Below is an alphabetical listing of subscription databases relevant to the study of law. For a full listing of UMKC databases, visit the MERLIN Articles and Databases page. UMKC students, faculty and staff may access the University Libraries’ databases, online journals, and e-books from off-campus. Guests must visit one of UMKC's libraries to access most of these databases.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO Host) is a comprehensive multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, and more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage includes monographs, educational, public policy and scientific reports, conference proceedings and indexing of several newspapers.
Providing major new resources that govern the acquisition and ownership of artworks—International Cultural Property Ownership and Export Legislation (ICPOEL) and U.S. Case Law and Statutes (CLS)—this section also contains foreign cultural affairs contacts and a legal glossary. Registration to access the more detailed materials will help us evaluate the usefulness of the site and improve its next iteration.
Bloomberg Law includes Bloomberg BNA as well as its own flagship law services platform that competes with Lexis and Westlaw.
BNA publishes over 100 daily and weekly reports of news, analysis and reference products, providing intensive coverage of legal and regulatory developments for professionals in all sectors of business and government.
CALI, produced by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, consists of computer-mediated legal instruction.
Congressional Quarterly Almanac includes the legislative activities of the U.S. Congress, comprehensive roll call votes for all major legislation, authoritative coverage of the people, elections and controversies in the U.S. Congress, and in-depth review and analysis of legislation and policy.
Congressional Quarterly Researcher Online provides unbiased coverage of a wide range of domestic and international issues. Each report provides researchers with an overview, background and chronology, a current assessment, tables and maps, pro/con statements and bibliographies.
Congressional Quarterly Weekly (October 1, 1983 - present) is a weekly journal for the CQ Researcher.
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars, for a global audience. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the issues associated with discrete subject areas including international law, comparative law, public and private international law, intellectual property law, family law, energy law, environmental law, immigration law, human rights, sports law, business law and much, much more.
Elgaronline is Edward Elgar Publishing’s platform for our international collections. EEP collections for UMKC Law Library span a wide range of subject areas including environmental law, comparative law, private international law, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and climate change, among others. We seek to publish the very best research from around the world, maintaining the high quality and international scope of our extensive list. Collections include monographs, Research Handbooks, and encyclopedias. Access is unlimited and users can download by chapter.
Fastcase is a legal research service with searching, sorting, and visualization tools. Fastcase’s libraries include primary law from all 50 states, as well as Federal coverage going back to 1 U.S. 1, 1 F.2d 1, 1 F.Supp. 1, and 1 B.R. 1. The Fastcase collection includes cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions. Fastcase also provides access to a newspaper archive, legal forms, and a one-stop PACER search of federal filings through content partners.
HeinOnline provides full access to complete runs of more than 500 law journals. It also includes the Federal Register, treaties and related publications, U.S. Supreme Court materials, U.S. Attorney General Opinions, and International materials.
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) advances and expands social and behavioral research, acting as a global leader in data stewardship and providing rich data resources and responsive educational opportunities for present and future generations.
The Institutional Repository is an open-access collection of faculty scholarship, special collections, and relevant publications.
International Encyclopedia of Laws on KluwerLaw Online
The peer-reviewed monographs of the International Encyclopaedia of Laws (IELs), hundreds of which are currently available and many more projected, provide practical information and valuable insights into both national and international legal frameworks in 25 practice areas, written by over 1,200 leading experts from all over the world. Academics and practitioners who handle transnational matters will greatly appreciate each monograph’s clear explanation of distinct terminology and application of rules. UMKC Law subscribes to the following IELs:
JSTOR contains full-text articles from selected journals in a broad range of disciplines, including African-American studies, art, ecology, economics, education, history, law, literature, music, general science, sociology, and statistics.
Kansas City Business Journal offers access to comprehensive coverage of business news in Kansas City.
Users must register for an account using their UMKC email address.LLMC Digital (Law Library Microfilm Consortium) contains digital images of books and serials focusing primarily on U.S. and Canadian law. Includes U.S. federal documents from the legislative, executive and judicial branches; Canadian federal and provincial documents; and other publications.
LexisNexis for Law Schools (limited access) covers worldwide news sources, broadcast transcripts, foreign language publications, business and company information and data, law reviews and legal sources and biographical sources.
LexisNexis Digital Library LexisNexis Digital Library and Study Aids features hundreds of ebooks from LexisNexis and Carolina Academic Press, including the Understanding Series, Q&A Series, Mastering Series, A Student’s Guide to Series, and Skills & Values Series, plus additional titles, including some required textbooks. Use your UMKC login to sign in. A guide to getting started is also available here.
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Oxford) is a comprehensive resource of peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of public international law. Written and edited by scholars and practitioners and regularly updated, this work is essential for anyone researching or teaching international law.
Mergent Online contains public company data for 15,000 domestic and foreign public companies including inactive companies. Features include historical daily pricing and charts, bond portraits and industry reports, and 70+ searchable stock indexes. Searchable by NAICS and SIC codes.
MOspace is a repository for scholarly work by the University of Missouri faculty, staff and students. MOspace makes created knowledge and research products available to researchers and assures the preservation of these materials for the future.
The National Consumer Law Treatises (NCLC) treatises are considered the “go-to” resource for legal issues such as debtor rights, mortgages and foreclosures, credit and banking, deception and warranties, and consumer litigation. Each of the 21 treatises is fully integrated with sample pleadings, primary sources, and practice aids. They are a great resource for individuals seeking to understand their legal rights in the consumer arena, as well a key tool for supporting low-income and vulnerable Americans seeking economic justice.
The New York Times Archives (1851-present)
Practical Law Practical Law gives you access to practice notes that offer how-to guidance, standard documents that provide a better starting point, current awareness emails that keep you up to date, plus more.
ProQuest Congressional contains full text and abstracts for historical and current congressional publications. Includes legislative histories; biographies; committee assignments; voting records; financial data; and full text of hearing transcripts, committee reports, bills, Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations.
The ProQuest E-book collection consists of 14,940 law-related titles that provide authoritative content from scholarly sources such as University Presses and other top legal publishers. E-books are available on any mobile device and can be downloaded for offline access.
ProQuest Legislative Insight histories are comprised of fully searchable PDFs of full-text publications generated in the course of congressional lawmaking. Each history includes the full text of the public law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.
Thomson Reuters Checkpoint includes tax, financial and accounting information from Thomson Reuters.
TradeLawGuide (TLG) provides comprehensive research tools that facilitate methodical research of international trade law, including WTO law and regional trade agreements (RTAs).
Its primary document collection consists of the WTO agreements and instruments, jurisprudence, dispute settlement procedural documents, negotiating history and the agreements and codes from the pre-WTO GATT regime. A suite of citators provides comprehensive substantive jurisprudence references to WTO, pre-WTO and Vienna Convention provisions as well as cross-references within the jurisprudence. Researchers can quickly pinpoint the most recent developments for a provision or research its complete jurisprudential and negotiating history. Additional resources, such as the Annotated Agreements, Treaty Interpretation, Terms & Phrases, Subject Navigator, and Dispute Settlement Body Minutes (for policy issues arising in jurisprudence) provide value-added content to facilitate dynamic and thorough research.
In addition, TradeLawGuide provides a fully searchable database of regional trade agreements (RTAs), providing researchers with ready access to the texts of bilateral and plurilateral agreements currently in force throughout the world. Researchers have one-click access to the full legal text of agreements as well as shortcuts to the key sections, such as the rules of origin, tariff elimination schedules, market access commitments, reservations (non-conforming measures), and side instruments. A comparison tool for selecting and reviewing the text in two or more agreements at the same time allows researchers to efficiently assess similarities and differences between RTAs.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set contains legislative history from 1817-1980.
University of Missouri Digital Library includes the Nazi Nuremberg photos collection, the Leon E. Bloch Sir Edward Coke Collection, and many other items digitized by the University of Missouri.
Vital Law Tax
The Estate Planning Expert Library is an exclusive estate planning resource that will assist you in all areas of your practice — from client counseling, research and planning, to drafting and compliance. It is organized into four modules: Estate Planning and Drafting, Trust and Estate Administration, Charitable Planning, and Elder Law Planning. Each module includes Expert Guidance, News and Trends, and Practice Tools and Aids.
West Academic Study Aids provides students 24/7 digital access to skills-based titles, treatises, study aids and audio lectures to help students succeed in law school and prepare for practice. Includes the complete Acing, Bridge to Practice, Building Skills, Concepts and Insights, Concise Hornbooks, Developing Professional Skills, Exam Pro, Gilbert Law Summaries, Global Issues, High Court Case Summaries, West Hornbooks, Law School Legends Audio, Law Stories, Legalines, Nutshells, Short & Happy Guides, and Sum and Substance Audio series, and more. Account registration is required.
West Document and Form Builder
Westlaw Form Builder is an online legal document assembly tool, providing template, organization, and automated content management. Westlaw Form Builder can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, tablet, or smartphone.
Westlaw (limited access) is a flagship service that provides the full text of court decisions, statutory provisions, administrative materials, law review articles, Supreme Court briefs, and other legal and business materials.
Wiley Online Library is a multi-disciplinary database that includes full-text journal articles and some full-text reference sources.
WorldCat Dissertations and Theses gives you access to dissertations and theses in OCLC member libraries. Many are available electronically, at no charge, directly from the publishing institution. It contains all dissertations, theses, and published material based on theses cataloged by OCLC members including UMKC.
WorldCat contains records (citations) of materials from 60,000 worldwide libraries from 112 countries. Dates of materials range from centuries to recent items--a span of thousands of years! WorldCat includes records for books, videos, serial publications, articles, recorded books and music, electronic books, sheet music, genealogical references, cultural artifacts, digital objects, web sites and much more.
Worldtradelaw's Dispute Settlement Commentary (DSC) service is a comprehensive legal research tool for WTO dispute settlement. Features include summary/analysis of all reports/arbitrations; up-to-date keyword index; and a database of dispute settlement tables/statistics.
