Search Tips

  • The LawSeqSM website is split into three databases – State Law, Federal Law, and Secondary Sources. Some topics, like FTC regulation, most commonly arise in Federal Law sources, while some topics are more common in other areas. If you select a topic and don't see any results, consider looking for that topic in one of the other databases in the LawSeqSM website. 
  • As much as possible, this database provides direct access to publicly available content; however, in the case of some secondary sources, copyright protections require users to access them through a library or other entity that has a licensing agreement with publishers.
  • In detailed records for search results, if an "attachment link" field doesn't appear it's because that resource is not in the public domain. In that case, we won't offer a PDF version via the LawSeqSM website. However, users can click on the URL provided and see the copyright holder's payment or access options. 
  • If you are not getting a sufficient number of search results, try using a broader search, for example selecting options from only one or two drop-down menus rather than several.
  • If a search is returning too many results, try narrowing your search by selecting options from more than one drop-down menu or field. 
  • The LawSeqSM project focuses primarily on aspects of American law relevant to genomics in research and care settings. This means that the scope of what is included in our database does not necessarily include laws more relevant to genomics as a business. For the most part, contract and intellectual property law, for example, are outside the scope of the project, and are therefore not included in the database.
  • In the State Law and Federal Law databases, "Source Types" are case law, regulations, and statutes.
  • In the Selected Secondary Sources database, "Source Type" is simply "All Types."
  • The "Topic” field includes categories the LawSeqSM team has identified as significant to genomics law, organized by the focus areas of the four project task forces: liability, quality, privacy and access, and framework.
  • The “Open Search” field allows users to search on any terms that will help them find resources quickly. These include the name of a statute or case (State Law, Federal Law databases) and author name or article title (Selected Secondary Sources database).
  • When using the "Open Search" field, put quotation marks around exact titles or phrases. 
  • If your search doesn’t return any results, it means there are no relevant materials that fit within the scope of the LawSeqSM project. To learn more about the project's scope and methodology, click here. 
  • Once the LawSeqSM project is complete, state and federal primary resources (statutes, regulations and case law) will be updated periodically. The database of selected secondary resources will no longer be updated because the sheer volume of publishing in this area precludes this. We will, however, add publications and journals that result from LawSeqSM to the secondary sources database. 

To learn more about the LawSeqSM project, click here. 
To send feedback to the LawSeqSM team, click here.