Frequently Asked Casemaker® Questions
General Questions
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What does the Casemaker Web Library do?
Casemaker Web Library allows you to search and browse a variety of legal information,
such as codes, rules, statutes and case law through the Internet.
Q.
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Is there an extra cost to use Casemaker beyond my member dues?
No, Casemaker is included as a benefit of membership in the South Carolina Bar.
Q.
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Is there a way to send a case by e-mail?
This is currently unavailable in Casemaker; however you can copy and paste the text in
an e-mail message (or word processing program, such as MS Word or WordPerfect) and
send it.
Q.
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Is Casemaker free?
Yes, Casemaker is free. It is a new membership benefit available to all members of the
Bar.
Problems
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Is there a number I can call if I have questions about Casemaker or problems to
report?
Yes, you may call the South Carolina Bar at 877-797-2227 and ask for Casemaker
assistance during normal business hours – between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Where can I turn for help if I have questions after business hours?
Click on the help button in the upper right-hand portion of the Casemaker navigation bar.
Casemaker Online Help provides complete instruction on the use of Casemaker. You can
also refer to the online tutorial or the hard-copy User Guide.
Login
Q.
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Where do I get my Login ID and password?
Enter your login ID and password. Your login ID is the email address you have given the
Bar. If you do not have an email address on file with the bar, a non-functioning one will be
generated by using your first name dot last name, plus suffix .com. For example, George
Jones, Jr. would be george.jonesjr@scbar.com. Your password will be your first initial
and last name, plus suffix. For example, George Jones, Jr.’s password would be:
gjonesjr.
To change your password, click on Profile once you have logged in. You may make
changes on the screen that opens up and click on Submit at the bottom of the page.
Q.
A.
I am having trouble logging on to the site. What could be wrong?
- Make sure you are entering the email address (Login ID) that the Bar has in your file.
- Make sure you have not misspelled anything.
- Close your browser and open a new browser page and try again.
- If the first three suggestions do not solve your problem, your computer may not be
accepting “cookies,” which are little bits of information saved on your computer that allow
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you to access the site. You might need to change your security settings to allow for cookies
or at a minimum allow your browser to accept cookies from the www.lawriter.net and
www.scbar.org Web sites.
Research
Q.
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Is the South Carolina Code annotated?
No. However, due to Casemaker being a full-text searchable database, you can annotate
the code on the fly. Simply type the code section you would like to annotate into the basic
search screen and hit search. Casemaker will search through whatever book you are
searching (e.g., South Carolina Caselaw) and pull up every case that contains that code
section.
Q.
How far back do the cases go?
South Carolina State Library
SC Supreme Court opinions from 1899 with West parallel citation added
SC Court of Appeals opinions from 10/31/1983 with West parallel citation added
SC AG opinions from 1989
SC Administrative Law Court opinions from as far back as the current coverage on its Web
site
Unpublished opinions of SC Court of Appeals and Supreme Court from 1/1/04
Federal Library
US Supreme Court - complete case coverage from 1935 to current, selected cases from
1790-1935
US Court of Appeals from 1995; except Second Circuit from 1989 and First Circuit from Fall
1992
Q.
How often are opinions posted?
The SC Supreme Court opinions are posted within 48 hours after the posting on the
Supreme Court's website.
The Court of Appeals opinions are posted within 72 hours after posting on the Court's
website.
Unpublished opinions are from 1/1/2004 only and posted within 5 days after we send
Lawriter the opinions.
Q.
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Can you use Casemaker as a citator?
Yes. Casemaker has a citator feature called Casecheck, which automatically pulls up all
cases that cite the state case you are viewing (this feature is not currently available in the
federal library). To access the Casecheck cases, simply click on the citation. When you are
through reviewing the cited case, click on the Back button of your browser to get back to
your original case.
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How do I search for an individual case if I have the official citation?
Pick the book where the official citation would appear and click on the search option. Once
you are in the search screen, click on the “Advanced Search” tab. You will see the cite field.
Click on the radio button entitled Official Cite and type in the South Carolina citation.
Example 316 S.C. 404. Alternatively, you can click on the radio button entitled Case Name
and type in key words in the case name, such as Maddux Safhi. Also, you can click on the
radio button entitled Southeastern Cite and type in the Southeastern citation. Example 450
S.E.2d 101 (use Bluebook form.
Tip: If a cite you know to be correct doesn’t work, try leaving a space between “E.” and
“2d”.
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Tip: If a cite you know to be correct does not work, it could be an opinion that was
withdrawn or was unpublished.
Q.
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How do I search for an individual case if I know the case name?
Pick the book where the case would appear and click on the search option. Once you are at
the search screen, click on the “Advanced Search” tab. You will see the cite field. Take your
mouse and click the radio button directly above the cite field that says, “case name.” By
changing to “case name” the cite field is now expecting you to plug in a case name instead
of an official citation. Simply type in one or both of the parties’ names and hit search. You
should not put in the v. or even the full case name, just the most unique portions of each
party’s name. And, if one of the party’s names is very unique, only one of the party’s names
is necessary.
Q.
I am in the South Carolina Library, but cannot find the federal cases, constitution,
code, rules, or regulations.
Click on your browser’s back arrow to the Library Contents page. Then click on Federal
Library, which is the first library listed.
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Can I search multiple sources (books) at the same time?
Yes. Here is how: Once you are in Casemaker, if you are using Internet Explorer as your
browser, press (CTRL +N) to quickly open another browser window. The program allows
you to open several windows and perform several searches at the same time (i.e. statutes
and caselaw). You are limited only by your computer’s memory.
Q.
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How does the search engine decide the rank of search results?
The ranking algorithm takes into consideration relative word ordering, word proximity,
database frequency, document frequency, and position in text.
Q.
Why do I keep getting an error message saying “No documents matching your search
query could be found?
There are several reasons you are getting this error message, including:
- Your search is too narrow. Consider reducing the number of key words or phrases in your
search query.
- You might have misspelled one of the words in the search string, field entry, etc.
Casemaker search logic looks for the exact spelling of keywords.
- You might not be searching in the correct book.
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What is the minimum number of characters that can be entered as a search term?
Three.
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How can I narrow down my search if it is returning too many results?
- Add more words to your query.
- Limit the date range on the Advanced Search menu.
- Use the exclusion operator (-) to ensure documents returned do not include cases
containing unwanted terms.
- If you are searching for a phrase, enter it as such within quotation marks: (i.e. "bill of sale").
- Change the Word Forms control to “Exact”
- Using the revise search button, add additional key words to your search.
- Use the tools available to you in the Advanced Search Screen that allow you to narrow the
proximity in which your key words/phrases appear. Use the fields in conjunction with key
words in the full document search query.
Q.
I am having trouble getting too few results from my searches – How can I broaden
my search?
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A.
- Reduce the number of words in your query.
- Check your spelling.
- Increase the scope of the proximity control.
- Make sure you are searching the correct book.
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How do I go from one statute in a search result to the next?
Click on the next result button on the Casemaker toolbar.
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How do I go to the next section in a statute when the sections do not appear in the
search result?
Switch to browse mode on the toolbar and click on next doc. When you are ready to
return to your original search result, click on the search mode button, then click on the
back to results button.
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Can I perform wildcard searches?
Yes. See the help menu for the various wildcard commands.
Q.
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When performing a basic search will Casemaker search all (sources) books?
When performing a search (basic or advanced) Casemaker will only search the book that
is open. For instance, you cannot search both statutes and caselaw in the same
search. You also cannot search both the South Carolina and Federal libraries at the
same time; you will need to search each separately. You can, however, open other
browser windows and do additional (and simultaneous) searches that way.
Q.
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Is there a way to save a previous search?
No. However you may copy and paste your search into a word processing document.
Q.
Can you search for more than one phrase at a time, such as “wrongful death” and
“next of kin” in an and or or search?
Yes. For an and search, place quotes around the phrases and leave a space between
the phrases. Example: “wrongful death” “next of kin”. For an or search, place quotes
around the phrases and place in parentheses separated only by a comma. Example:
(“wrongful death”,“next of kin”) will find either wrongful death or next of kin. Be
sure not to put a space on either side of the comma.
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Can you search for cases decided by a particular judge, lawyer, or court?
Yes. In the advanced search screen there are fields in which to insert judge, lawyer, or
court names.
Q.
Can I search for terms that appear within a certain number of words of each other
or within the same sentence?
Yes. In the advanced search screen there is a field called “proximity.” You can search for
words within the same document (this is the default setting), the same sentence, within
1000 characters, within 500 characters or within 2 words of each other.
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Can I find a case by its federal cite only?
No. For federal circuit court of appeals cases, you need to know either the case name or
the opinion number. You will not be able to pull the case up with the F.3d cite.
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Q.
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How can I find a South Carolina Ethics Advisory Opinion by cite?
Type the opinion number using either the cite or the entire year number: 99-08 or 199908, for example. If you are in the browse mode, look for opinions with the entire year
specified.
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