GSB Vol. 17, NO. 7, Pg. 70. Member Benefits.

• Author: by Sheila Baldwin

Georgia Bar Journal

Volume 17.

GSB Vol. 17, NO. 7, Pg. 70.

Member Benefits

GSB JournalVol. 17, NO. 7June 2012Member BenefitsExploring Fastcaseby Sheila BaldwinWhile it's true that most attorneys use Fastcase for basic case law research, the other Fastcase libraries or resource areas hold useful information. Within the Georgia database, one can search the following areas: Statues, Regulations, Constitutions, Court Rules, Attorney General Opinions, Law Reviews and Journals. This article will discuss the content contained within each library as well as the search methods to find the documents you are seeking.

All document types are listed on the Search dropdown menu (see fig. 1) or under the column "Start a New Search."

For example, click on statutes and select Georgia from the list of jurisdictions (see fig. 2). At the top of this page choose a search type; Keyword (Boolean), Natural Language or Citation Lookup and then enter either keywords, citations or both. Searching for the requirements for a modification of child support you might choose Boolean (keyword) search and the terms (modify and support) not custody to get 50 results, most being found in Tide 19, the code that deals with domestic relations. To focus within Tide 19 add "19" in the query string which narrows the results to 24 cases. To search the statutes from a full index of the Georgia Code by Title, choose die "browse" option to the left of "outline view" and open the Georgia Code using the "+" sign (see fig. 3). Scroll down to open Tide 19 Domestic Relations, scrolling again to open Chapter 11 Child Support (Article 1 to 3.) Rather than continuing to open in the expanding mode you have the option to click on a heading of a section which will open a list to the right of the screen in document view. In this view you have access to document tools such as printing, emailing and saving to favorites. Open Article 3, Support Proceedings and then Part 6 to examine Support Orders where you will see several sections that will be on point (see fig. 4).

All documents other than case law can be searched two ways as described in the previous paragraph for statutes; by word search or browse/oudine view.

To find the content contained in any of the Fastcase libraries...