Computer Assisted Legal
Research Options
May 2, 2002
Jessica R. Hogan
Druet Cameron Klugh
West Group Press Release – March 11, 2002
Both Lexis.com and
Westlaw.com have:
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ABA publications
American Law Reports:
A.L.R.2d, A.L.R.3d,
A.L.R.4th, A.L.R.5th, A.L.R.Fed. & A.L.R.Index
American Jurisprudence, 2d
BNA United States Law Week
United States Law Week Daily
US Law Week Supreme Court Cases
Tax Management Portfolios
Restatements
Westlaw®
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“Gold Standard” for comprehensive, accurate,
timely legal information with enhancements.
WestlawPRO special pricing: For statespecific information $137.00/mo.
Colorado Pro Plus includes Colorado cases,
statutes, administrative code, court rules, all
federal district and circuit court cases
originating in CO, all US Supreme Court cases
and the USCA and KeyCite All $198.00/mo.
Great Customer Service: 1-800-REF-ATTY.
Sales reps will work with you on pricing.
Westlaw.com has:
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Colorado forms:
CO Corporate Forms
(Erickson)
Litigation Forms and
Analysis (Laugesen)
Colorado Practice Series
(Krendl etc.)
Approximately 765 law
reviews/journals
Practising Law Institute
Course Handbooks
Wall Street Journal
Gower Federal Service
CCR and admin codes
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Corpus Juris Secundum:
Insurance
Corpus Juris Secundum:
Internal Revenue
American Jurisprudence
Legal Forms 2d
American Jurisprudence
Pleading and Practice
Forms Annotated
American Jurisprudence
Proof of Facts,
First/Second/Third
Colorado Lawyer
Wests Legal Directory
LexisNexis®
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Another “gold standard” for comprehensive,
accurate and timely legal information with
enhancements.
LEXIS “MVP” or Flat Rate pricing differs
depending on price plan selected.
Colorado Flat Rate with Shepard’s CO
$140/mo.
Colorado Enhanced with Shepard’s $204/mo.
Good Customer Service: 1-800-45-LEXIS.
Sales reps will work with you on pricing.
Lexis.com has:
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Practising Law Institute
Reference Publications
University of Denver
Water Law Review
Collier on Bankruptcy
(15th edition)
American Law of Mining
(RMMLF)
Martindale-Hubbell Law
Directory including law
digests
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American
Jurisprudence 2d plus
TOC searching
Matthew Bender
publications (Rabkin &
Johnson forms with tax
analysis)
Approximately 568 law
reviews/journals
Colorado Practice Forms
on HotDocs/separate
subscription so check
LexisONE.com
Non-subscribers Pay
as you go
$4.00 to Shepardize®
each case.
Citators
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Shepard’s on Lexis
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Shepard’s Signal™: View
the treatment of your case ata-glance. No need to look up
treatment codes. Just look for
one of the following signals
displayed at the beginning of
your case:
Warning - Negative treatment
Caution - Possible negative
treatment
Positive treatment
Cited and neutral analysis
Citation information available
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KeyCite on Westlaw
KeyCite is the citation research
service developed by West Group.
KeyCite for cases and patents
covers all cases/patents on
Westlaw, including unpublished
opinions and selected administrative
decisions.
KeyCite for statutes covers United
States Code Annotated (USCA),
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
and statutes from all 50 states.
KeyCite Alert monitors the status
of your case or statute and
automatically sends you updates at
the frequency you specify when
KeyCite information changes.
Shepard’s
KeyCite
Areas of Law
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Lexis-Nexis is known for robust collections of
International and Tax materials.
News databases on Lexis-Nexis can be easier
to search.
For case law, many attorneys seem to prefer
using Westlaw because the case mirrors the
reporter with editorial enhancements: head
notes and synopsis.
Directories and Reference
Assistance
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The Westlaw online directory and the “iden”
database are excellent and easy to use.
Lexis.com offers the “Searchable Directory of
Online Databases,” which is more robust than
their online directory.
Westlaw and Lexis have 800 numbers for help
with selecting databases and running
searches.
Both Westlaw and Lexis offer users
customizable directories.
Other Internet Options
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Pay for Service
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Westlaw
LexisNexis
LoisLaw
Versuslaw
Quicklaw
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Free Internet
Resources or Portals
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Findlaw
LexisONE
The portals are owned by profitmaking parents and offer good
information.
Findlaw.com
Owned by West Group.
50,000 site listings in 30
practice areas. E.g.,
Search Supreme Court
cases since 1893.
Cases without editorial
enhancements that are on
Westlaw. Judicial
opionions directly from the
court.
Uses Google to power the
Law Crawler database.
Customize using the
MYFindLaw feature to
select areas of particular
interest.
LexisONE.com
Must register first at no
cost. Can then jump and
search in Lexis.com. E.g.,
Shepardize a case for
$4.00 with pay-as-you-go.
Legal Internet Guide:
20,000 annotated links
from 32 categories and 36
practice areas.
Free case law: all Supreme Over 6,000 downloadable
Court decisions and federal free legal forms.
and state cases from 1996.
Loislaw
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Suggested by some as a good “companion” service to
the traditional providers.1
Good pricing for larger law firms rather than solo
practitioners: National Collection includes all 50 state
law libraries and 22 federal libraries for $250/month.
State libraries from $100/month.2
Not as easy to use but good coverage* of materials
with large publisher3 behind content.
Does not offer a true citator: Global Cite.
*US Sct.opinions from 1899 to present, US Ct Appeals cases from 1971 to present (11 th Cir from
1981), selected jurisdictions of federal district court cases, selected federal rules, US constitution,
US Code, Public Laws, CFR, FR). State coverage varies by state.
Versuslaw
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Similar in coverage* to Loislaw but quality of
materials not necessarily as good.1
Good source for current US Code and Code of
Federal Regulations:$15/mo for each
separately or $25/mo for both.2
CFRupdate: e-mail alert service for $15/mo.
Good pricing for solo practitioners: flat rate
of $8.95 per.month per attorney in the firm.3
Does not offer a true citator.
*US Sct from 1900, 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th,8th and 10th Circuits from 1930, 9th Circuit
from 1941, 11th Circuit from 1981, DC Circuit from 1950 and Federal Circuit from 1982.
State coverage varies by state.
Quicklaw America
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In addition to US materials, unique offering of
Canadian law and other foreign law
materials.1
Two pricing options good for solo
practitioners:
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flat rate of $70/mo per user
Transactional pricing (e.g., may pay a single
charge of $5 for each search.2
Coverage almost the same as Versuslaw.3
Offers a Citator.4
Computer Assisted Legal
Research Options
May 2, 2002
Jessica R. Hogan
jhogan@law.du.edu
Druet Cameron Klugh
druet.klugh@colorado.edu