Transcript Internet Legal Research

Internet Legal Research for
Professor Mika’s Legal Writing
Class
Mar. 1, 2011
Outline
Internet v. Lexis, Westlaw
 Legal Portals and Search Engines
 Free Case Law/Primary Sources
 Forms
 Evaluating Web Sites

Internet v. Lexis/Westlaw
Internet is Free. No charges to clients
 Some info exclusive to Internet

Municipal Ordinances
 Some Court Filings
 New case/regulation (within one day)
 New topics/issues

Internet v. Lexis/WL
Benefits of Lexis, WL:
 Coverage. Internet, Ohio cases back to
1950
 Better Search Mechanisms
 Editorial features – headnotes, annotations
 Secondary sources – treatises
 Aggregate Info
 Trustworthiness
What’s on the Free Web
All US Supreme Court Cases
 Reported Federal Appellate 1882-, Fed
District 1932 Some Unreported Fed
 State cases: Reported 1950-, unreported
varies -1990s Statutes & Regulations- federal and
states
 LOTS more!

Internet Portals
Library Home Page – Legal Research on
the Web
 Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)
 FindLaw

Use LEGAL Search Engines
• Cornell University Legal
Research Engine
• LexisWeb
• List of Search Legal Engines
Search Engines

Clustering search engines: Yippy,
Ask.com
 Metasearch engines: Dogpile,
Yippy
 Internet Wayback Machine
 Learn search syntax
Case law
Google Scholar – state reported 1950-, fed
circuit/ district 1923 Ohio Supreme Court – Ohio reported &
unreported (oldest 1992)
 LexisOne – Last 10 yrs, Lexis searching
 Legal Research on the Web - Cases

• Search = “birth certificate” marriage
transsexual OR transgender OR “sex
change”
• Why don’t we get the Nash case, a 2003
unreported Ohio case?
Limit to Ohio
Google Advanced Operators
• AROUND –ex. constitution AROUND(5)
"home rule“
• ~ searches for synonyms and related
words ex. ~constitutionality - searches for
constitutional, unconstitutional, etc.
• * placeholder for a word. Ex. sexual *
abuse picks up “sexual misconduct
abuse”, “sexual child abuse”, etc.
• Demo Ohio Supreme Court case search
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
 PACER – Federal Court dockets
 On Westlaw/Lexis – more search
capability

Forms

Forms and Practice Materials
Resource Guide

Practical Law Company – free to law
students
Evaluating Web Sites
Credibility: author; possible bias,
accuracy.
 Currency / Updating, Coverage
 Writing Quality
 Ease of use – Design, navigation,
searchability, help
 Stability

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

The Invisible Web
Search Engines not index entire web
 Search engines cannot type or think.
 “Invisible Web” includes information stored
in databases and password restricted
information

Accessing Invisible Web

Find databases via directories or search
engines (search for a subject term and the
word “database”), or ask a librarian.
 Bookmark databases you find
 See Web Searching guide
Invisible Web Example

Traffic tickets. Try a search on Google
and pipl.com to find traffic tickets for
John Ferris of Vandalia, Ohio.
Web Sites to Know
Thomas.gov – Federal Legislative
History
 Fed’l Govt. – FDSys
 E-CFR - most up to date Code of
Federal Regulations
 A-Z Index of U.S. Government Depts. &
Agencies

More Websites to Know
Martindale Hubbell Law Digest
 Ohio Supreme Court
 Municipal Ordinances

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

eHandout

https://www.law.csuohio.edu/lawlibrary/e
handout/alternatives2011