Expansive online municipal codes inform legal work on real estate, energy and business

When attorneys provide counsel related to commercial real estate, energy, construction, urban planning or maritime law, electronic access to municipal codes can be invaluable. This type of legal research also can be needed for the establishment and expansion of businesses. LexisNexis provides access to more than 3,200 municipal codes across all 50 states with table of contents searching and simultaneous searching across multiple jurisdictions.

What do municipal codes cover?

Attorneys can count on municipal codes to provide local rules and regulations covering a wide variety of topics—most commonly zoning, land use, waterways, harbors, airports, construction, fire, public works and utilities. These codes provide critical information for commercial real estate, energy, construction, urban planning and maritime practices—and advising corporate clients in business establishment and expansion decisions.

What’s in the LexisNexis® municipal codes offering?

The Lexis Advance service provides a convenient way to find municipal codes online for every U.S. state in one place. Through the Lexis Advance® service, you can access municipal codes from all 50 states—more than 3,200 individual municipal codes—whereas Westlaw® offers just one, the New York City municipal code.* LexisNexis continues to add municipal codes as they become available.

Table of contents searching into each municipal code makes it fast and easy to locate specific code sections and navigate to adjoining sections. You can also search simultaneously across multiple jurisdictions in multiple states.

How can you access municipal codes?

From the Lexis Advance home page, the easiest way to find municipal codes is to go to the Explore Content pod and select the State tab.

Select a state, scroll down to Statutes & Legislation and select the state’s Municipal Codes link.

You can search all the municipal codes available for a state or open the Table of Contents for each code available for the state.

In addition, you can access archives back to 2013 for the municipal codes collection by using the Archives pod on the Lexis Advance home page.

What scenarios call for municipal code research?

Municipal codes support a wide range of legal research needs related to real estate, energy, construction, business expansion and more. Here are just a few examples with how-to steps.

Scenario: Partner at large Chicago firm is appointed counsel for the Village of Bourbonnais, Illinois.

Need: The partner is seeking an electronic version of the Bourbonnais Ordinances to search across the entire village code without flipping through a printed copy.

Solution:

1. On the Lexis Advance home page, use the Explore Content pod to select the State tab and then select Illinois.
2. On the Illinois page, select Illinois Municipal Codes.
3. Click the star at the top of the page to set Illinois Municipal Codes as a Favorite.
   
4. Click the Table of Contents radio button and use the + symbol to open the Table of Contents.
   
5. Click the checkbox for Bourbonnais Code of Ordinances.
   
6. Enter search terms in the Red Search Box to search across the Bourbonnais Code.

Scenario: Librarian at City of Houston Law Library needs to research discriminatory housing practice ordinances across as many Texas municipalities as possible.

Need: The city attorney would like to make certain that Houston’s language is the most stringent in Texas.

Solution:

1. On the Lexis Advance home page, use the Explore Content pod to select the State tab and then select Texas.
2. On the Texas page, select Texas Municipal Codes.
3. Enter search terms in the Red Search Box to search across all Texas municipal codes available on Lexis Advance.
   
4. Review and analyze the results.

Scenario: Corporate librarian is conducting research for large global chemical producer.

Need: The librarian needs to find municipal ordinances that reference climate change.

Solution:

1. On the Lexis Advance home page, use the Explore Content pod to select the Content Type tab and then select Statutes & Legislation.
2. Select Municipal Codes.
   
3. Enter climate /5 change in the Red Search Box to search across all municipal codes available on Lexis Advance.
4. Review the results.

More information

For more details, call 800-543-6862 or contact your LexisNexis® account representative.

*Comparison data based on information available as of October 2017.

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