“…The What Cow?!?”

1. The Unexploded Cow’s Guide to Legal Research(a.k.a. Free & Low-Cost Alternatives to Lexi$ and We$tlaw)Duke Law Library WorkshopApril 5, 2007Jennifer L. Behrens

2. “…The What Cow?!?” http://www.cheapass.com ”…Two basic facts about games: they cost too much, and they are at some level all the same. If you ignore the clever shapes they come in, the cheap little plastic pawns are an interchangeable part of most of the board games in your house. So are the dice, the money, the counters, the pencils…These generic bits and pieces can account for as much as 75% of a game's production cost, and that cost gets handed to you.” …sound familiar?

3. Today’s Agenda • Low-cost research services • Loislaw • Versuslaw • Casemaker • Other services • Free research sources & strategies • Cases & Briefs • Statutes, Regulations, Legislative History • Forms & Other Practice Material • Putting it all together

4. Low-Cost Research Services • In recent years, a number of smaller Lexis/Westlaw competitors have emerged. • These sources vary widely in their contents and costs. • Take advantage of the online tutorials and any student access you may receive during your time at Duke Law.

5. Loislaw • http://www.loislawschool.com Students can register for a free account which lasts until 6 months after graduation (see librarian for access code). Username generated by Loislaw will be e-mailed, along with a password that you choose during registration.

6. Case law includes opinions from all circuits and all 50 states. Some unpublished opinions are available. New cases are posted within 24-48 hours of publication.

7. In Loislaw, you may search across several different jurisdictions. Some other free & low-cost services do not allow a bridge between federal and state.

10. GlobalCite works similarly to Shepard’s and KeyCite, retrieving cases and secondary sources which cite the document in question.

12. Within a single database, you can search across multiple jurisdictions by using the check boxes and clicking “Continue”. Loislaw includes “Acts” (session laws) as well as “Statutes” (codes). Folders indicate that you can browse as well as search.

14. Secondary law includes many full-text subject treatises as well as CLE publications from selected states (including NY).

15. Publications include practice materials and subject treatises which are published by Aspen. Examples: New York Lawyers’ Formbook; Tort Law Desk Reference: A Fifty-State Compendium; Commercial Real Estate Transactions Handbook…

16. For search commands and other tips, view “Help & Support”, linked from the bottom of every page.

18. Versuslaw • http://www.versuslaw.com Students can register for trial access to the case law databases; trial accounts must be reactivated each year. Password generated by Versuslaw will be e-mailed, along with the username you select during the registration process.

21. More search commands are available on the “Search tips” link. The commands are very similar on all of these services, but not quite the same– always check before you search!

23. Premium subscribers have access to a citation service called V.Cite. Trial subscribers must check their citations with a full-text search across all Federal Circuits for the official U.S. Reports citation. Remember that District Courts are not included in that search. (Separate database.)

24. Versuslaw, cont. • Student trials can access CASE databases only. • Versuslaw also contains statutes, regulations and court rules for most jurisdictions as part of the “Premium” and “Professional” plans. • Forms are also available as separate database.

25. Help page includes a “Research Manual”, with tips and tricks for database searching. The various commands for field searching are published here. Help page includes a short “Research Manual”, which outlines search tricks for the databases.

26. Casemaker • http://www.casemaker.us • Contains: Federal case law from U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals; U.S. Code; C.F.R. “State Libraries” provide case law and statutes/regs for consortium members. • State bar associations must purchase access; is then “free and unlimited” to current members of the bar.

30. Other tutorials are available on Casemaker’s home page, as well as on the sites of other state bars in the Casemaker consortium.

31. Casemaker, cont. • http://www.ncbar.org/join • Membership is free to currently-enrolled law students; includes access to Casemaker. • 2-3 business days to process membership; member # and password will be sent by e-mail. • Questions? Contact Whitney von Haam (whitney@ncbar.org).

32. Casemaker, cont. Consortium members include: • North Carolina • Georgia • Texas Notable exclusions: • California • Florida • New York

33. Two For The Road 1. FastCase http://www.fastcase.com • 24 hour trial available through site; interactive online demo. • Includes cases from federal district and U.S. Bankruptcy courts; as well as state appellate and supreme courts.

34. These non-case law resources link to publicly available web sites like government publishers and Findlaw.com. Newspaper search goes to a version of the Duke database “America’s Newspapers”.

35. Fastcase’s main advantages are natural language searching and Authority Check, which searches for cases that cite to your case (but is NOT intended as a full replacement for Shepard’s/KeyCite).

36. Two For The Road 2. National Law Library http://www.itislaw.com • Federal & State case law libraries include “essential” court rules and “plain language forms”. • Can pay monthly or by search. • Quick online demo available.

39. Free Research Online • What kind of document am I looking for? • Who would normally be responsible for maintaining those documents in print? • Where does the document “live” online (i.e., official government vs. free site)? • When was the document posted and/or the site last updated?

40. Free: Cases & Briefs • Opinions and court documents are usually posted on the web site of the court which issued the opinion. • Briefs and opinions (at least at federal appellate level) are also often posted on legal research mega-sites like Findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com) and Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (http://www.law.cornell.edu).

41. Supreme Court actually includes bound U.S. Reports volumes in PDF (1991- ). Most courts only provide opinions in HTML or .txt.

46. After selecting “Briefs”, you will choose your term (1999- ) and view an alphabetical list of cases.

47. Presentation of available resources is clean and easy to read.

48. (almost) Free: Court docs • Court documents at the lower federal court level (e.g., complaints and replies in district court) are usually available through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). • PACER charges a per-page fee for document retrieval (currently $0.08).

49. (almost) Free: Court docs • Court documents at the state court level may be posted on the court’s web site. • You may also have to contact the court clerk or court library directly, and pay a fee for copying services. • Look for a library research guide from a law school within the state.

50. Free: Statutes • Session laws are usually available on the web site of the jurisdiction’s legislature. Amount of years available will vary. • Federal (Public Laws): Available 1995-present via GPO Access, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/browse.html. • State: Consult links on National Conference of State Legislature site: http://www.ncsl.org/public/leglinks.cfm.