looking for. 

Criminal Law

• Search and Seizure : A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment by Wayne R. LaFave
• Criminal Procedure by Wayne LaFave
• Criminal Trial Techniques by F. Lee Bailey and Kenneth J. Fishman

Family Law

• Gitlin on Divorce : A Guide to Illinois Family Law by H. Joseph Gitlin and Gunnar J. Gitlin
• Adoption Law and Practice by Joan H. Hollinger

Bankruptcy

• Collier Bankruptcy Manual by Henry J. Sommer and Richard Levin
• Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice by William L. Norton

Civil Procedure

• Federal Practice and Procedure by Charles Wright and Arthur Miller
• Illinois Civil Procedure by Jeffrey A. Parness
• Civil procedure Before Trial by Richard A. Michael
• Civil Discovery by Jeffrey S. Kinsler
• Illinois Civil Litigation Guide by Timothy J. Storm
• Illinois civil trial procedure by Michael J. Kaufman

Evidence

• Jones On Evidence: Civil & Criminal by Clifford S Fishman and Anne Toomey McKenna
• Illinois Evidence Manual by Hon. Robert J. Steigmann and Lori A. Nicholson

Labor and Employment Law

• Employment Discrimination Law, Seventh Edition by Barbara Trent Lindemann, Paul Grossman, and Geoff Weirich
• Labor and Employment Law by Peter Lareau

Torts (Personal Injury)

• Dobbs' Law of Torts by Dan B. Dobbs and Paul T. Hayden
• Stein on Personal Injury Damages by Jacob A. Stein
• Litigating Tort Cases by Roxanne Barton Conlin and Gregory S. Cusimano
• Modern Tort Law: Liability & Litigation by J. D. Lee and Barry A. Lindahl
• Personal Injury: Actions, Defenses and Damages by Louis R. Frumer and Melvin I. Friedman
• Recovery for Wrongful Death by Valerie M. Nannery
• Sack on Defamation: Libel, Slander & Related Problems by Robert D. Sack
• Products Liability by Cary Stewart Sklaren
• The Law of Products Liability by Marshall S. Shapo

Wills

• Wills, Trusts, and Estates by Sheldon F. Kurtz, David M. English, and Thomas P. Gallanis
• Page on Wills by Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Disability

• Americans with Disabilities Act: Employee Rights & Employer Obligations by Jonathan R. Mook ed.
• Americans with Disabilities Act Handbook by Henry H. Perritt, Jr.
• Disability Discrimination in the Workplace by Gary E. Phelan and Janet Bond Atherton

Legal Handbooks

Handbooks are a good secondary resource to use as well. Handbooks do a good job of summarizing the law for a specific area of the law. Unlike treatises, handbooks tend to focus on the practice of law.  Here are some online and print legal handbooks. 

Criminal Law

• State Appellate Defender Criminal Handbook
• Defending Illinois criminal cases by Thomas A. Lilien and Anna M Ahronheim

Family Law

• Cook County Guide for Family Law Cases
• Lake County Guide for Family Law Cases
• LexisNexis Practice Guide: Illinois Family Law by Sara Busche

Bankruptcy

• Illinois State Bar Association on Bankruptcy
• U.S. Courts Bankruptcy Basics
• University of Illinois Bankruptcy Guide

Civil Procedure

• State Appellate Defender Handbook on Briefs and Oral Arguments
• Guide for Appeals to the Illinois Appellate Court for Self-Represented Litigants

Evidence

• Handbook of Illinois Evidence by Michael H. Graham

Labor and Employment Law

• Handbook on Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Diseases

Wills & Estate Planning

• Probate Court Handbook
• ISBA Estate Planning Guide

Disability

• ADA National Network Disability Law Handbook

General Self-Representation Guides

• United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois Guide
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois Guide 

Law Reviews

Law reviews are well-researched articles that give in-depth analysis of a specific  issue of law. You can use Google Scholar to find law review articles by typing in what you want to research. See the University of Illinois Guide to Google Scholar.

If you find a law review article that you cannot access online, you may be able to find a printed copy of it at your local law library.

Legal Dictionary and Encyclopedia

Legal dictionaries and encyclopedias are helpful to look up words or phrases that you come across. 

• West's Encyclopedia of American Law by Jeffrey Lehman and Shirelle Phelps
• Black's Law Dictionary by Bryan A. Garner
• U.S. Court’s Glossary of Legal Terms (online)
• ILAO Legal Term Glossary (online) for the definitions of common legal terms.

Form Books

Form books are also known as “practice manuals” or “litigation guides.”

Lawyers use form books to find templates for writing legal documents that will be submitted to court or the other party. A template is a sample of what your document should look like. Usually, there is a short explanation before each template that gives you a general idea of what the form is used for. However, be careful because these sections do not give a full explanation of the law. Form books are only meant to help lawyers decide if the template applies to  their situation and what to include with their paperwork.

Because these books are written for lawyers, some of the terms may be difficult to understand. Be ready to look up unfamiliar terms in a legal dictionary.

Other Resources

The Law Library of Congress is the largest law library in the world. Its Guide to Law Online has more than 9,000 links to online sources of information on government and law. The Law Library of Congress offers some research assistance and reference services on U.S. federal and state legal issues. It is also a source of links to other states' and counties' laws.