Public law libraries provide access to primary legal sources (statutes, cases, and regulations) and secondary sources (professional reference books, form books, and self-help books) used in legal matters. In most U.S. states, public law libraries are part of the trial court system, a department of the state or county government, or an independent local government agency managed by a board of trustees. Public law libraries serve several user groups with different information needs: judges and their support staff, attorneys in all types of practice, and the general public.
The first “public” law libraries were membership libraries funded by subscribers, who were generally lawyers. The first of these appeared in 1802, when the Law Library Company of the City of Philadelphia (now called Jenkins Law Library) was founded by the lawyers of that city. The Social Law Library in Boston was founded in 1803. Both of these are still operating. [1]
By 1860, most major cities had a similar membership library. In the second half of the 19th century, as the population and the nation grew, the cost of legal books and updates also grew rapidly, and many membership law libraries had financial difficulty. Around this time, some states began providing public funding to support law libraries, most often by allocating a portion of court filing fees, but in some cases by money collected from sources such as the state liquor control act or traffic fines. In at least one state, Pennsylvania, the state legislature establishes county law libraries but provides no funding at all. [1]
Along with public funding came increased access to members of the general public. In 1891 California became the first state to specifically establish a system of public law libraries, funded by court filing fees, and open to the general public as well as lawyers. [2] During the twentieth century, public law libraries became more common throughout the United States and by 2005, all but one state had passed legislation establishing them. Funding continues to vary widely between states, and even between counties. [1] [3]
Today, public law libraries are found in courts, state and federal agencies, and as stand-alone law libraries, usually organized by county. Many public law libraries participate in the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), and specifically in the Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section (GLL).
Public law libraries usually focus on information useful to the practicing attorney and self-represented litigants, rather than academic research material. [4] This typically includes primary sources of law as well as practical guides for handling legal matters. [5] In practice, depending on their levels of funding, individual public law libraries may offer some or all of these resources.
Print collection
According to the AALL's "County Public Law Library Standards," [4] the typical public law library should provide access to its home state’s current laws, including the published decisions of the state courts; current annotated state statutes, constitution, and court rules; and the current administrative code and agency decisions. Some provide older versions as well, for historical research. A citation service such as Shepard's Citations or Westlaw's Keycite is typically available for users to evaluate the currency and validity of primary law sources. In addition, the public law library usually carries the state legal encyclopedia, if any; practice material such as form books and legal treatises geared toward that state; and local legal newspapers and periodicals.
Public law libraries should generally offer similar coverage for federal material. In addition, ideally they offer a selection of national publications such as American Jurisprudence 2d, Corpus Juris Secundum, and American Law Reports (ALR); at least one general forms set; academic law reviews and a basic collection of legal texts, treatises, practice materials and looseleaf services of contemporary value on subjects of interest to the legal community and the public.
In addition, most public law libraries collect “do-it-yourself” law books that provide information on common legal issues. One well-known publisher in legal self-help is Nolo Press; Atlantic Publishing Company, other resources include the “For Dummies” books and many specialized books such as consumer self-help books, tax preparation material, retirement planning books, and government publications on benefits programs.
Online resources
Public law libraries frequently offer free access to some subscription services as well as access to the internet more generally. While many of the basic primary legal sources are available free online (without annotations or other explanatory material), most of finding aids and secondary sources are available by subscription only, through online law databases such as Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and HeinOnline. Due to their expense, these services are out of reach for some attorneys and most members of the general public.
Original material
Some public law libraries publish self-help guides and materials to assist members of the public in handling simple legal matters as well as guides to help patrons access their materials. Examples of libraries which publish self-help guides include the Baltimore County Law Library, the Minnesota State Law Library, the Sacramento County Public Law Library, the San Diego Law Library, and the Washington State Law Library.
Services
Public law libraries are usually staffed by librarians with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree and experience in legal research; some also have a law degree (JD). [4] Depending on the library, services may include instruction in the use of library resources, research assistance, and classes for attorneys and self-represented litigants; librarians are not permitted to give legal advice.
Public law libraries, once used primarily by legal professionals, now serve mostly non-attorneys handling their own legal matters. [6] In court, self-represented litigants are a growing percentage of litigants, particularly in family law. [7] [8] Other non-attorney library patrons include entrepreneurs; people documenting personal loans, sales of goods and services, and simple real estate transfers; and people settling the affairs of family members who have died. For many of these patrons, attorneys' services are unaffordable, [9] while others mistrust lawyers or find self-help to be more convenient than finding, evaluating, and hiring an attorney. [10] [11]
Many of these patrons are referred to the law library after seeking pro bono representation, or contacting a legal aid program such as those funded by the Legal Services Corporation. Due to chronic shortages of volunteer attorneys and of funding, only a fraction of the need is met annually. [12] These programs often refer people to a public law library.
Because of the specialized nature of legal information resources, these patrons often need more hands-on assistance than law libraries' traditional patrons. Many law libraries now provide assistance by offering seminars and workshops; collaborating with public libraries; and using the internet and other media to provide instructions and forms. Some libraries either run or host self-help centers with attorneys or paralegals available to assist self-represented litigants. [6] [10]
In a 2013 survey of public and academic law libraries, [13] [14] the Self-Represented Litigation Network found that virtually all of the 153 responding law libraries provided some services to self-represented litigants. Services included:
Libraries hosting self-help centers and programs reported providing:
An earlier compilation, "Directory of Library-Based Self-Help Programs," lists 29 programs in 16 states and the District of Columbia, providing information about services offered and program administration. [15]
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
HeinOnline (HOL) is a commercial internet database service launched in 2000 by William S. Hein & Co., Inc., a Buffalo, New York publisher specializing in legal materials. The company began in Buffalo, New York, in 1961 and is currently based in nearby Getzville, NY. In 2013 WSH Co. was the 33rd largest private company in western New York, with revenues of around $33 million and more than seventy employees.
A law library is a special library used by law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, historians and other scholars of legal history in order to research the law. Law libraries are also used by people who draft or advocate for new laws, e.g. legislators and others who work in state government, local government, and legislative counsel offices or the U.S. Office of Law Revision Counsel and lobbying professionals. Self-represented, or pro se, litigants also use law libraries.
Pro Bono Net is a US nonprofit organization based in New York City and San Francisco. The organization works in close partnership with nonprofit legal aid organizations across the United States and Canada, to increase access to justice for the millions of poor people who face legal problems every year without help from a lawyer. It does this by (i) supporting the innovative and effective use of technology by the nonprofit legal sector, (ii) increasing participation by volunteers, and (iii) facilitating collaborations among nonprofit legal organizations and advocates working on similar issues or in the same region. Founded in 1998 with a grant from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has developed a broad base of support from foundations, law firms, corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners alike, to build web platforms that offer powerful and sophisticated online tools to pro bono and legal aid advocates, and to provide critical legal information and assistance directly to the public. Its model has been adopted in 30 states and regions, reaching approximately two-thirds of the poverty population and lawyers in the United States.
The American Association of Law Libraries "is a nonprofit educational organization with over 5,000 members nationwide. AALL's mission is to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the legal and public communities, to foster the profession of law librarianship, and to provide leadership in the field of legal information and information policy."
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's nearly 41,000 active and inactive lawyers and other legal professionals. In furtherance of its obligation to protect and serve the public, the WSBA both regulates lawyers and other legal professionals and serves its members as a professional association — all without public funding. The WSBA's mission is to serve the public and the members of the Bar, to ensure the integrity of the legal profession, and to champion justice.
The State Bar of Michigan is the governing body for lawyers in the State of Michigan. Membership is mandatory for attorneys who practice law in Michigan. The organization's mission is to aid in promoting improvements in the administration of justice and advancements in jurisprudence, improving relations between the legal profession and the public, and promoting the interests of the legal profession in Michigan.
Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is a publicly funded and publicly accountable non-profit corporation, responsible for administering the legal aid program in the province of Ontario, Canada. Through a toll-free number and multiple in-person locations such as courthouse offices, duty counsel and community legal clinics, the organization provides more than one million assists to low-income Ontario residents each year.
Pro se legal representation comes from Latin pro se, meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves", which in modern law means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases or a defendant in criminal cases.
The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama.
The Oregon State Bar (OSB) is a government agency in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulates the legal profession. The public corporation is part of the Oregon Judicial Department. Lawyers are required to join the OSB in order to practice law in Oregon.
Legal financing is the mechanism or process through which litigants can finance their litigation or other legal costs through a third party funding company.
Legal abuse refers to unfair or improper legal action initiated with selfish or malicious intentions. Abuse can originate from nearly any part of the legal system, including frivolous and vexatious litigants, abuses by law enforcement, incompetent, careless or corrupt attorneys and misconduct from the judiciary itself.
Unbundled legal services, also known as limited scope representation and discrete task representation, is a method of legal representation in the United States in which an attorney and client agree to limit the scope of the attorney’s involvement in a lawsuit or other legal action, leaving responsibility for those other aspects of the case to the client in order to save the client money and give them more control.
Legal ghostwriting is a form of unbundled legal services in the United States in which an attorney drafts a document on behalf of a client without formally appearing before the court. Instead, the client represents his or herself pro se.
Libraries are provided in many prisons. Reading materials are provided in almost all federal and state correctional facilities in the United States. Libraries in federal prisons are controlled by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice. State prison libraries are controlled by each state's own department of corrections. Many local jails also provide library services through partnerships with local public libraries and community organizations. These resources may be limited, mostly provided through government sources.
The Alaska Bar Association is a mandatory bar association responsible for the Alaska Supreme Court and for the admission and discipline process of attorneys for the state of Alaska.
In the United States, a public defender is an attorney-at-law appointed by the courts and provided by the state or federal governments to represent and advise those who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. Public defenders are full-time attorneys employed by the state or federal governments. The public defender program is one of several types of criminal legal aid in the United States.
Access to justice initiatives and programs are designed to provide legal services to populations that may otherwise have difficulty obtaining legal advice and representation. Without access to justice, people are not able to fully exercise their rights, challenge discrimination, or hold decision-makers accountable for their actions.
The Sacramento County Public Law Library (SCPLL) is a “public” law library in the capital city of the State of California. In 1891 the state of California enacted statutes mandating an independent law library in every county. Since its inception SCPLL has provided free public access to legal information.
Most self-represented litigants in civil cases give the following answers when asked why they do not have a lawyer: 1. “I can’t afford a lawyer”; or 2. “My case is simple enough to handle on my own.” These reasons for not having a lawyer reflect economic and social trends and are not likely to change in the near future.