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 MaterialsForms 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 LibraryCleveland Public Library Use Cleveland Public Library card no. to log in

Statutory Forms American Law Sources On-Line (ALSO) American Law Sources On-Line Ohio Revised Code

Free with OSBA Membership

Sites for Pro Ses Franklin County Law Library - frequently requested forms are prepared by the library. Franklin County Law Library Cleveland Law Library’s FAQs ex. Living Wills/Durable Power Of Attorney Cleveland Law Library’s FAQsLiving Wills/Durable Power Of Attorney

Attorney Work Product Sites JDSupra - Documents are tied to attorney profiles JDSupra 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 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.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 Mergentonline 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! TheFormTool FillAnyPDF Free for 5 forms FillAnyPDF

Government Agency Forms Forms.gov USA Fed Forms.com (many fillable) USA Fed Forms.com State of Ohio - Agency Forms

Court Forms Casemaker – Ohio court & agency forms Casemaker Courts’ web sites LLRX- Court Rules, Forms and Dockets - links to federal & state courts LLRX- Court Rules, Forms and Dockets 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 Ohio Legal Services – Find Local Court Forms and Rules

Court Dockets PACER – Federal Court dockets PACER LLRX to find state court dockets LLRX See – Legal research on the Web- DocketsLegal research on the Web- Dockets

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 & othersSummitMontgomeryothers Full text on Ohio Supreme Court docket, 2006 and laterOhio 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 - 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 LawLegal 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 MaterialsForms and Practice Materials The Koncise Drafter blog The Koncise Drafter