Secondary Sources

Also known as ALR, American Law Reports contains in-depth analysis on narrow topics. ALR is published in series:

• There are seven ALR series (mostly discussing state common law issues)
• There are also three ALR Federal series

An ALR article is known as an annotation. The following information is available in an annotation:

• Introduction of an issue of law
• List and summary of leading cases from all U.S. jurisdictions that address that issue
• Citations to other secondary sources
• Index (not all annotations have index. But there are general indexes for the entire ALR series)

Since an ALR annotation provides an in-depth analysis of a narrow topic, finding a relevant ALR annotation for your research topic will save you a lot of time. Some refer to ALR as "Already Done Legal Research."

Here is a sample ALR annotation: "Intentional Infliction of Distress in Marital Context" (Westlaw). You will see

• Article outline
• Index
• Table of cases organized by jurisdictions
• A comprehensive analysis of the issue
• Citations to other secondary sources (including other ALR annotations)

• The law library has print copies of ALR in the Reading Room (call number: KF 132 .A57)
• ALR is also available electronically on both Westlaw & Lexis Advance. (Lexis Advance does not have index).To access ALR, simply type "American Law Reports" in the search box and click the link to ALR that will appear as you type.
• Use keyword search or index to find relevant annotations.
• If you already have a case on point, use a citator to see if there is an ALR annotation citing your case. If you find one, it will expand your research by providing additional citations to primary and secondary sources.