Brackets, brackets, and more brackets. The GSU College of Law Library is doing its part to add to March’s bracket noise. This year we are hosting a battle of legal resources by putting our favorite ones (including print, online, and Georgia resources) in a seeded, knock-out bracket and allowing the internet (via our Twitter account @GSULawLib) to decide who advances. A PDF printable bracket can be downloaded to fill out and follow along.

Resources have been selected and ranked by a mysterious committee that neither has to define its criteria nor is accountable to anyone for mistakes and down-right bias. The committee is working under the fiction that it is infallible, so they do not want to hear any whining about ranking or who got snubbed. They also seem to have a predisposition for the established, larger programs. See, we are making this almost exactly like another March event.

Legal resources will face off against one another and based on Twitter polls, advance in the tournament. In the improbable event of a tie, our copy of Randomness by Deborah J. Bennett will be tossed in the air. If it lands front-cover up, the first resource wins. If it lands back-cover up, the second resource wins, and if it lands open on a page, we will apply the example of randomness discussed therein.

Round one voting will begin Monday, March 21, 2022. Unfortunately, GSU’s spring break is this week (the week of March 14), so our students are not around. Subsequently, we’ll wait for them to get back and start the week of March 21. That said, everyone out there is welcome and encouraged to join in the Mania-Ness. All voting will take place via the law library’s Twitter account, @gsulawlib. We encourage you to follow the law library on Twitter to not miss any of the “games”.

Each “game” will last one day, and voting will open around 8:30 AM. The tournament schedule is:

• Monday, March 21, 2022, First Round (Online 1 Section)
• Tuesday, March 22, 2022, First Round (Online 2 Section)
• Wednesday, March 23, 2022, First Round (Georgia Section)
• Thursday, March 24, 2022, First Round (Print Section)
• Monday, March 28, 2022, Second Round (Sweet Sixteen, Online 1 & 2 Sections)
• Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Second Round (Sweet Sixteen, Georgia & Print Sections)
• Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Third Round (Elite Eight, All Sections)
• Thursday, March 31, 2022, Fourth Round ( Final Four, All Sections)
• Monday, April 4, 2022, Fifth Round (Finals)

The legal resources that are competing in our March Mania-Ness, their sections, and seeding are as follows:

Online 1 Section:

1. Westlaw Edge
2. HeinOnline
3. CALI
4. SSRN
5. VitalLaw
6. TRACfed
7. Making of Modern Law
8. Docket Alarm

Online 2 Section:

1. Lexis+
2. Bloomberg Law
3. FastCase
4. Govinfo.gov
5. LII
6. ProQuest Congressional
7. Municode
8. LLMC Digital

Georgia Section:

1. Daily Report
2. Georgia Jurisprudence, also available on Westlaw
3. Pindar’s Georgia Real Estate Law and Procedure, also available on Westlaw
4. VerdictSearch (formerly Georgia Trial Reporter)
5. Georgia State University Law Review Peach Sheets
6. Redfearn Wills and Administration in Georgia, also available on Westlaw
7. Georgia Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press)
8. Kissiah & Lay’s Georgia Workers’ Compensation Law, also available on Lexis+

Print Section:

1. American Jurisprudence (Am. Jur.) Library, available on Westlaw and Lexis
2. American Law Reports, available on Westlaw and Lexis
3. Restatements of Law, available on the ALI website
4. Moore’s Federal Practice, available on Lexis
5. West Digest System, available on Westlaw
6. Bluebook, also available via their website
7. Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
8. Words & Phrases

Congratulations and good luck to all of our legal research competitors. Questions can be directed to Librarian Manion and he will relay them to the mysterious committee.