Subject Guide
Lisa Davis
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Contact:
305-348-3320
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Subjects: Clinics and Externships, Criminal Law & Procedure, Expert Witness Resources, Family Law, Federal Cases, Federal Court Filings, Florida Courts, Florida Law, Florida Local Government Law, Florida Statutes & Legislation, General & Interdisciplinary, Law Libraries & Librarianship, Law Reviews & Journals, Newspapers & News, Pleadings & Court Filings, Research Tools, State Cases, Technology Tools, Treatises
Bloomberg Law Chart Builder
Bloomberg Law State Law Chart Builders can be used to create 50-State surveys on a variety of legal subjects.
To access Bloomberg Law State Law Chart Builders, use the link provided.
From there you will find Chart Builders in the following areas (updated frequently, check for additions):
- Banking & Consumer Finance
- Blue Sky/Securities
- Corporate & Tax Law
- Health Care
- Labor & Employment
- Privacy & Data Security
- Bloomberg Law This link opens in a new window
Bloomberg Law provides primary and secondary legal content; dockets, treatises, company and market information; news; and more.
Access restricted to FIU Law.
- Bloomberg Law Chart Builders This link opens in a new window
Convenient Chart Builders let you specify criteria and create a custom chart that can be edited, saved and exported to Excel. Sort each chart by Topic or Jurisdiction. Youll be able to compare state tax laws for different topics and subject areas.
Access restricted to FIU Law.
Creating a 50-State Survey From Stratch
- Do preliminary research on your topic.You need to find out what terms are used, how the topic is generally dealt with (in statutes or in regulations, or in both?). The best way to do this is to look for some laws to use as starting points for your research.
- Look for a pre-compiled survey on the topic.There are several reasons why you'll want to start with a survey that is already compiled. First, and most obviously, it will cut down on the amount of time you'll spend because it will give you some (or most) of the laws that you're looking for. Second, you can use the laws as a guide to see how laws or regulations on your topic are constructed, which will help you create a search. Third, you can use the pre-compiled survey as a way of checking your search results. If your search includes the laws from the pre-compiled survey, then you're on the right track. If it doesn't, then you need to adjust your search.
- Determine what you're comparing.By this point you should have an overview of the types of laws and regulations that you're looking for, and you can start thinking about the features of the laws that you want to compare. Each column in your table should be a different aspect of the laws or regulations you're comparing. You may also want to include dates of enactment in your comparisons.
- Create your table.Most of the time you'll want to use a spreadsheet program like Excel, although Word tables work as well. The fields you're comparing should be the columns, and the states should be the rows.
- Determine which database you're searching and create your search.You'll want to use a database that contains all 50 states' laws and regulations, so it's preferable to use Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis, or Westlaw. Keeping in mind the research that you have already done on your topic and the laws, create an inclusive search that will include all of the types of statutes you can envision. You'll need to use terms and connectors for this, so you may want to review the terms and connectors used in your database.
- Run the search and check it against the laws you already have.Check the search to see if it includes all of the laws you already know about; if it doesn't, you'll need to make some adjustments to your search in order to include those.
- Work through your list of results and fill in the table.