Legal Research Tools

Part of the Alberta Court Services is access to the Alberta Law Libraries. The primary mission of Alberta Law Libraries is to facilitate access to legal information for the Alberta community, including its judiciary, lawyers, citizens, libraries and government agencies. Alberta Law Libraries (ALL) were formed in 2009 when Alberta Court Libraries and Alberta Law Society Libraries were amalgamated. ALL has served the legal community in Alberta since 1885 and use of our collections is free to all who visit our libraries.

This electronic resource guide, often called the ERG, has been published online by ASIL since 1997. Since then it has been systematically updated and continuously expanded. The chapter format of the ERG is designed to be used by students, teachers, practitioners and researchers as a self-guided tour of relevant, quality, up-to-date online resources covering important areas of international law. The ERG also serves as a ready-made teaching tool at graduate and undergraduate levels.

This online resource is written and maintained by Catherine Best, a research lawyer with Boughton Law Corporation in Vancouver, British Columbia, and former Director of Legal Research and Writing at the UBC Faculty of Law. It features information on research essentials (strategy, methods and writing), electronic research (using free and commercial services), and statutory and jurisdiction research.

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) is a not-for-profit organization initiated by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. CanLII’s goal is to make primary sources of Canadian law accessible for free on the Internet. CanLII seeks to gather legislative and judicial texts, as well as legal commentaries, from federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions on a single Web site.

The goal of this document is to help self-represented litigants (SRLs) navigate CanLll in order to prepare for the presentation of their cases – in court, in chambers, or as part of a negotiation or mediation

Ted Tjaden is a lawyer/law librarian working as the Coordinator, Information Services at the Bora Laskin Law Library at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where he teaches legal research and writing to law students. His online guide provides information and links to print and online resources about the Canadian legal system, primary and secondary legal resources, legal organizations and publishers, and offers a section categorized by legal topic.

The Privy Council Office has created an online database that allows users to search for federal Orders in Council (OICs) made between 1990 and the present. Check it out here if you are looking for a Federal Order in Council.

The FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children is a joint collaboration between academics at Simon Fraser University and community and women’s organizations working at the grass-roots level. The FREDA Centre is committed to participatory action research, focused specifically on violence against women and children, and works in the interests of the community to end this violence.

GlobaLex is an electronic legal publication dedicated to international and foreign law research. Published by the Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law, GlobaLex is committed to the dissemination of high-level international, foreign, and comparative law research tools in order to accommodate the needs of an increasingly global educational and practicing legal world. The guides and articles published are written by scholars well known in their respective fields and are recommended as a legal resource by universities, library schools, and legal training courses.

The Great Library serves the legal information needs of Law Society members and other legal researchers by facilitating access to an extensive collection of print and electronic resources, and by providing legal research assistance and instruction.

The Guide is meant to act as a resource for lawyers to learn about historical and cultural elements that provide context for the professional relationship between an Indigenous person and their lawyer. It also provides tools to help lawyers represent Indigenous clients as effectively as possible, and a number of resources to encourage lawyers to continue their education. The Advocates’ Society, in partnership with the Indigenous Bar Association and the Law Society of Ontario, developed the Guide for Lawyers Working with Indigenous Peoples.

This page from Justice Canada provides links to reference sources on the Canadian justice system, legislation, the courts, and other public justice institutions.

Learn the importance of developing a good search strategy in order to quickly and effectively answer legal questions. This web page is the starting point for the University of Ottawa learning modules about legal research. Topics include: searching using keywords and Boolean logic, secondary sources, legal journals, case law, using CanLII, federal legislation, and legal citations.
University of Ottawa.

These online research guides are provided by the University of Calgary and include: University of Calgary Law Library Research Guides; Other Canadian Research Guides; Non-Canadian Legal Research Guides; Internet Research Guides; Abbreviations; and Legal Citation guides.

Legaltree.ca is a collaboratively built website with research resources maintained by the site administrators, and legal literature contributed by lawyers in the Canadian legal community. They also provide a directory of Canadian lawyers.

Research assistance, subject guides, and useful resources compiled by the NATO librarians. Use the tabs to navigate through the individual guides. Topics include: Arctic Security; Cyberspace Security; Maritime Security; Missile Defence; Women, Peace and Security; NATO’s New Strategic Concept; Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan; and Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

From the Great Library of the Law Society of Upper Canada, this guide provides annotated links to case law as well as case-related services and information available mainly on the websites of Canadian courts and administrative tribunals.

This guide, prepared by the Bora Laskin Law Library, explains how to conduct legal research in Canada. It is aimed at the first-time legal researcher and will be most useful if the steps and sources in the guide are followed in the order given. The “Where to Go” section is specific to Ontario, but the rest of the guide is appropriate for any jurisdiction.

Created and maintained by the University of Toronto Centre of Criminology Library, this database includes citations to academic and practitioner literature from 1970 to the present. It is updated and maintained on a regular basis and presently includes more than 1,400 records.

TERMIUM Plus® is one of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks in the world, gives you access to millions of terms in English, French, Spanish and Portugese. TERMIUM Plus® can be used to find terms, abbreviations, definitions and usage examples in a wide range of specialized fields. The data bank is an essential tool for understanding an acronym, checking an official title, finding an equivalent in another language, and much more. 

This guide has been designed as a starting point for those seeking self-help materials and background information on various legal topics. The guide brings together a number of useful links to web-based resources, along with spotlighting some of the self-help print publications in our collection. The links and information are not intended to be a comprehensive listing.

British Columbia Courthouse Library Society have some new video tutorials, which demonstrate research techniques. Learn how to trace federal legislation back in time, note up legislation, and research legislative intent.