Although they can be quite useful, fifty state survey of state statutes are notoriously difficult and labor intensive. When facing such a project, wouldn’t it be nice to know if someone has already compiled a survey for your statute?
To find out, I’ve often turned to the excellent Subject Compilations of State Laws, an annual print-based bibliography of 50 state surveys. Luckily, the UW Law Library subscribes to this series. But even this can be laborious because it requires a check of each year’s edition for specific keywords.
That’s why I was so pleased to learn about Westlaw’s new 50 State Surveys feature. I LOVE this. When viewing a state statute in Westlaw, simply click on 50 State Surveys in the Links tab to view existing surveys. If the 50 State Surveys link doesn’t appear, then there are no surveys available on Westlaw for that statute. To see an example, look at Wisconsin Statute 423.301.
To learn more, see the West elert announcement.