Legal periodicals play an important role in the legal research process.
Articles are a good source of background information and often provide additional information on the historical context of legal issues. Comprehensive research on a legal topic often involves finding relevant articles in law reviews and journals which discuss the point of law you are researching. Periodical articles are often the best source of information on legal issues. In addition, the footnotes or endnotes of a periodical article can often be used to expand your research by leading you to relevant primary and secondary authority. To ensure that you are accurately and efficiently searching for periodical articles it is imperative to know how to use various periodical indexes in multiple formats.