The material below are intended to help non-attorneys and members of the general public understand courts and the law.
You may also benefit from many of the resources on our Pro Bono Resources page. The Allegheny County Law Library also sometimes offers events intended for non-attorneys, which are marked in blue on the ACLL’s Events Calendar.
Basic Information About the ACLL
Allegheny County Law Library services for members of the public
Allegheny County Law Library services for the elderly
Allegheny County Law Library services for the incarcerated
Allegheny County Law Library services for the pro se litigant
Allegheny County Law Library – Building Access and Usage Policies
How to visit the Allegheny County Law Library
How to access the Allegheny County Law Library remotely
General Legal information
Nolo’s Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions
Brochures and Resources that explain various topics, provided by the Allegheny County Bar Association
Legal Definitions provided by the Allegheny County Bar Association
Court Information
Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania Filing Requirements
Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania Filing Requirements Flowchart
Pittsburgh Courthouse locations
Public Records Policy for the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania
Research Guides
- Getting Started Researching Pennsylvania Law: Secondary Sources
- Pennsylvania Criminal Law
- Pennsylvania Divorce Bibliography
- Pennsylvania Employment Law
- Pennsylvania Family Law Bibliography
- Pennsylvania Landlord-Tenant Law
- Pennsylvania Legal Forms
- Pennsylvania Legislative History
- Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Law Bibliography
- Pennsylvania Unemployment Insurance and COVID-19
- Protection From Abuse (PFA) Orders
Free Legal Information Resources
Nolo’s Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions
Find plain-English definitions for legal terms by browsing Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
Harvard Caselaw Access Project
The Caselaw Access Project includes all official, book-published state and federal United States case law — every volume or case designated as an official report of decisions by a court within the United States.
Our scope includes all state courts, federal courts, and territorial courts for American Samoa, Dakota Territory, Guam, Native American Courts, Navajo Nation, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.
eCode 360 is a free database of municipal codes and ordinances from most of the states in the US, including Pennsylvania.
Videos
Property Assessment Appeals in Allegheny County
Originally presented August 16th, 2022.
Caught on Camera: Cellphone and Surveillance Video in the Courts
Originally presented May 25th, 2022.
Landlord-Tenant Disputes
Originally presented September 22nd, 2021.
Presentation slides in Powerpoint format
Presentation slides in PDF format
Presentation Bibliography
ACLL Newsletter
The Allegheny County Law Library sends out an email newsletter to all library cardholders and to anyone interested in knowing what is happening at the ACLL.
If you would like to receive the ACLL newsletter, please email us at ACLL@duq.edu.
You can see our past newsletters online below. More newsletters will be added as they become available.
July 2022
May 2022
March 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
September/October 2021
June/July 2021
April/May 2021
January 2021
December 2020
October/November 2020
August/September 2020
June/July 2020
February 2020
