RCLL's Top Five Most-Used Books
April 18, 2025
At the Riverside County Law Library, we keep track of what materials are being used by the public. The following is a list of the top 5 most-used resources in the past 6 months of our operation!
5. Deering's California Code of Civil Procedure
The California Code of Civil Procedure is a great resource to start off our list. Since their enactment in 1871, these codes govern the filing and litigation of lawsuits in the Superior Courts of California. Another piece of information this involves is the statute of limitations and the timeframes within which lawsuits may commence. Civil law is one of the major categories of litigation, so it is no surprise that these codes would be frequently consulted in our library.
Available on Lexis+, onsite at RCLL locations and the LexisNexis Digital Library.
4. California Practice Guide: Family Law
Family Law covers the complex domain of divorces and dissolutions. Geared towards attorneys practicing in the field, it has information on critical family law topics like, “pendente lite relief, support, custody, property, tax, agreements, modification, domestic partnerships, and enforcement.” The treatise is authoritative and serves as a guide to current and applicable case law, statutes, and rules of court.
Available on Westlaw, onsite at RCLL locations.
3. United States Code Service
Nearly 100 years old, the 53-title United States Code is the official codification of the federal statutes of the United States. The USC contains the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided into three major publications; The United States Code, The United States Code Annotated, and The United States Code Service. The United States Code uses broad language, displaying the code as it was written by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel at the House of Representatives. It is not annotated and therefore the least helpful of the three publications. The United States Code Annotated is an annotated version of the text, published by Thomson West. The annotations connect the codes to the Constitution, cases, regulations, several guidelines, and government procedures. The United States Code Service is another annotated version of the USC, published by Lexis. Fun fact: The United States Code Service is an Indio-exclusive resource! Don’t worry, you can access all three publications through our legal databases.
Available on Lexis+, onsite at RCLL locations and the LexisNexis Digital Library.
2. California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial
The Rutter Guide Civil Procedure Before Trial covers the ground rules for the civil litigation process. This process is always changing and so this material is frequently updated with current information. Pretrial proceedings include pretrial research, discovery, initial pleadings, and other procedures discussed in detail in this book. Rutter’s approach, “is to cover each stage of the pretrial proceedings, setting forth the applicable rules as clearly and simply as possible, with key illustrations of their application.” This is done through sample forms, motions, and citations of relevant cases. As the preface states, “no book can substitute for independent research,” but this one is a good place to start!
Available on Westlaw, onsite at RCLL locations.
1. California Forms of Pleading and Practice Annotated
It’s no surprise that the Forms of Pleading and Practice, published by LexisNexis, sits at the top of our list. A 55-volume collection with articles spanning all aspects of the California legal process, the Forms provides a one-stop knowledge shop for lawyers and pro se litigants. Each article contains general legal information on the topic, up-to-date government statutes, rules of court, pertinent decisions, law reviews, and text references for further research. As for practical guidance, “this set of books is designed to provide lawyers with forms they need in their everyday practice, to set forth the law necessary for the effective use of the forms, and to delineate to procedure that must be followed in the various actions, special proceedings, procedures covered.”
Available on Lexis+, onsite at RCLL locations and the LexisNexis Digital Library.
Written by Yanis Ait Kaci Azzou and Andrea Larios Lopez, Library Assistants
