Introduction to Legal Research

• Legal research overview from the Texas State Law Library
• How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers from the American Association of Law Libraries
• An overview of laws and legal research from Nolo.com
• Google Scholar provides a database of state and federal case law with coverage for most courts from 1950.  

Texaslawhelp.org has free information and forms on a variety of topics including: divorce, child custody, landlord-tenant issues, name changes, expunction and non-disclosure and much more.  

The Texas State Law Library has many legal research guides on topics such as child custody, common law marriage, foreclosure, occupational licenses and payday loans.  If you have a Texas State Law Library card, you can also use a number of their databases from home. More information on getting a library card can be found on the Texas State Law Library's website. The Texas State Law Library also has a resource for locating commonly requested legal forms and an Ask a Librarian feature.

Texas Legislature Online

View the status of legislation, bills and amendments, current session information and information on the legislative process

Texas Constitution

Describes the structure and function of the Texas government

Texas Statutes

Current Texas statutes and historical statutes from 2004-present

Texas Administrative Code

State agency rules and the Texas Register

Legislative Reference Library of Texas

Pre-1973 legislation, House and Senate Journals, amendments to the Texas Constitution, legislative reports, state budgets, gubernatorial documents, vetoed bills and more

Texas Attorney General Opinions

Opinions from 1939-present, letter opinions from January 21, 1953-present and open records decisions from July 20, 1973-present

Texas Courts

The official website of the Texas Judicial Branch with information on the Texas court system and opinions from Texas appellate courts

Texas Court Rules and Standards

State and local court rules and standards

Texas Judgment Rates

Current and historical judgment interest rates from the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner

Municipal Laws and Ordinances

Ordinances enacted by local governments, note not every local government provides online access to their ordinances

Building Codes

Links to some of the codes that have been adopted in theTexas statutes and the Texas Administrative Code

Texas.gov

The official website for the State of Texas with information on vehicle registration and drivers license renewals, ordering vital records, locating state agencies and services, accessing public records and more

State Bar of Texas

Lawyer directory, information on the grievance process, free legal information, disaster relief resources and more

Texas Young Lawyers Association

Resources and information on pro se appeals, how to sue in justice court, probate, traffic court and more

Texas Justice Court Training Center (TJCTC)

Provides downloadable Word documents of criminal and civil forms for use by court personnel and self-represented litigants. A limited number of these forms are available in Spanish - Spanish forms/Formas en español

US Government Printing Office

Free full-text access to federal documents and information such as the Code of Federal Regulations, the United States Code and public and private laws (slip laws)

Congress.gov

The official website for federal legislative information

USA.gov

The official web portal for the federal government

Federal Courts

Information on the federal courts including court locators, forms, rules and policies and information on PACER, the electronic public access service for federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy court dockets and case information

Law Library of Congress

Digitized collections including the Statutes at Large, American Indian legal materials, Lincoln and the law and more. The library also offers research guides on federal statutes, federal legislative history, researching judicial decisions and more