Jumpstart

JUMPSTART YOUR FOREIGN, COMPARATIVE, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW RESEARCH

Looking for help? Our list of specialists for Jurisdiction/Region, Language and Topic willing to help answer FCIL research questions is available below! (Login with your AALL username and password to access contact information.)

Updated in 2023 by the Electronic Research IG: Erin Gow, Lucie Olejnikova, and Sherry Xin Chen.

Previous versions include the 1993 List of Foreign and International Law Librarians Who Have Expressed a Willingness to Help Non-Experts by Daniel Wade, FCIL Newsletter, at 19-28 (February 1993); the Jumpstart Your Foreign, Comparative, and International Research by Lyonette Louis Jacques & Mary Rumsey (December 2010); and Jumpstart Your Foreign, Comparative, and International Research by the Electronic Research IG (2016 Update).

Researching foreign and international law topics can be difficult and complicated. Whether an experienced researcher or a beginner, we all get stumped from time to time. Luckily, there are many print, subscription, and online resources that can help.

One place to start is your library. Check your library’s print and electronic holdings, including for example International Legal Research in a Global Community by Heidi Frostestad Kuehl and Megan A. O’Brien (2018); Sources of State Practice in International Law (2d ed., Ralph Gaebler & Alison Shea eds. 2014); Marci Hoffman and Mary Rumsey’s International and Foreign Legal Research: A Course Book (2d ed. 2012); Brill’s Foreign Law Guide, a subscription electronic database, organized by country that explains foreign countries’ legal systems and lists legal bibliography; or the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP), also a subscription electronic database offering access to one of the largest collections of international and foreign law periodicals.

In addition, consult some of the open access resources. Start with GlobaLex, published by Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law. It is an open access electronic legal publication that offers an extensive collection of up-to-date articles on international, foreign, and comparative law research. You may also consult ASIL’s Electronic Resource Guide for International Law (ERG), a collection of legal research articles (available in PDF) on selected international topics. The Law Library of Congress maintains an open access Guide to Law Online, which is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law, including international and multinational law, as well as nations of the world.

If none of these sources provided the solution to a difficult research question, it’s time to consult our list of specialists in a variety of foreign, international, and comparative law topics. The FCIL-SIS Specialists List (below) is an extensive directory of legal research scholars organized by foreign or international law topic and jurisdiction. You may contact anyone on the list for help in his/her respective specialty. These research scholars are up to date on print and electronic FCIL resources, some have foreign language skills, and many teach research methods in international, foreign, and comparative law.

To access an even wider group of foreign and international legal scholars, you may consider posting your question to one of the many Online Discussion Forums dedicated to global exchange and cooperation. It may also be worth checking the DipLawMatic Dialogues Blog, administered by the members of FCIL-SIS, where contributors share resources, strategies, and approaches to variety of research topics. At the very least you should feel free to consult your local law library (academic, law firm, court, or county) where a reference librarian can point you in the right direction.

List of FCIL-SIS Specialists

This list is organized by Jurisdiction/Region and Topic. For individual contact information, check the FCIL Specialist Contact List (login with your AALL username and password). Also, please see the members and contact information for the variety of FCIL Committees and Interest Groups.