Online Resources for the Public

Reference Assistance

• Reference Librarians are available Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, to answer questions by phone [803-777-5902], via email at: lawref@law.sc.edu or via the Law Library Text Chat service.
• RefBot, the Law Library chatbot, is available 24/7 and can assist with certain questions. Click here to ask RefBot a question.

Reference librarians cannot give legal advice, but can help you find material to research your legal issues.

Legal Help

• South Carolina Legal Services  may be able to assist you with non-criminal cases.
  • An online application is available on the South Carolina Legal Services website. 
  • You may also call the telephone intake line at: 1-(888) 346-5592


• The South Carolina Judicial Branch website includes a Court Forms page as well as other resources.
  • The Law Library has a South Carolina Forms Index guide to help with locating these forms.


• Self-help resources and information on legal services can be found at LawHelp.org/SC and in the Law Library's Circuit Riders: Basic Legal Research guide.

Law Library Research Guides

Online research guides prepared by USC law librarians:

The Circuit Riders guide includes a Topical Legal Research Guides page, including subjects such as Criminal Law and Family Law.

This guide also includes self-help resources and information on legal services that may be available to assist you.

Online Resources

Websites that may be useful for locating legal information:

Case Law Research

• Google Scholar
  • Choose "Case law" to search state and federal court opinions.

South Carolina Resources

• South Carolina Judicial Branch
  • Opinions from the South Carolina Appeals and Supreme Courts, court rules, and forms
• South Carolina Legislature
  • South Carolina Constitution, Code, regulations, and other legal information
• SC State Agency Websites
  • Listing of SC State Agency websites, alphabetically or by category

Federal Resources

• govinfo (formerly FDSys)
  • United States Constitution, Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, and other government documents
• U.S. House: Office of the Law Revision Counsel
  • United States Code, including a Popular Name Table and a citation or keyword search.
• Supreme Court of the United States
  • Case information, oral argument transcripts and audio, briefs, court opinions (including bound volumes of U.S. Reports), and Supreme Court Rules