CBA Paralegal Committee
June 22, 2010
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles:
Casemaker, Lexis, Westlaw & More!
Wanda McDavid
Access/Information, Inc.
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles:
Casemaker, Lexis, Westlaw & More!
Access/Information
Who are we?
• We are one of the oldest information professional companies in the
country and the largest of our type in Denver and the Rocky
Mountain region.
• Our staff is comprised of experienced law librarians and paralegals.
• We currently provide services to over 70% of the top law firms in
Denver.
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Class Objective
• To review the CBA's Casemaker online legal research
library
– discuss search strategy and the Colorado and
Federal resources available from Casemaker.
• Discuss Web-based pathways to free or inexpensive
legal research sites
– to become more efficient searchers while saving time and
money.
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Coverage will include:
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Casemaker
When to search/not search on the Web
Legal Portals
Primary Sources/Case Law
Public Records
Web Browsing Tips
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Primary Sources/Case Law
• Casemaker: http://www.cobar.org
– CaseCheck
– MultiBook searches
– Printing enhancements
– State and Federal resources
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Use free online resources for:
• Becoming acquainted with the language/terminology
of legal fields for which you are unfamiliar
– Zimmerman’s Research Guide http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/
– Wex – LII’s law dictionary and encyclopedia http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex
– bing.com, Google.com, Yahoo.com
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Use free online resources for:
• Single-state based research for cases and
statutes
– Findlaw State Law collection
http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/
– LLRX.com - Court rules by state http://www.llrx.com/courtrules
• Locating government documents and public
records
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Go directly to a commercial database for:
• Comprehensive national searches
• Specific legal fields for which Lexis or
Westlaw have established a specific
library.
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Legal Portals
A legal portal is essentially a gateway to
all sorts of legal and law-related
information. Generally portals provide
some original content, but mostly they
serve as a launch pad to legal sites all
over the Internet.
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
• Cornell University Law School’s Legal
Information Institute (LII):
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
– Introduction to Basic Citation
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
• Justia: http://www.justia.com/ (recently acquired
the Virtual Chase site.)
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Primary Sources
• LexisOne:
http://law.lexisnexis.com/webcenters/lexiso
ne/
• Thomas: http://thomas.loc.gov/
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Government Documents – Federal
• USA.gov: http://www.usa.gov/
• USAsearch.gov: http://usasearch.gov/
• Law Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/law/index.php
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Public Records
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Business records – UCC/formation, etc.
Judgments
Liens
Real Property
Professional licenses
Docket sheets/registers of actions (CoCourt and Courtlink
docket sheets are very abbreviated)
• Inmate records
• Tax records
• Political Contributions
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Public Records – State and Local
• Searchsystems.Net: Public Records
Directory: http://www.searchsystems.net/
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Law Journals
• HeinOnline – Law Journal Library
• Ebsco – legal collection
• University of Southern California Law Library Legal
Journals http://lawweb.usc.edu/library/resources/journals.cfm
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Odds and Ends
• SSRN
• The Blawg 100:
http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg
100_2008/news
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Identifying Authoritative Sources:
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Trade Associations
Government Information and Public Records
Information Hubs
Limiting searches to .org, .edu, and .gov
extensions
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Browser Tips
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Keyboard shortcuts
Bookmarks/Favorites
Search individual web pages (CTRL – F)
Using multiple browsers
Emailing web pages – Use Internet Explorer or if the
page has a link to email the page (news stories have it)
• PDF documents
Fact-Finding on the Web
Starting Points and Beyond
Identifying Authoritative Sources:
• Trade Associations
http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Associ
ations/By_Industry
• Government Information and Public Records
• Information Hubs
• Limiting searches to .org, .edu, and .gov
extensions
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Validating Information
• Plan the search
• Limit the field
• Indentify and review the original source
• Evaluate the source
• Verify the date of publication
• Beware
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Documenting and Citing Sources:
• Following links to original sources
• Citing sources
(http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/bl
uebook1_7.cfm ) in your deliverable
• Documenting your search strategy
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
Speed and Efficiency
• Know your tools
– Developing a search strategy
– Bookmarking
– Advanced Search Options
– Special directories and search options
Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles
We provide:
– Public Records Research and Retrieval, including court
document research and retrieval
– Expert Witness Due Diligence
– Patent Prior Art Compilation and Retrieval
– Insurance Rate Research and Retrieval
– Document Delivery
– Customized Web Training
– Law Library Management
– Records Management