Training presentation for inexperience paralegals on how to find federal and New York regulations.

1. Legal Research for the Legal
Assistant:
How to Find Regulations
(Federal & New York)
Janice E. Henderson, Esq., M.L.S.

2. Federal
Executive Branch
 Regulations are promulgated by
government agencies to enforce
particular statutes under their
jurisdiction.
 The agencies role is to provide
procedures for implementation and
enforcement of statutes under their
jurisdiction.
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3. Where to Find Regulations
 Federal Register – Daily
 Code of Federal Regulations - Annual
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4. Where to Find Regulations
 Federal Register
The official daily publication for rules and
regulations, proposed rules, and notices
of Federal agencies and organizations, as
well as executive orders and other
presidential documents.
 Abbreviated as FR
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5. Federal Register
Where to Find It Free
 Official Website:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.htm
l(From 1994)
 National Archives:
http://www.archives.gov/federal-
register/
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6. Federal Register
Proposed Rules
 A proposed rule notifies the public of a
pending Regulation.
 Before a rule is finalized there has to
be a comment period.
 The comment period varies, but it
usually is 30, 60, or 90 days.
 Proposed rules are indicated by
Action: Proposed.
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8. Federal Register
Final Rules
 Once a rule is finalized it will be indicated
under Action: Final Rule.
 When agencies publish final regulations
in the Federal Register, they must
address the significant issues raised in
comments and discuss any changes
made in response to them. Agencies
also may use the notice and comment
process to stay in contact with
constituents and to solicit their views on
various policy and program issues.
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11. Federal Register
The Proposed and Final Rules are printed
with the following information including the full
text of the rule:
Proposed Rules Final Rules
Agency Requesting Rule Agency that Requested the
Rule
Title Title
CFR Citation CFR Citation
Release Number(s) U.S. Code Authority
Action: Proposed Rule Action: Final Rule
Date for comments to be received Date Rule becomes effective
Summary Summary
Contact Information (including
agency person & phone number)
Contact Information (including
agency person & phone
number) 11

12. Federal Register
Additional Sources
Fee-based databases:
 LexisNexis: GENFED; FEDREG (From July1980) &
Lexis Advance
 Westlaw: FR (From 1981); FR-OLD (1936-2000) &
WestlawNext
 HeinOnline: http://heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome
This is a fee based database. (From 1936)
Free website:
 Regulations.gov: Was launched in January 2003 to
provide citizens with one-stop Web access to all
proposed federal regulations and to give citizens the
ability to submit comments on all federal agencies'
rulemakings.
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13. Code of Federal Regulation
 Abbreviated as CFR.
 It’s a codification of the general and permanent
rules published in the Federal Register by the
executive departments and agencies of the Federal
Government. It is divided into 50 titles that
represent broad areas subject to Federal
regulation. Each volume of the CFR is updated
once each calendar year and is issued on a
quarterly basis.
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14. Code of Federal Regulation
Updating Schedule
Each title is updated once per year
according to the following schedule:
Titles 1-16 are updated as of January
1st
Titles 17-27 are updated as of April 1st
Titles 28-41 are updated as of July 1st
Titles 42-50 are updated as of October
1st
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15. Code of Federal Regulation
Where to Find
 Official Websites:
◦ GPO Access:
http://origin.www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
◦ National Archives:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-
search.html#page1
 Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-
CFR):http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-
idx?c=ecfr&tpl=%2Findex.tpl
 United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.)
 United States Code Service (U.S.C.S. )
 HeinOnline: http://heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome
 LexisNexis: GENFED; CFR & Lexis Advance
 Westlaw: CFR &WestlawNext
 BloombergLaw 15

16. Code of Federal Regulation
Where to Find
 Codification of Presidential Proclamations and
Executive Orders
◦ Date Range: April 13, 1945 to January 20, 1989
◦ http://www.archives.gov/federal-
register/codification/
 Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
◦ Date Range: 1993 to current
◦ http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html
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17. Code of Federal Regulations
Updating
 List of CFR Sections Affected:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/lsa/index.html
The ‘List of CFR Sections Affected’ lists
proposed, new, and amended Federal
regulations that have been published in the
Federal Register since the most recent revision
date of a CFR title.
◦ Published monthly.
◦ ‘List of Sections Affected’ (LSA) is published
daily in the Federal Register.
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20. New York State Regulations
 New York State Register – Daily
◦ http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/register.htm
◦ Searchable starting in 2007. PDF copies go back to
2003.
◦ Not all rules are published in full text. For those that
are not, the agency requesting the rule should be
contacted.
 Official Compilation of Codes Rules and Regulations
of the State of New York (NYCRR)
◦ http://www.dos.ny.gov/info/nycrr.html
◦ This is a link to an unofficial searchable database to
the NYCRR powered by Westlaw (free):
http://government.westlaw.com/linkedslice/default.a
sp?SP=nycrr-1000
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21. New York City Regulations
 The Official Compilation of the Rules of the City of
NY
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycrules/html/home/home.
shtml
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22. New York State & City
Additional Sources
 New York State Register
◦ LexisNexis: NY; NYRGST (From December 1997) &
Lexis Advance
◦ Westlaw: NY-ADR (From July 1997)
 Official Compilation of Codes Rules and Regulations of
the State of New York (NYCRR)
◦ LexisNexis: NY; NYADMN & Lexis Advance
◦ LexisNexis: Archive from 2004 ed. – NY; NYADAR
◦ Westlaw: NY-ADC & WestlawNext
 The Official Compilation of the Rules of the City of NY
◦ LexisNexis: NY; NYCMUN & Lexis Advance
◦ Westlaw: NYC-CODE & WestlawNext
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23. New York State & City
Regulation Alert Resources
 RegAlert - New York Documents:
◦ LexisNexis: NY; RGALRT & Lexis Advance
◦ Contains the full text of proposed regulations from
most of the 50 states, and the full text of final
regulations.
 New York State Regulation Tracking:
◦ LexisNexis: NY; NYRGTR & Lexis Advance
◦ Contains summaries of proposed regulations and
status actions for individual regulations
promulgated by various state agencies.
 Westlaw: NY-REGTRK & WestlawNext
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24. The End
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