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Internet Legal Research for Professor Mika’s Legal Writing
Class
Feb. 24, 2010
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Outline
Internet v. Lexis, WestlawLegal Portals and Search EnginesFree Case Law/Primary Sources FormsEvaluating Web SitesCurrent AwarenessLow Cost Lexis/WL Alternatives
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Internet v. Lexis/Westlaw
Internet is Free. No charges to clientsSome info exclusive to Internet
Municipal Ordinances Some Court FilingsNew case/regulation (within one day)New topics/issues
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Internet v. Lexis/WL
Benefits of Lexis, WL:Coverage. Internet, Ohio cases back to
1950Better Search MechanismsEditorial features – headnotes, annotationsSecondary sources – treatises, practice
booksAggregate Info Trustworthiness
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What’s on the Free Web
All US Supreme Court CasesReported Federal Appellate 1882-, Fed
District 1932-Some Unreported FedState cases: Reported cases from 1950-,
unreported varies (1990s on)Statutes & Regulations- federal and
states LOTS more!
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Internet Portals
Library Home Page – Legal Research on the Web
Public Records & People Finders Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) FindLaw Other Portals
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Use LEGAL Search Engines
• Cornell University Legal Research Engine
• LexisWeb
• FindLaw LawCrawler
• Justia
• List of Search Legal Engines
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Search Engines
Clustering search engines: Clusty , Ask.com
Metasearch engines: Dogpile, Clusty
Internet Wayback Machine Learn search syntax See
Web Searching Guide - Search Engines
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Case law
Legal Research Workstation - Case Law Google Scholar – state reported 1950-, fed
circuit/ district 1923-Ohio Supreme CourtLexisOne – Last 10 yrs, Lexis searchingPublic Library of Law - booleanOpen Jurist – fed reported appellate 1882-
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• Demo Ohio Supreme Court case search
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Finding Dockets, Pleadings, Motions
LLRX or Resources for Online Court Dockets to find dockets
Some dockets have full text documents ex. Ohio – Montgomery & Summit Counties, federal courts
PACER – Federal Court dockets On Westlaw/Lexis – more search
capability
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Forms
Forms and Practice Materials Resource Guide
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Evaluating Web Sites
Credibility: author; possible bias, accuracy.
Currency / Updating, CoverageWriting Quality Ease of use – Design, navigation,
searchability, help Stability
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Forms and Sample Contracts
Who publishes the site? A legal publisher? bar association?
Does the site sell forms?Who wrote the form?Use with caution, tailor to your facts
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The Invisible Web
Search Engines not index entire webSearch engines cannot type or think. “Invisible Web” includes information stored
in databases and password restricted information
The Invisible or Deep Web by U.C. Berkeley
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Accessing Invisible Web
Find databases via directories or search engines (search for a subject term and the word “database”), or ask a librarian.
The Librarian’s Internet Index and Complete Planet .
Bookmark databases you find See Web Searching Guide Example – Traffic tickets. Try a search on
Google and pipl.com
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Current Awareness Tools
Blog Search Engines and Directories RSS Readers - What are they? Ex.
Bloglines Ohio Supreme Court cases –
new opinions, case activity notificationCurrent Awareness Resources for Ohio L
aw
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Web Sites to Know
Thomas.gov – Federal Legislative History
GPO Access – Fed’l Govt. will be FDSysMartindale Hubbell Law Digest Ohio Supreme CourtMunicipal Ordinances
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Stripped down versions of Lexis/WL
Casemaker –Free w/ free student OSBA membership
Fastcase – Free w/ Cleve bar membership
LoisLaw– C-M has - Instructions to get password
Versus Law – Free to Law students
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Low Cost Alternatives to Lexis/Westlaw
Advantages over the free Internet:One stop shoppingBetter coverage of cases, other sourcesSometimes more currentOften better search mechanismsShepard’s-like features – but now Google
Scholar has
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Comparison of the Low Cost Databases
See Comparison Chart of Low Cost Databases.
Fastcase, Versus Law have natural language, Casemaker, Loislaw do not.
Casemaker and Loislaw have more field searching capability
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Comparison, cont’d
Casemaker, Loislaw have better coverage of Ohio cases than VersusLaw, Fastcase
Fastcase just links to Internet sites for statutes for 11 states
Versuslaw is the cheapest
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Conclusion
Use Free Web, but be aware limitations in coverage, currency, searching ability, reliability
Go beyond Google: Use free legal databases, legal search engines and portals
Be aware of low cost alternatives to Lexis and WL