1. Fastcase Overview Presenter: Julie Tedjeske, J.D., M.L.S., M.S.I.S.
Electronic Resources and Instructional Services Librarian
Duquesne Center for Legal Information

2. Scope of Coverage Information:

3. Searching from the Homepage in Fastcase 6
Search Bar Defaults to Most Recently Searched Jurisdiction
Advanced Search Option for Cases
Select a Library to Search if You Are Not Looking for Caselaw

4. Fastcase 6: Advanced Search
The Advanced Search Screen Allows for Boolean, Natural Language, and Citation Searching
The Search Tips Provide Information on How to Craft a Boolean Search
You Can Limit the Search Results to One Jurisdiction or a Group of Jurisdictions

5. Fastcase 6 Advanced Search: Search By Citation
Search by Citation is Available on the Advanced Search Screen; Use Commas to Pull Up Multiple Citations

6. Search Results in Fastcase 6
Links To Potentially Relevant Law Review Articles From HeinOnline Are Provided
You Can Modify Your Search Results
You Can Add Documents to a Print Queue
Authority Check Provides Information About How Often a Case is Cited by Other Cases in Your Search Results as Well As How Often a Case is Cited in the Database

7. Toggle From Fastcase 6 to Fastcase7
Toggle to Fastcase 7
(In Beta)

8. Toggle From Fastcase 7 to Fastcase 6
Toggle Back to Fastcase 6

9. Searching from the Homepage in Fastcase 7
The Main Search Bar
Advanced Search Options
Outline View of Resources by Jurisdiction

10. Advanced Search Page in Fastcase 7
Your Search Appears in the Search Bar at the Top of the Screen
First You Type In Your Terms; Then You Can Limit the Scope
This Guide Helps You Craft a Search
Just Like in Fastcase 6, There is Information on How to Craft a Search

11. Fastcase 7 Advanced Search: Limiting the Scope of the Search
After You Have Crafted a Search, You Can Limit the Search by Jurisdiction
You Can Also Limit to Certain Types of Secondary Sources
Graphical View of Jurisdictions

12. Fastcase 7 Advanced Search: Customize Your Search
This Allows the User to Design His or Her Own Relevancy Algorithm
These Are The Factors Used to Determine Relevancy Rankings

13. Search Results in Fastcase 7
Modify Search Results

14. Advanced Features: Forecite in Fastcase 6
Forecite Uses an Algorithm to Find Highly-Cited Cases That May Be Relevant to Your Search But That Do Not Include All of Your Search Terms
Click Here to See Forecite Results

15. Advanced Features: Forecite in Fastcase 7

16. Advanced Features: Interactive Timeline for Search Results
The Inner Circle Shows How Often the Case is Cited in Your Search Results; the Gray Area Shows How Often It is Cited in Fastcase
The Default Sort is by Relevance; You Can Change the Sort to Jurisdiction
Orange is for Forecite Cases; Yellow is For Cases in Your Search Results

17. Advanced Features: Interactive Timeline for Individual Case Results
The Base Case
Cases That Your Case Cites
Cases That Cite to the Base Case

18. Advanced Features: Authority Check in Fastcase 6
Authority Check is at the Top of the Screen
An Example of an Authority Check Report

19. Advanced Features: Authority Check in Fastcase 7
Citing Authorities Are Organized by Jurisdiction
The Bad Law Bot Provides Information on Negative Treatment

20. Limited Citator: Bad Law Bot
Bad Law Bot Red Flag

21. Limited Citator: Bad Law Bot
An Example of an Authority Check Report with a Red Flag

22. Limited Citator: Bad Law Bot
CAVEAT/REMINDER: Fastcase’s Authority Check (featuring the Bad Law Bot) may identify cases that have been reversed or overturned, but it relies on computer algorithms to do so. In other words, the absence of a red flag in Fastcase does not necessarily mean that a case is still good law. You should still use a citator such as Shepard’s or Keycite.

23. Secondary Sources Search in Fastcase 6
Search Results

24. Secondary Sources Search in Fastcase 6 (Outline View)
Outline View of Secondary Sources

25. Secondary Sources: HeinOnline
A PDF Version of an Article From HeinOnline

26. Secondary Sources: Lexblog (1 of 2)
Sample Text From the Blog

27. Secondary Sources: Lexblog (2 of 2)
Original Source
You Can Go To the Original Source

28. Summary
Fastcase contains primary law as well as some secondary sources. The Loislaw Treatises are a notable group of secondary resources that are available in Fastcase.
The current version of Fastcase is Fastcase 6; ACLL users can also use Fastcase 7, which is in beta.
Some advanced features of Fastcase include the following: (1) Forecite; (2) the Interactive Timeline for individual cases and for searches; and (3) the integration with HeinOnline and LexBlog.
Fastcase provides Authority Check, which lists cases that cite to an underlying case, and the Bad Law Bot, which identifies cases that may be reversed. However, Fastcase does not have a robust citator such as KeyCite or Shepard’s.

29. Thank you!