A Primer Geared Toward Legal
Research
by Stacy Stern, Esq.
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articl
es/primer_legal_research_9902.html
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Introduction
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The Internet is becoming the best
library ever
information on the Internet often
can seem unorganized and
unwieldy,
useful tools and guides are
constantly being developed and
improved to aid online research.
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There are a couple of basic
approaches for finding information
on the Web.
Each approach has advantages
and disadvantages.
The more you use the Web for
research, the more efficient you
will become at locating
information.
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Indexes and Search
Engines
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Indexes allow you to search in a hierarchical,
top-down kind of way -- like an outline or a
table of contents.
Most indexes are organized by topic. You
can often determine the general nature of
the contents of particular sites listed in an
index by the names of the sites, or by
annotations or descriptions of the sites.
Yahoo is a great general index on the Web.
FindLaw, is focused on law, and has an
excellent index of legal materials.
In addition, FindLaw lists other legal
indexes, many of which are also good places
to begin legal research.
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Indexes serve as good starting points for research
if you are looking for information on copyright law,
you should be able to find a copyright site by
using a more general legal index.
Most of the general legal indexes have materials
divided into particular legal subject categories,
such as contracts, criminal law, intellectual
property, etc.
To find information on copyright law, you would
start by going to a legal index, then find the index
of legal subjects or practice areas, and then go to
either the copyright or the intellectual property
category.
Indexes are often searchable, but a local search
of an index should not be confused with a search
engine.
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Search engines index the words of documents on the
Web, enabling you to search a large number of
documents with a single search.
Most search engines have indexed millions of
documents, and can return the results of a search very
quickly.
AltaVista(tm) Search is a very complete and fast
search engine.
Search engines present a good starting point if you
feel that you are looking for a needle-in-a-haystack.
Say you are looking for information on what a specific
expert had to say regarding a certain legal subject,you
could go to a search engine and do a search using the
expert's name as a key word.
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Different search engines have different rules
about forming queries.
Search engines also offer a useful way to finish
up if you are not satisfied with your results using
a hierarchical index. Combining the hierarchical
and needle-in-the-haystack approaches is the
most thorough way to do research on the Web.
The two approaches compliment one another.
using an index may be helpful in determining key
search terms, or using a search engine may yield
sites that are helpful in determining an
unexplored hierarchical category.
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Law Crawler
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LawCrawler is a search tool designed
especially for those interested in finding
legal information on the Internet.
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LawCrawler uses intelligent agents
combined with the AltaVista(tm) search
engine and database and other legal
code and case law databases, enabling
you to focus your search on legal
information and on particular domains.
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Searching Within A Page
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Most web browsers allow you to search
for words within a page. So if you come
across a long web page and are looking
for a particular key piece of information,
you can search within the page with the
"Find" function. In NetScape Navigator
and Microsoft Internet Explorer the
"Find" function is located in the "Edit"
menu.
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Finding Specific Kinds of Information Online
Primary Legal Materials: Codes, Case Law,
Regulations
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To find cases, codes and regulations, go
to FindLaw's Cases & Codes page and
select your jurisdiction. Different search
techniques are available depending on
which jurisdiction and database you use.
Some databases allow searching by
party name, others by citation, others by
keyword and some enable multiple
search techniques.
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At FindLaw we also have links to
federal laws relevant to particular
practice areas in our legal subject
pages. For example, we link the
Federal Tax Code from our Tax
Law page.
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The cases that are currently online for free
tend to be more recent ones.
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In many cases, fee-based services provide
more comprehensive case law coverage.
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If you can't find what you are looking for in a
case law or code database, it's a good idea
to round out your research with a search
engine that indexes the Web, especially for
historically significant case law or commonly
referenced code sections.
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Many times people will put an individual
case or code section online if they feel it is
especially important.
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Secondary Legal
Materials: Law Journals,
Treatises, Commentary
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The Web provides a rich source of secondary legal
materials. Many law journals have sites on the Web
and some of these contain abstracts or full text
articles.
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At FindLaw we have listings of law journals that have
sites online and law journals with full text articles
online. You can search the full-text of law journals with
articles online from FindLaw.
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Checking the legal subject pages is a good way to find
commentary and news on particular legal subject
areas. The secondary materials on the legal subject
pages range from online versions of printed treatises
and books to newsletters, general background
information, specialty indexes and FAQs.
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Tertiary Legal Materials:
Mailing Lists and Usenet
Groups
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Mailing Lists and Usenet Groups also
serve as useful sources of information.
Mailing lists can function as discussion
groups on particular topics that occur by
way of e-mail, or they can be a one way
source of information on a topic that is
delivered periodically via e-mail.
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The discussion lists provide a good way
to communicate with others that share a
common interest, and the newsletter
type mailing lists offer a convenient way
of receiving information updates
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Usenet groups consists of topical discussions
located at specific addresses in Cyberspace.
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The newer browsers allow you to view usenet
postings. You thus arrive at a particular usenet
group just as you would a web page, by clicking
a link or by entering the URL in your browser (eg.
news:alt.law-enforcement).
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Once there, you can read and post messages.
Not all Internet service providers carry all usenet
groups. You will only be able to reach the ones
carried by your provider
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Law Lists, a searchable compilation of
law-related electronic mailing lists and
usenet newsgroups, provides a great
way to find a mailing list or usenet group
that deals with a particular topic.
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Law Lists also provides information on
using tertiary materials. At FindLaw we
have information on topical Mailing Lists
and Usenet Groups on our legal subject
pages. LegalMinds provides searchable
archives of over 200 legal mailing lists.
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People,
Agencies, Organizations
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There are many directories for finding attorneys
and experts online.
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At FindLaw we have individual listings of
attorneys and experts as well as links to others
indexes of attorneys and experts. Martindale
Hubbell and West have very large directories of
attorneys which are searchable by practice area,
location or name.
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Martindale's and West's lawyer locators contain
attorneys that are both on and off-line.
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Bar Associations are another good way to find
lawyers. State bars often have attorney referral
services. We have a list of Bar Associations at
FindLaw.
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A good way to find a specific person is through
WhoWhere?, 411 or Switchboard. These are
directories of people online. They often contain
email addresses, phone numbers and postal mail
addresses. Switchboard includes a strong
section of phone book listings.
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The FindLaw Directories section includes Yellow
Pages online, as well as phone number, address,
e-mail and reverse phone number and address
look-ups. You can also use these directories to
find businesses online and well as contact
information for government officials
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Government agencies often provide useful
information on particular subjects. FindLaw's U.S.
Federal Government Resource page has links to
many federal agencies. We also have links to
relevant government agencies on our legal subject
pages. Our State Government Resources section is
a great place to start when searching for state
agencies online.
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Legal Associations and Organizations are listed on
our Legal Associations and Organizations page. If
you can't find who you're looking for with an index,
then it's a good idea to try a search engine, such as
AltaVista(tm) Search. If the name of the person or
organization is on the Web, a global AltaVista
Search should find it!
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Legal News
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There are several great sources of
fresh legal news online. FindLaw
provides legal news updated online
day and night in our Legal News
section. We have links to news
sites, both legal and general, in our
News and Reference section. Law
Journal Extra, Lawyers Weekly
and Court TV are other good
sources of legal news on the Web.
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Off-line Research
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You may not always find
everything you are looking for
online. In which case you will need
to make a trip to an off-line library.
Even if you find what you are
looking for online, it is a good idea
to supplement this research with
verification via printed resources.
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Conclusion
Hands on experience is the best way to get
good at finding resources online.
Whether you are surfing with a purpose
or just for fun, your time online should
prove useful for future searches.
FindLaw offers online continuing legal
education courses on finding law on the
Internet for those interested in becoming
more familiar with some of the excellent
legal resources on the Net.
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Happy Web
surfing!
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