Free LowCost Legal Research Options Lee Ryan J

Free & Low-Cost Legal Research Options Lee Ryan, J. D. , M. L. I. S. Research Librarian, USF School of Law, Dorraine Zief Law Library [Slides and outline available on TWEN and at: http: //works. bepress. com/lee_ryan/. Last updated on April 5, 2017] [Based on the National Business Institute Seminar “Find it Fast and Free on the Net: Strategies for Legal Research on the Web, ” Oakland, California, June 5, 2012. ]

http: //works. bepress. com/lee_ryan/ Details! Live Links! Slides and outline via TWEN and bepress “Selected Works. ”

Zief Research Guide http: //legalresearch. usfca. edu/Free. Legal. Research. Sites

No secondary! No anno. Codes! No Shepard’s / Key. Cite! Caveats — Content & Coverage

Free Statutes & Regulations

Best Free Statute / Reg. Options U. S. Code — Cornell Legal Info. Institute (http: //www. law. cornell. edu/uscode/text/) Code of Federal Regulations (C. F. R. ) — Cornell LII (http: //www. law. cornell. edu/cfr/text/) California Codes — Cal. Legislative Info. Service (http: //leginfo. legislature. ca. gov/faces/codes. xhtml) California Code of Regs. — Cal. Office of Admin. Law (http: //ccr. oal. ca. gov/) — powered by Westlaw!

Free Case Law

Best Free Case Law Options Google Scholar - Legal Documents (http: //scholar. google. com/) — Select “Legal Documents” before searching California Official Reports — public access web site (http: //www. lexisnexis. com/clients/CACourts) Ravel (free “Open” accounts) (https: //www. ravellaw. com/) Fastcase i. Pad / i. Phone / Android App http: //www. fastcase. com/ipad/ — i. Pad http: //www. fastcase. com/iphone/ — i. Phone http: //www. fastcase. com/android/ — Android

Best of the Best Google Scholar & California Official Reports

Select “Case Law” before searching. Google Scholar — Case Law http: //scholar. google. com/

Filters — for court and date Google Scholar – results (Cal. Courts filter)

Default search — natural language Other search options — including full Lexis. Nexis terms & connectors Calif. Official Reports — public access site http: //www. lexisnexis. com/clients/CACourts/

Up to 100 results (for natural language search) Calif. Official Reports — results (nat. lang. )

Intriguing Newcomers Ravel & Casetext

(“Advanced” plans are free for users with “. edu” email addresses … at least for now. ) Ravel (“data driven research”) http: //www. ravellaw. com/

Ravel — Searching

Ravel — results in free “list view”

Ravel — results in “visual search” (not free)

Casetext http: //www. casetext. com/

Topical posts added by users Casetext — results list (filtered to Federal cases)

Summaries of Romer from later cases “Heat Map” at margin showing most-cited parts of case Posts (“insights”) written by users Key passages (oftencited passages) of Romer Later cases that cite to Romer Casetext — case display

Free sites — summary of features

Low-Cost Options

Best Low-Cost Options Fastcase “premium” — $65 to $95 per month (http: //www. fastcase. com/) (free to USF law students) Casemaker — $60 to $90 per month (http: //www. casemakerlegal. com/) (Casemaker X is free to USF law students) Versuslaw — $14 to $40 per month (http: //www. versuslaw. com) (free to USF law students — “Premium” Plan) Access. Law — Calif. law only — $46 per month (http: //www. accesslaw. com/)

Fastcase — v. 6 interface http: //www. fastcase. com/

Multiple search options Fastcase 7 http: //www. fastcase. com/

Terms & Connectors or Natural Language Fastcase — advanced search screen

Forecite Filters & “Search Within” Interactive Timeline option Interactive “Bad Law Bot” (flags potentially problematic precedent) Word cloud Fastcase — results (default view)

Fastcase results — Interactive Timeline

• Single search-box • Folders … more. . . Casemaker Link for USF law students: http: //www. casemakerx. com/

• Basic cite-checking • Post-search filters • Note-taking… Casemaker — search results

Zief Library — for alumni too!

Find the public law library closest to you When you need… …Shepard’s or Key. Cite …Or other non-free resources California’s Public Law Libraries http: //www. publiclawlibrary. org/

San Francisco Law Library Databases for researchers in the library (including Shepard’s, Key. Cite)

Bloomberg Law Highlights — Live

Image courtesy of Véronique Debord-Lazaro, http: //www. flickr. com/photos/debord/4932655275/

Supplemental Slides

Cal. Official Reports “advanced” searching (terms & connectors searching)

Full Lexis. Nexis “terms & connectors” options Calif. Official Reports — advanced search form

Can override 25 -case limit. . . See Word outline for details. Calif. Official Reports — results (advanced)

Other Free Case Law Options Public Library of Law + fastcase app

Can limit by jurisdiction/court or date Public Library of Law http: //www. plol. org/

Public Library of Law — results

Fastcase i. Pad / i. Phone / Android App

2 More Low-Cost Options Versuslaw, Access. Law

Versus. Law (USF Law subscription to Premium Plan) Link for USF law students: http: //www. versuslaw. com/

Access. Law http: //www. accesslaw. com/

Portals

Image courtesy of Tulane Univ. Public Relations, http: //www. flickr. com/photos/tulanesally/3638658173/ Are Portals Passé?

State Materials (links to cases, codes, regs, etc. ) Topical Materials (“Wex” legal encyclopedia) Cornell Legal Information Institute http: //www. law. cornell. edu/

Cornell LII — typical state listing (Nevada)

Search Engines to find state law or topical law sites

Searching for primary law & legal topics — nevada statutes nevada case law nevada "legal research" illinois "legal research" site: . edu health law research site: . edu [ The last 2 searches target university sites to find the sorts of helpful guides typically produced by law school research librarians. ]