Lexis Nexis Academic: How to find regs and statutes. It's pretty easy...

Just choose the right area under US LEGAL on the menu, then make sure you look up the law number following the examples provided.

What to look for

• Make sure you are looking in the right place (Federal v. state)


• Make sure you select the right check box for whether you are looking for a law or a regulation


• Choose "citation" from the pull-down menu next to where you type in the law or reg


• Follow the examples below for the proper format!!!

Begin your search in Lexis Nexis Academic. Select “US Legal” from the menu at left of your screen
To Find….
NYS Consolidated Laws
Select State Statutes, Codes & Regulations from the left menu. Choose “statutory Code” from the bottom check boxes. Then
….type in “NY CLS EDUC” in Citation. A section [“sec. XX”] is optional

NYCRR
Again choose State Statutes, Codes & Regulations. This time, check the box marked “administrative” at the bottom. Then type in “8 NYCRR” in Citation. A section [“sec. XX”] is optional.

CFR
Choose “US Legal…Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations…” and type in “34 CFR” in Citation. For a fuller citation, just use the numbers: 34 CFR 300.320 for example. DO NOT USE "sec" for CFR!
Public Laws by their PL Number
Again select Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations. Type in “xx P.L. xx” for that public law e.g. 107-110 should be typed “107 P.L. 110” in Citation
US code
Again select Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations. Type “20 uscs” in Citation. [sec. is optional] E.g., “20 uscs sec. 81”

Another Lexis Tip: New York State Statutes

Want to find a NYS statute, and only want to search a specific volume e.g. "Education"? When you do a search in the NYS code, limit to EDUCATION under Heading.

Click the link to search "specific document sections," and select Heading from the list, then type Education in the box and add to search!

So...for practice, type in the words termination employment as a Natural Language search, and perform the limit described above.

CAUTION regarding reporter abbreviations!

Many of the Commissioner's Decisions cite case law, but the citations often appear without the right punctuation! Lexis Nexis is very picky about punctuation i.e., unless you type in the missing periods in the reporter name, you'll get no case!

EXAMPLE: Commissioner's Decision 15,774 cites Longwood Cent. School Dist. v. Springs Union Free School Dist., 1 NY3d 385; but to find the case in Lexis, you'll need to put in the periods, 1 n.y.3d 385

So, where do you go to learn the proper punctuation? Page XV of the School Law textbook is a great resource. So are these

• BU Law Library site: better for federal than for indiv. state reporters

• Cleveland Marshall College of Law citations page: great overview of how to read 'em
• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (including what gets omitted and other common citation issues) by Peter Martin, Cornell LII
  

LexisNexis� Academic: Try these

You can do a "natural language" search for phrases. just put the phrases in quotes. Try some of these, and remember to limit your search to NYS federal and state cases

"free and appropriate education"
"zero tolerance"
"education law section 3214"
"Age discrimination in employment act"