Federal Courts and Jurisdiction

A research guide on the federal courts and their jurisdiction.

Getting Started

The first step in the writing process is to choose a topic.  This may be significantly more difficult than it sounds.  To familiarize yourself with the writing process, it may be wise to begin with these resources.

Writing for and publishing in law reviews -- A research guide written by the law librarians at the University of Washington. 

Delgado, Richard.  How to Write a Law Review Article, 20 U.S.F. L. Rev. 445 (1986). 

Fajans, Elizabeth and Falk, Mary.  Scholarly Writing for Law Students : Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers   KF 250 F35  Stauffer Collection

Meeker, Heather.  Stalking the Golden Topic : A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers, 1996 Utah L. Rev. 917.

Volokh, Eugene.  Academic Legal Writing : Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review
KF 250 V64  Stauffer Collection

Volokh, Eugene.  Writing a student article, 48 J. Legal Educ. 247 (1998).

Doing a subject search in OSCAR for "Legal Composition" will retrieve similar items.

Available on Campus

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Examining the proposal to restructure the Ninth Circuit : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, September 20, 2006. 
Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 2009.
CALL # KF26 J8 2006zp.

Problem-solving courts : justice for the twenty-first century? / edited by Paul Higgins and Mitchell B. Mackinem. 
Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO, c2009.
CALL # KF8759 .P76 2009.

Contract bench and jury trials in state courts, 2005 / by Donald J. Farole, Jr. 
Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, [2009]
CALL # KF8736 .F27 2005.

Black robes, white coats : the puzzle of judicial policymaking and scientific evidence / Rebecca C. Harris. 
New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2008.
CALL # KF8961 .H37 2008.

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary.
Responding to the growing need for federal judgeships : the Federal Judgeship Act of 2008 : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session, June 17, 2008. 
Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 2008.
CALL # KF26 .J8 2008h.

Law & the courts. 
Chicago, IL : American Bar Association, Division for Public Education, 2008-
CALL # KF8841 .L382 2008.

Judicial process in America / Robert A. Carp, Ronald Stidham, Kenneth L. Manning. 
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2007.
CALL # KF8700 .C37 2007.

The judges : a penetrating exploration of American courts and of the new decisions--hard decisions--they must make for a new millennium / Martin Mayer.
New York : St. Martin's Press, 2007.
CALL # KF8700 .M296 2007.

Decision making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals / Frank B. Cross.
Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, c2007.
CALL # KF8750 .C76 2007.

Federal district court law clerk handbook / Calvert G. Chipchase.
Chicago, Ill. : ABA General Practice, Solo, & small Firm Division, c2007.
CALL # KF8807.Z9 C48 2007.

Watch report : a monthly publication of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest. 
Washington, D.C. : National Legal Center for the Public Interest, 2007-
CALL # KF8700.A15 J84.

Federal courts standards of review : appellate court review of district court decisions and agency actions / Harry T. Edwards, Linda A. Elliott.
St. Paul, MN : Thomson/West, c2007.
CALL # KF9052 .E39 2007.

Heafey Law Library Research Team