Researching for your own family law or domestic relations issues? Attorney Van Smith recommends the following to kick-start your research.

  1. Family Law Prof Blog – http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/family_law/

This blog is written and updated frequently by family law professors and researchers.  The blog editors briefly discuss news articles, pending legislation, and editorials, which keep readers updated on new developments in family law, but also allows them to draw their own conclusions.  The editors of this blog let readers know about new articles on family law topics and link to databases where readers can access these articles for free. 

  1. Social Science Research Network (SSRN) – http://www.ssrn.com/en

SSRN is an online collection of scholarly articles, which cover many different topics.  Many legal scholars provide their articles and papers that are not finalized yet to SSRN before publication.  Most of these articles are free to download, so you do not need to have a subscription to the journals where the final version of the articles are published.  Users can search SSRN for specific topics of they can use the Family and Children’s Law eJournal to find articles specifically related to family law. 

  1. Virginia LIS Legislation – http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm.

Every year, family law attorneys and practitioners anticipate new laws and amendments that will take effect in Virginia because of the actions of the General Assembly during the most recent session.  The Virginia LIS website allows uses to keep track of bills as well as enacted legislation.  The site also has a helpful feature called “Lobbyist-in-a-box” which allows you to track up to five bills in one profile for free.  However, beyond that, you must pay for a subscription to track additional bills or for automatic tracking

  1. Virginia State Bar Family Law Section – http://www.vsb.org/site/sections/family/resources-and-links

The Family Law section of the Virginia State Bar provides a website and many suggested links and forms that would help practitioners and the public. 

  1. Family Law Reporter – http://www.bna.com/family-law-reporter-p6014/

Bloomberg BNA’s Family Law Reporter is a weekly service that delivers updates on court decisions, legislative and regulatory news, and other family law developments.  The service also allows you to access the full-text of cases and other statutory and regulatory material.  However, it is important to note this reporter is only available with a subscription. 

  1. Divorce Discourse – http://divorcediscourse.com/

This site provides marketing and management advice for family law attorneys, including suggestions on effective networking, client management, finance, and technology. 

  1. ABA Journal Blawgs – http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/topic/family+law

The ABA Journal keeps a listing of blogs in the family law arena.  Many of these blogs are not updated frequently, but some of them cover very precise topics and may be worth looking at to find additional resources.

H. Van Smith
H. Van Smith
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