Internet Legal Research for
Professor Mika’s Legal Drafting
Class
Mar. 23, 2012
Free Web v. Lexis/Westlaw
It’s Free!
 May have info on current topics
 Be careful of reliability/currency of web
pages
 Lexis/Westlaw better search
mechanisms
 Large sets of formbooks on
Lexis/Westlaw

Forms

Cleveland Marshall Law Library’s
Research Guide: Forms and Practice
Materials
Forms and Sample Contracts
Who publishes the site? A legal
publisher? bar association?
 Does the site sell forms?
 Who wrote the form?
 Use with caution, tailor to your facts

“Business
Contracts” and
Court Forms Free.
Others cost $.
Gale Legal Forms

Via Cleveland Public Library

Use Cleveland Public Library card no. to
log in
Statutory Forms

American Law Sources On-Line (ALSO)

Ohio Revised Code
Free with OSBA
Membership
Sites for Pro Ses
Franklin County Law Library - frequently
requested forms are prepared by the
library.
 Cleveland Law Library’s FAQs ex. Living
Wills/Durable Power Of Attorney

Attorney Work Product Sites
JDSupra Documents are tied
to attorney profiles
 Scribd
 DocStoc
 LawLink

TRY IT

Look for a commercial lease form on JD
Supra

Find information about the attorney who
submitted the form
Evaluating Web Sites
Credibility: author; possible bias,
accuracy.
 Currency / Updating, Coverage
 Writing Quality
 Ease of use
 Stability

Transactional Documents via SEC
EDGAR
sample SEC filings
 documents attached: management
contracts, executive compensation
plans, articles of incorporation, by-laws,
material contracts, voting trust
agreements See Item 601, Regulation
S-K.

SEC Edgar Full Text Search
Features
Fields for company name, SIC code,
date, form type (but not exhibit type)
 Natural language or Boolean
 Phrase (“”), AND, OR, NOT, truncation
(*, communicat* ), proximity operator
(general NEAR1 motors )
 Past 4 years

Try it

Find an executive compensation plan
which provides for use of an automobile
More sophisticated SEC Filing
databases
Lexis and Westlaw
 Mergentonline – Available via University
Library, Cleveland Public
 SECInfo.com

Practical Law Company
• Free to law students and faculty
• Transactional drafting resources
– Sample documents & clauses
– Checklists
– Toolkits for compliance areas, eg HIPAA
Document Assembly Tools

HotDocs

TheFormTool – Basic Version is FREE!

FillAnyPDF Free for 5 forms
Government Agency Forms

Forms.gov

USA Fed Forms.com (many fillable)

State of Ohio - Agency Forms
Court Forms
Casemaker – Ohio court & agency
forms
 Courts’ web sites


LLRX- Court Rules, Forms and Dockets links to federal & state courts

Forms and Practice Materials Guide
More Ohio Court Forms
• Uniform Ohio Domestic Relations forms
• Uniform Probate Forms
• Forms Translation Project
• Ohio Legal Services – Find Local Court Forms
and Rules
Court Dockets
PACER – Federal Court dockets
 LLRX to find state court dockets


See – Legal research on the WebDockets
Briefs, Motions & Pleadings On Lexis &
Westlaw
• Ohio briefs 1990-, motions & pleadings
1999/2000• Full text searching–type of case & document,
attorney
• At public or county law library
Dockets - Ohio
Ohio – full text of documents on Summit
and Montgomery County & others
 Full text on Ohio Supreme Court docket,
2006 and later

PACER
10 cents a page
 Money savers:

Justia Federal District Court Dockets
 FreeCourtDockets.com
 Recap


Free PACER Training site http://www.pacer.gov/announcements/ge
neral/train.html
Court Dockets

May search a case opinion database
first, find case, then go on docket
Free Case Law

Google Scholar

Ohio Supreme Court

More: Legal Research on the Web –
Case Law
Jureeka
• Firefox/Chrome add-on
• Retrieve by citation toolbar
• Fed, Ohio Official Reports, Ohio Web Cites,
ORC, OAC
• On web documents (html), Jureeka links legal
citations
Legal Drafting Advice
Cleveland Marshall Law Library’s
Research Guide: Forms and Practice
Materials
 The Koncise Drafter blog
