Use the links below for details on how to perform steps in Preemption Checklist.
Preemption checks are necessary to be certain that you will not be duplicating someone else's previously published work. This checklist is best used as a quick introduction for doing a preemption check.
For an excellent comprehensive guide, see
Please contact the author listed in the right column to suggest additional links for this page.
See boxes below for details on how to perform steps of Checklist.
1. Search Index to Legal Periodicals
a. if looking at an interdisciplinary topic, search Axinn One Search for other relevant databases
2. Search full text Law Reviews--HeinOnline
4. Search SSRN and other forthcoming article resources
1. Run you keyword search in the box below.
2. Identify relevant articles and look for subject descriptors
3. Modify search using additional search terms and/or
4. Modify search and use subject descriptors in addition to your keywords
Search full-text databases for very specific issues. Try the different databases listed below.
Search Google Scholar to find legal (and non-legal) articles. To locate full text of article where link is not available, see Locating Articles tab in Paper Writing Resources.
Search SSRN and these sources to find forthcoming articles and working papers (papers in the publication process)
Find out what law professors are discussing. Remember Ctrl F or Cmd F to find a particular term on a page.
