Researching Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility

A legal treatise is a book or set of books on a legal topic that are written by experts.  Sometimes students get confused between "treatise" and "treaty."   A treatise is a scholarly book or set of books about a legal topic.  It is a secondary source. A treaty is a primary source legal agreement between countries. A good treatise is thorough, explaining and even critiquing, the law.  A treatise can be an extremely useful secondary source for research because it gathers such detailed information on a particular legal topic or issue into one publication. 

You can find legal ethics treatises for specific practice areas and specific jurisdictions, as well as general treatises.

Indexes

Table of Contents

Many treatises are updated by pocket parts or supplements.  Some treatises, known as "loose-leafs" are updated by new pages being inserted into a binder.

Lexis Advance

• If looking for a specific book, type the title of the book in the search box.
• To find treatises by subject: Click Practice Area or Industry > Legal Ethics > All Legal Ethics Treatises, Practice Guides, and Jurisprudences

Westlaw

• If looking for a specific book, type the title of the book in the search box or Browse Secondary Sources
• If you want books arranged by subject, go to Secondary Sources > Texts & Treatises > Ethics & Professional Responsibility 

Bloomberg Law

• Click the Search & Browse tab
• Select Books & Treatises
• Either click on Search All Books and Treatise or browse (by publisher or practice area)

A one stop shopping resource for legal ethics is the ABA / BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct.  The treatise portion consists of the Practice Guides.

Use the Indexes or search or browse the Practice Guides to find analysis of the law and rules related to legal ethics and professional responsibility.

You can access the ABA / BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct through our Bloomberg BNA subscription or on Bloomberg Law.

Bloomberg Law: Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct: Model Rules and Standards

Bloomberg BNA: ABA / BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct ABA Ethics Opinions

Bloomberg BNA: ABA / BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct State Ethics Opinions

Bloomberg Law:  ABA / BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct Practice Guides

Always check UCLID first to see if a book is available in the Law Library or another UC library.  You can search by keyword, title, or subject.

Renew books or check due dates.

 When you find a title through UCLID, the online catalog, that is owned by another library:

• Click on the Request button. 
• Enter your username and password
• Select Law Library as your pick-up library
• Click on the Submit button.

 If a book you want is not available at UC, you may be able to find and borrow it through the OhioLINK.  Be sure and check UCLID first.  OhioLINK is also accessible through UCLID (click the search OhioLINK button)

 

by Keyword Title Author Subject

for:

  Renew books or check due dates.

The book will be delivered to the Law Library and you will be notified when it comes.  Please remember that all library communications are sent to your UC email account so be sure and check it regularly or forward it to an email account that you do check regularly.  Be aware that it may take 5 or more days to arrive.

Rule 15 of The Bluebook (21st ed. 2020) covers citing treatises. There are many variables in citing a treatise so definitely consult the rule for its many permutations. 

Elements

Generally, a citation to a treatise should contain the following elements:

• Volume (if applicable)
• Author (large & small cap font) (see R. 15(b) for more than 2 authors and R. 15(c) for institutional authors)
• Title (large & small cap font)
• Section and/or Page
• Editor, translators (if applicable)
• Edition
• Copyright Date

If you have an institutional author, abbreviate (use Tables 6 & 10) only if it is unambiguous. Do abbreviate United States.

Examples

2 Joseph M. Perillo & Helen Hadjiyannakis Bender, Corbin on Contracts § 1.1 (1993).