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What is a Preemption Check?
What is a Preemption Check?
You will need to do a preemption check to make sure that your idea is original. To do this, you should do a thorough search of the legal literature to determine if another author has already published on your topic, using the same analysis as yours.
Preemption Checklist
Preemption Checklist
- Compile Search Terms
Start by compiling a list of search terms that will retrieve any articles similar to your proposed comment.
- Search Law Journal Articles
Search for recent law review articles on your topic in the law journal databases on Westlaw and Lexis.
If your proposed comment is based on a case or statute, you should also use Keycite on Westlaw and Shepards on Lexis to find articles analyzing the case or statute.
For finding the most recent law journal articles in a subject area, you might also search in:
Legal Research Index on Westlaw, using the index headings to find articles on your topic, and
Current Index to Legal Periodicals on Westlaw and Hein Online, a weekly index service arranged by subject area.
- Search Interdisciplinary Articles (if applicable)
Find using Databases@Emory
- Search for Books/Chapters
Find using DiscoverE, Databases@Emory, & WorldCat
- Search for Unpublished Materials
To find working papers and pending law review articles, search the abstracts in the Legal Scholarship Network, a division of SSRN, and the articles in the bepress Legal Repository.
- Update with the Current Awareness Resources
Academic legal blogs, such as the Legal Theory Blog and the blogs in the Law Professor Blogs Network, sometimes post announcements of new legal scholarship.
Additional Guides on Preemption
Additional Guides on Preemption
University of Washington Gallagher Law Library: Writing for & Publishing in Law Reviews
University of Chicago Law Library: Preemption Check Checklist
Yale Lillian Goldman Law Library: Preemption Checking
American University Pence Law Library: Running a Preemption Check
Organizing Your Materials
Organizing Your Materials
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