The resources below are a small sampling of the many legal writing resources Temple Law has available. Please feel free to reach out to a Temple Law librarian at tulawlib@temple.edu for help finding the resource that's right for you.
United States Legal Discourse: Legal English for Foreign LLMs (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF250.H64 2008)
This book covers not only legal English terms and grammar, it also explains argumentation and how United States lawyers evaluate, discuss, and use various types of legal texts.
American Legal English: Using Language in Legal Contexts (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF250.L3915 1999)
After an overview of the US legal system and its origins, the authors describe the basics of reading legal materials in general, then devote the following chapters to specific legal areas' terminology.
Culture to Culture: A Guide to U.S. Legal Writing (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF250.R354 2005)
This book goes beyond legal writing, with an overview of the US legal system, a good explanation of legal research, and a discussion of various analytical patterns applied to US law. It also includes materials on US legal English and details about the various types of legal documents US lawyers draft..
Plain English for Lawyers (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF250.W9 2019)
A standard resource for lawyers, this book has tips and exercises for writing clearly and concisely.
The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (Temple Law Library Reserves, JF250.G376 2018)
Authored by Bryan Garner, a legal writing expert, this reference covers grammar and style in detail, as well as how to write for specific document types.
Short and Happy Guide to Legal Writing (Temple Law access via West Academic)
Short and Happy Guides seek to be easy-to-use resources with a friendly tone. The Legal Writing guide briefly covers the US court system and finding and citing legal authorities, then discusses the legal writing process, focusing on memos and briefs. The guide concludes with tips for grammar and style and dealing with time pressure.
In the United States, the Bluebook is the standard legal citation format. Several resources also are available to help understand and apply its rules, as well as to create foreign and international legal citations. If you have any citation questions, please feel free to reach out to a Temple Law Librarian!
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF245.U55 2020)
This book covers not only legal English terms and grammar, it also explains argumentation and how United States lawyers evaluate, discuss, and use various types of legal texts.
ALWD Guide to Legal Citation (Temple Law Library Reserves, KF245.A45 2017)
The ALWD Guide leads students to the same legal citation formats as the Bluebook, but strives to provide clear explanations to make legal citation easier..
Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations (Temple Law Library Reserves, K89.G85 2009)
While the Bluebook covers some aspects of citing international materials, the Guide covers 45 countries more comprehensively.
International Citation Manual (free online access)
Published by the Washington University Global Studies Law Review, this online resource gives citation information for a few dozen countries, including some not covered in the Bluebook or the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations.
Legal Citation in a Nutshell (Temple Law access via West Academic)
This book gives a history describing the evolution of citation, followed by a description of how to cite common resource types in Bluebook and ALWD style. While this may be a useful resource when you don't have access to a print Bluebook, be aware that it is a few years old and will not reflect the Bluebook's most recent edition.
The print and electronic resources below are only a small portion of the legal dictionaries available at.Temple Law Library. To find additional legal dictionaries, or to find online general dictionaries, search the Temple Libraries catalog or ask a Temple Law Librarian for assistance.
Elsevier's Legal Dictionary: In English, German, French, Dutch and Spanish (Temple Law Library Reference, K54 E45 2001)
West's Law & Commercial Dictionary in Five Languages: English to German, Spanish, French, Italian (Temple Law Library Reference, K54 W47 1985)
In two volumes.
Elsevier's Dictionary: of Criminal Science; in Eight Languages (Temple Law access via HeinOnline)
English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, and German
An English-Chinese and Chinese-English Two-Way Law Dictionary (Temple Law Library Reference, K52.C5 Y59 2007)
An English-Chinese Dictionary of Law Terms (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 C5 Y57 2005)
English-Chinese Dictionary of Law (Temple Law Reference, K52 C5 Y5637 1999)
Dahl's Law Dictionary: French to English, English to French (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 F7 D35 2007)
Economic and Legal Dictionary (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 F7 D53 1995)
A French-English law dictionary.
Dictionary of Legal and Commercial Terms (Temple Law Library, K52 G4 R65 1980)
Volume 1 is English-German; Volume 2 is German-English.
Lawdas (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 J3 H37 1991)
A Japanese-English law dictionary. In addition to the Reference copy, a copy is available in closed stacks for longer check-out.
Tuttle Dictionary of Legal Terms: English-Japanese, Japanese-English (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 J36 L44 1993)
English/Spanish and Spanish/English Legal Dictionary (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 S6 K36 2013)
Dahl's Law Dictionary: Spanish-English, English-Spanish (Temple Law Library Reference, K52 S6 D33 2006)
For a quick translation, numerous free tools and dictionaries are available on the internet. A sampling is below.
The Google Chrome browser will translate webpages; look for the icon in the address bar and, if it's not there, adjust Language preferences under Settings.
Need help? Email us at asktulibrary@temple.edu
