Member Benefits

• Publication year: 2023
• Pages: 0056

Member Benefits Vol. 28 No. 6 Pg. 56 Georgia Bar Journal June, 2023

Six Slick Fastcase Tips and Tricks

Learn to make the best use of this free legal research tool available to members of the State Bar of Georgia.

BY SHEILA BALDWIN

The State Bar of Georgia has partnered with Fastcase for more than a decade providing our members with free legal research. Our coverage is one of the most fully comprehensive of any state and our membership is the most active of all states. In this article I'll point out some of my favorite tools that are designed to make even a novice researcher look like a pro.

Pro Tips

Pro Tip 1

Using "civil forfeiture" and the terms "contraband" and "excessive" in Georgia Cases and Statutes, a collection of 30 cases and statutes appear in my search results. From this point, I can arrange them by time, relevance, alphabetical order, or by number of times cited and cited within the results. Learn to use the various filters to get the best results.

Pro Tip 2

Look at the left lower side panel of the results and see two more great ways to find key cases. The date range filter lets you choose a custom time period, and the "suggested terms" tool helps you craft a better search query by letting you view and then add or subtract terms that are

frequently used in the list of results. Not only does this save time, but it is like a brainstorming exercise encouraging creativity (see fig. 1).

Pro Tip 3

Have you ever noticed the three filters on the extreme top left of the results screen? Click on the filter labeled TimeLine and get a new perspective on your results in 3D. All cases that appear in your results are viewable in a graph that reveals key data about your results. The bubbles represent different facts about the cases. Larger sized bubbles indicate a greater number of times a case has been cited by other cases. The inner darker blue inside a bubble indicates that it is also cited by cases within your results that are going to be most relevant. Try hovering over a bubble to see an image with the key text of the case and number of times cited. The vertical and horizontal axis indicate time and relevance. You can zoom into a specific segment of the graph to isolate select cases. This feature clarifies your search results in one view (see fig. 2).

Pro Tricks

Pro Trick 1

How would you like to automate your research efforts? This can be done by setting an auto alert after you run your search...