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Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future A CLE Program during Cornell Law Alumni Reunion Claire M. Germain Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law cmg13@cornell.edu Friday, June 9th, 2000
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Context of Legal Research Today Inflation of Information Inflation of Legal Issues Difficulty of Distinguishing Domestic from Foreign and International in a Global Setting Pressures on Law Firms
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Advice for Successful Internet Research A Thoughtful Approach to Legal Research Concrete Examples How to Become Empowered Principles of Efficient Research
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You are representing a bank in South Carolina that learns it now has to provide information on account holders who are delinquent in paying their child support. You know that there is a recent federal law that mandates each state must come up with a procedure by which they will help identify these parents. Sample Search Research Strategy?
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Evaluation of a Web Source Web SourceWeb Source Characteristics of Superior Information Sources –What is the source? –Is this source reliable? –Is it up-to-date? –Is this the official, final version of a text? Can you cite this to a court? –What is the cost? Time is money!
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Sample Search Sample Search
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Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes Cornell Law Library ‑ Print: The official code is the United States Code (U.S.C., KF 62.A2), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor. It does not have case annotations ‑‑ e.g., references to cases interpreting a statute.
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Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) Cornell Law Library ‑ Print (cont.): There are two annotated, commercially published, U.S. Codes: –United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A., KF 62 1927.W51), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor; and –United States Code Service (U.S.C.S., KF 62 1972.L42), located in alcove 7 ‑ 8 of the Reading Room and on the first floor.
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Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) On the Internet: The (unannotated) U.S. Code is available at Cornell's Legal Information Institute (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/) andCornell's Legal Information Institute The House of Representatives website (http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm)The House of Representatives
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Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) On LEXIS and WESTLAW:LEXISWESTLAW On LEXIS, the U.S.C.S. is available. –In classic LEXIS, choose the genfed library, uscs file. –On the web (http://www.lexis.com/research), go to the source directory, select "Federal Legal ‑ U.S.", then "United States Codes Service (USCS) Materials." On WESTLAW, the U.S.C.A. is available in the USCA database.
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Sample Search
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LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet One-stop Shopping
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LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet Sophisticated Databases Fully-indexed Content Powerful Search Engines Validating Your Search: –Shepard’s –Keycite Reliability
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Low Cost Services: Loislaw, Versuslaw, etc. Alternative for solo practitioners or small law firms Full-text cases and statutes for all 50 states Not equivalent to LEXIS-NEXIS or WESTLAW No citator service
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Free Internet Sources Lots of useful information for the practice of law Federal and state governmental resources Good place for current information, news, facts, statistics, people, and events Worldwide coverage
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International and Foreign Law on the ’Net Understanding a foreign legal system Comparative law methodology –How to read a case in civil law –faux amis The perils of translation
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Cornell Law Library International Resources Foreign and International Law Guide Country Guides Mirror Sites International Court of Justice International Labor Organization
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Cornell Law Library International Resources
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Legal Research Principles Considerations when making choices Evaluate –not only the end product, but –the way in which information is retrieved, and –the context in which the research is performed
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Free-text Searching versus Classified Arrangements Free-text works best for factual research, but not always with best results West’s Digest and Synopsis advantage LEXIS’ Core Concepts
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Information versus Research Access to information is different from use in your practice as a reliable source No organized control of information How to know what you are missing
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Favorite Web Sites Legal Portals
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Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library
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Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu
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Findlaw Findlaw Findlaw www.findlaw.com
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Law.com Law.com Law.com www.law.com
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LLRX.com LLRX.com www.llrx.com LLRX.com
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Favorite Web Sites General-- for everyday use, facts, figures, background information, etc.
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Library Spot Library Spot www.libraryspot.com Library Spot
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Refdesk.com Refdesk.com www.refdesk.com Refdesk.com
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Favorite Search Engines
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Lawcrawler Lawcrawler www.lawcrawler.com Lawcrawler
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Google Google www.google.com Google
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The Future Much more governmental and commercial information to come New issues with digital information How to keep track of amended, repealed provisions How to ensure long-term access
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Conclusion Have Fun and Come to our “Hands-On” Session Tomorrow!
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