Member Benefits
| Jurisdiction | Georgia,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 26 No. 6 Pg. 0056 |
| Pages | 0056 |
| Publication year | 2021 |
Fastcase and More
Free online research is available to all Bar members. Learn how to effectively use and navigate Fastcase. In-person sessions are currently not offered, but you may still sign up for a webinar hosted by Fastcase at www.fastcase.com/ webinars.
BY SHEILA BALDWIN
Legal research can be costly and time consuming. Fastcase, one of the most utilized member benefits, is the primary research tool for Bar members. Supplementing your searches with other free or economical sources from educational, public and governmental websites will assist in your efforts to achieve your research goals. In this article, we will cover just a few of the many legal research databases that are available and how to find the best resources to use depending on what type of information you need.
Fastcase is most likely your “go to” for case law, statutes and regulations and is accessible through your member login. The scope of coverage includes:
• Federal cases, statues, regulations and more.
• State courts: all 50 states | 1950 to current (unless otherwise indicated).
• Specialty courts.
• State statutes; administrative regulations, codes and orders; and court rules and instructions.
• State attorney general opinions.
• State constitutions for all 50 states.
Law school library websites offer research support through legal information directories and research assistance. The live chat option has been especially useful during the pandemic.
Law Street Media (www.lawstreetmedia.com) is another free resource offered by Fastcase. Simply subscribe to the publication and choose trending topics on health, agriculture, technology and insights.
Court Listener (www.courtlistener. com) is a website created by the Free Law Project and features millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts. Search Court Listener by case name, topic or citation—the data is all free to access and updated daily. Their Supreme Court Network Visualizations are helpful when analyzing lines of precedent in Supreme Court cases (see fig. 1). This site hosts RECAP, an online archive and free extension for Firefox and Chrome that improves the experience of using PACER.
Justia (www.justia.com) is a free site that contains legal guides, legal research and law practice, as well as U.S. law, case law, codes, statutes and regulations. It's a popular free court document...
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