INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH LINKS
Many of the links and resources below are from Professor Mark Steiner’s
Internet Legal Research class website by permission. Visit:
http://www.stcl.edu/faculty/steiner/internetlegalresearch/index.html.
I.
Overview and Strategy
Know the strengths and weaknesses of free online legal research
sites and methods.
Take advantage of these strengths, and be careful about these
weaknesses in your online legal research.
II.
Advantages of Free Internet Legal Research
Maybe less expensive for clients
An ever-increasing amount of legal information
A lot of reliable information (official websites)
A lot of current information
III.
Disadvantages of Free Internet Legal Research
Less efficient search engines than Westlaw or Lexis
Many irrelevant materials to sort out
Fewer practice aids and secondary sources
Uncertain reliability (if not official sites)
Uncertain updating
IV.
Sample Websites
General Legal News and Commentary
http://virtualchase.justia.com/wiki/general-legal-news-commentary
http://blawgsearch.justia.com/
http://legalnews.findlaw.com/
Search engines:
Google Scholar
Google Scholar (Legal):
http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search?hl=en&as_sdt=
0,50
[Narrow by “Legal opinions and journals”]
Google
Advanced search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Improving your Google search:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html
Other sample search engines
www.yahoo.com
www.bing.com
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Meta-engines
www.dogpile.com
(searches the “big dogs” Google, Yahoo, and Bing)
Specialized search engines
http://search.usa.gov/
(U.S. government information portal)
Legal Information Resources:
1.
Legal research guides (law libraries)
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library.htm
(legal research guides)
http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeDo/ResearchGuides/i
ndex.cfm
(research guides and search engine)
http://drakelaw.libguides.com
(general and subject-specific research guides)
http://library.law.emory.edu/for-law-students/emory-law-subjectguides/ (law subject guides)
http://www.washlaw.edu/ (research links for individual state
materials)
2.
Researching facts and reference materials
http://people.yahoo.com/
(people search)
http://company.justia.com/
(select primary sources and law-related information)
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http://www.docstoc.com/documents/legal
(sample legal documents)
3.
Researching primary legal sources
Basic legal information sites (portals and directories)
Legal Information Institute
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
http://www.findlaw.com/
http://lp.findlaw.com/ (for lawyers)
Federal legal materials
General
Federal Digital System (formerly GPO Access)
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
Judicial
U.S. Federal Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/Home.aspx
Case law online (ABA guide)
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_offices/legal_techno
logy_resources/resources/charts_fyis/soloresearchoptions.html
Justia (recent federal cases)
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/
Legislative
U.S. Code
http://143.231.180.80/
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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
Library of Congress – legislative history documents
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php
New (Beta) Site – Congress.gov
http://beta.congress.gov/about
Administrative
Federal agency documents
http://www.regulations.gov/#%21home
Code of Federal Regulations
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?selectedYearFr
om=2011&page.go=Go
Federal Register
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=F
R
Wisconsin legal materials
General
Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin - legal materials
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llaw/paliguide/index.htm
Wisconsin State Law Library
http://wilawlibrary.gov/topics/wisconsinlaw.php
Judicial
Wisconsin Court System
http://www.wicourts.gov/
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Legislative
Legislative Reference Bureau (statutes, etc.)
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/rsb/stats.html
Administrative
Administrative Code and Register
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/rsb/code.htm
D.
Other states’ legal materials
National Center for State Courts – court websites
http://www.ncsc.org/Information-and-Resources/Browse-byState/State-Court-Websites.aspx
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