First Legal Research Book Recommendation for 2008: International and Foreign Legal Research

Marci Hoffman (Associate Director, International & Foreign Law Librarian, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Library) and Mary Rumsey (Foreign, Comparative & International Law Librarian, University of Minnesota Law School Library) support their new work, International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook, with a companion website that will provide updated links and additional information. The book can also be used for quick reference. [JH]

International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook
Marci Hoffman and Mary Rumsey

List Price: $125.00
Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (December 15, 2007)
ISBN-13: 978-1571053121
Available from: Brill | Amazon.com

Description: This book is designed for use as a coursebook for classes in foreign and international legal research. However, librarians, students, law professors and other researchers can also use it as a research guide outside of formal classes. The order of chapters is one possible way to structure a class in international and foreign legal research, but it is by no means the only one or the best one. This book can also be used as a tool for quick look-ups when a researcher needs some direction on a topic or information on a source.

Topics covered in the book range from a general chapter on basic concepts to five chapters on particular subjects of international law. Each major aspect of research, such as using periodical indexes, is treated once in depth. Elsewhere in the book, other sections refer readers to that in-depth treatment, while adding information specific to the topic being discussed. We hope that this compromise avoids extensive repetition.