1. Tips and Tricks for Legal Research Online

2. Amy Hale Janeke, JD, MLS Reference Librarian 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals Law Library ahjaneke@ca5.uscourts.gov A Program by

3. Why Tips and Tricks? Computers are only one of the tools you need to learn to use. Not everything is online and even if it is, sometimes it is hidden. This is especially true for legal information.

4. What Can I Use a Computer to Do? Find the law Find a case interpreting the law Find some factual information

5. What Is On-line? Some court decisions Court rules Most laws –But not the annotations to the laws (unless you are using a for-pay database) Some topic specific information Some forms

6. Who Can I Trust? When is the information updated? Who does the updating? What are the sources of information used to get the information? Sometimes you can weigh a website’s credibility by looking at who put the information on the web.

7. Who Can I Trust? Look for websites ending in:.gov – government.edu – educational institution Be wary of sites ending in:.com.net.biz

8. When to Use a Computer When you have a specific citation When you need the absolutely latest version of information

9. When Should I NOT Use a Computer? When you don’t have a specific citation When you don’t know what you are looking for When you are looking for info prior to the 80s

10. Examples of Citations Tex. Transp. Code § 547.603- TX code citation 17 USCA 501 - federal code citation 487 U.S. 474 - federal case citation

11. A motor vehicle shall be equipped with a device that is operated or controlled by the operator of the vehicle and that cleans moisture from the windshield. The device shall be maintained in good working condition. § 547.603. Windshield Wipers Required

12. Example You need to find the TX law dealing with the open container law. You go online to the TX Legislature’s web site at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ and start searching… http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/

15. Or you can Google it…

21. Scroll Down

23. Searching by Citation An easier, more efficient way to search is by using a direct citation. In this case, it would be Pen. Code § 49.031.

29. Scroll Down

31. Open Container Example Elapsed time…roughly two minutes. You found the correct information and ended up at the same place as when you used the computer to search, but it took much less time. See why it is best you need to have a direct citation before going to the Web?

32. Law Portals A portal is a web page with links to several areas. One of the best nationwide for legal information is www.findlaw.com

39. Finding Cases On-line Supreme Court cases –State –Federal Appellate Court cases –State –Federal

41. Online Local courthouse only

42. Finding Cases On-line State Trial Level Cases Unpublished Cases You cannot find:

43. Supreme / Appellate Court Records Go back to 1997 for Supreme Court, 1998 for Court of Appeals Searchable by name or docket number

44. You can go directly to the TX Court’s web site

45. Or use the Findlaw.com portal again

46. What is the difference? The TX Court site isn’t search friendly. Findlaw.com allows searching in cases from both supreme and court of appeals.

51. Free Forms Online Where can you get them? Can you get them for all districts?

52. Free Forms Online

66. Now let’s switch to federal materials

67. When you watch a DVD, you will sometimes see this… Copyright Protection…… blah blah blah blah blah blah blah don’t copy this or we’ll hunt you down like a dog. Title 17 USC 501

68. Finding the US Code Online Several places to access it Contains law only, no cases

74. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

78. What if you want to look up a Supreme Court Case? Go to the Supreme Court’s official website: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

84. Finding a 5 th Circuit Case http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/

88. How do I find a law using keywords? The Library of Congress has a searchable database of bills and laws. You can search by date, topic, author, or number. http://thomas.loc.gov/

100. Other Cool Websites www.llrx.com – Law Library Resource Xchangewww.llrx.com www.nolo.com – Nolo Press, a self-help publisher of materials. Many Texas- specific books.www.nolo.com

101. Free Handbook on Finding Legal Info Called Locating the Law, 4 th ed. Online - www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall or print copies are $20.www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall Written by law librarians Copyright free- use and disseminate all you like.

104. Suggested Readings The Complete Internet Handbook for Lawyers by Jerry Lawson or Lawyer’s Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet by Carole A. Levitt and Mark E. Rosch. The Invisible Web: Uncovering Search Information: Sources Search Engines Can’t See by Chris Sherman and Gary Price.

105. Suggested Readings Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (7th ed.), Nolo Press, 2003. Locating the Law Handbook- free- www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/locating.htm

106. Legal Research What’s online and what’s not, Finding cases online, Finding laws online, and Cool legal research databases. Today you learned:

107. Websites Visited www.capitol.state.tx.us/ - Texas lawswww.capitol.state.tx.us/ www.findlaw.com - legal research portalwww.findlaw.com www.courts.state.tx.us/ - Texas courtswww.courts.state.tx.us/ www.texaslawhelp.org/TX/index.cfm – Texas free legal help sitewww.texaslawhelp.org/TX/index.cfm www.gpoaccess.gov/ - official US Code sitewww.gpoaccess.gov/ www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ - Cornell’s legal sitewww.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ www.supremecourtus.gov - Supreme Courtwww.supremecourtus.gov

108. Websites Visited con’t http://thomas.loc.gov/ THOMAS (federal laws/bills)http://thomas.loc.gov/ http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/ - 5 th Circuithttp://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/ http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ - Ben’s guide to the gov’thttp://bensguide.gpo.gov/ www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall - “Locating the Law”www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall

109. Amy Hale Janeke, JD, MLS Reference Librarian 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals Law Library ahjaneke@ca5.uscourts.gov Thank you for your attention!