U.S. Law Webinars
The Law Library offers several recurring series of classes regarding U.S. legal research, including: the Orientation to Legal Research Series (focused on introductions to legal resources and research techniques), the Orientation to Law Library Collections Series (which offers an overview of the Law Library’s unique collections and services researchers can use to conduct legal and legislative research), the Lunch and Learn Series (providing deep dives into certain Law Library collections), and the Congress.gov Overview (which discusses how to perform searches and use new features of the official legislative information system for Congress). This page includes further information about these webinars, as well as regarding Law Library special online events.
Current Offerings:
Orientation to Legal Research Webinar Series
The Orientation to Legal Research Series is designed to give a basic introduction to legal sources and research techniques. These orientations, taught by legal reference librarians, are typically offered once a month on a rotating basis. For further questions, please use our Ask a Librarian service.
Classes offered will rotate through topics like the following:
- U.S. Federal Statutes – This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. statutory and legislative research, including information about how to find and use the U.S. Code, the U.S. Statutes at Large, and U.S. federal bills and resolutions.
- U.S. Case Law – This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. case law research, including information about the U.S. federal court system, the publication of court opinions, methods for researching case law, and information about locating records and briefs.
- Federal Legislative History – This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. federal legislative history resources, including information about the methods of identifying and locating them. In tackling this area of research, the focus will largely be on finding these documents online.
- Tracing Federal Regulations – This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. federal regulations, including information about the notice and comment rulemaking process, the publication and citation of regulations, and the tracing of regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, to the proposed rule in the Federal Register, to the regulation’s docket.
Upcoming Webinars:
U.S. Federal Statutes: Jan 16, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
To sign up for this webinar, please visit this registration page.
U.S. Case Law: Feb 6, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
To sign up for this webinar, please visit this registration page.
Future Webinars:
Federal Legislative History: Mar 20, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Tracing Federal Regulations: April 3, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
U.S. Federal Statutes: May 8, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
U.S. Case Law: June 5, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Federal Legislative History: July 10, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Tracing Federal Regulations: Aug 7, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
U.S. Federal Statutes: Sept 4, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
U.S. Case Law: Oct 16, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Federal Legislative History: Nov 6, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Tracing Federal Regulations: Dec 11, 2025, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Orientation to Law Library Collections
The Orientation to Law Library Collections Webinar is designed for patrons who are familiar with legal research, and would instead prefer an introduction to the collections and services specific to the Law Library of Congress. This webinar is an online version of the one-hour onsite orientations taught by legal reference librarians from the Law Library of Congress, and will cover digital resources available through the Law Library’s website as well as those available onsite.
Upcoming Webinars:
Jan 23, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
(with the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library)
To sign up for this webinar, please visit this registration page.
Future Webinars:
March 6, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
May 15, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
July 24, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Sept 18, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Nov 13, 2025, 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Congress.gov
This orientation is designed to give a basic overview of Congress.gov. While the focus of the session will be searching legislation and the Congressional member information associated with the legislation, the new features of Congress.gov will be highlighted. Congress.gov webinar sessions are on Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m.
Upcoming Webinars:
Feb 13, 2025, 02:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
To sign up for this webinar, please visit this registration page.
Future Webinars:
April 10, 2025, 02:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
June 12, 2025, 02:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Aug 21, 2025, 02:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Oct 23, 2025, 02:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Lunch and Learn Webinar Series
Our Lunch and Learn Webinar Series takes a deep dive into the Law Library's collections and other legal research subjects, exploring topics such as rare materials in our collection and the United States Serial Set.
Upcoming Classes:
Locating Congressionally Mandated Reports
Jan 28, 01:00PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
To sign up for this webinar, please visit this registration page.
This webinar will provide an overview of congressionally mandated reports, including methods for locating these materials through archival, print, and online resources. Federal agencies are required by law to submit thousands of reports to the U.S. Congress and congressional committees each year, and historically these communications have been difficult to find. Participants in this webinar will learn how to use finding aids to track reports that were submitted to Congress and be provided with examples and demonstrations showing the steps for locating these reports.