Winning Research Skills - Westlaw

Chapter 13
West Legal Directory Databases
The West Legal Directory databases are searchable directories containing information on
private, corporate, and government offices and attorneys; courts; and judges. For example, the
■ West Legal Directory database (WLD) contains more than 1 million profiles of law firms and
branch offices and biographical records of attorneys in any of the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and Europe.
■ West Legal Directory–International database (WLD-INT) contains profiles of law firms and
branch offices and biographical records of attorneys who practice international law or who are
located outside the United States. The database includes records of attorneys and organizations
in any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and
Europe.
■ Profiler–Profiles of Attorneys and Judges database (PROFILER-WLD) contains profiles of
judges and attorneys that include links to documents such as the full text of state and federal
cases from 1990 forward, trial filings, summaries of settlements and jury verdicts, briefs, other
directories, and law review and journal articles.
■ Profiler–Profiles of Expert Witnesses database (PROFILER-EW) contains profiles of expert
witnesses from across the United States that include links to documents such as summaries of
settlements and jury verdicts; other expert witness directories; and law review and bar journal
articles, CLE materials, and abstracts of articles from the Selected MEDLINE Abstracts
database (SELECTMEDLINE) that they have authored or that mention them.
50-State Legislative Directory
The 50-State Legislative Directory database (LEGIS-DIR) is a comprehensive directory of
members and committees of state legislatures and Congress. Key executive branch officials are
also included. Member information includes name, addresses and phone numbers, biographical
abstract, district, year elected, and party affiliation. Committee information includes the
membership, leadership, and partisan composition of every standing committee in each state
legislature and Congress.
International Professional Directory
The International Professional Directory database (IP-PROFDIR) contains a list of international
intellectual property law firms arranged alphabetically by country.
News and Other Nonlegal Information
News and information databases on Westlaw can help you retrieve information on persons,
companies, products, markets, technologies, government, politics, cultural and social issues, and
other areas of inquiry.
If you are like most students, you won’t need a class assignment to begin exploring news and
information databases on Westlaw. You’ll quickly discover them on your own—particularly the
full-text newspapers, magazines, and television and radio program transcripts. You can keep up
with the latest news from the New York Times (in NYT); compare the perspectives of the
Weekly Standard and the Progressive (in WKLYSTAND and PRGSVE, respectively); and read
about celebrities in People magazine (in PPLEMAG).
182 Winning Research Skills