Internet Legal Research

1. Internet Legal Research

2. Web 2.0
 The Web 2.0 mainly includes works of
collaboration and social networking.
 RSS feeds, Wikis, Blogs, Microblogging,
Podcasts, Tags, Folksonomies, Social Networks,
Cloud Computing and Bookmarking etc. are also
part of Web 2.0.
 Web 1.0 may include e-mail/webmail/gmail;
Intranets and Extranets; Listservs; Search
engines etc.
 It is good to be a member of one or two job
related listservs that helps when you are in
need. You can post a question or read the
information exchanged among others.

4. Listservs
 Listservs are useful resources to share
and seek information when one needs.
 Find and register with one or two work
related (topics) listservs to keep up with
the recent trends in your area of interest.
 University of Chicago (
http://www2.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/refugee
) and Washlaw (
http://www.washlaw.edu/listservs/) lists
are good resources to find an interesting
listserv.

7. Click to see the
communities

8. Blawgs
 Legal blogs are known as blawgs are web sites
belonging to an individual consisting of diaries,
journals, opinions, reviews, clippings etc. posted
typically daily for others to read. Blawgs contain
very useful information.
 www.blogger.com is a free blog hosting site.
 There are several legal blawgs and blog indexes.
 To create your own blog go to Blogger (
www.blogger.com) and follow the instructions.

14. www.justia.com

15. Administrative Law
 G.P.O.
 http://www.gpoaccess.gpo.gov
 Firstgov
 http://www.firstgov.gov or usa.gov
 Regulations
 http://www.regulations.gov
 The CRE
 http://www.thecre.com

17. Wiki
 Wiki is a collaborative website comprised of the
collective work of many authors. Similar to blog in
structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit,
delete, or modify content that has been placed on the
website using a browser interface, including the work
of previous authors.
 Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) is one of the examples
of wiki. Jurispedia (www.jurispedia.org), LawBrian (
www.lawbrain.com) are examples for the legal
information.
 Pbwiki (www.pbwiki.com) wikihost (www.wikihost.org)
are few of several free hosting sites for wikis.

23. RSS Feeds
 RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich
Site Summary) feeds allows to see when
sites from all over the Internet have
added new content.
 Feeds are written in XML language. You
need to have a reader to read the feeds.
There are several free readers including
Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)
 Currently, legal news, court cases, and
statutes are available as RSS feeds.

25. Case Law
 Official Websites
 www.supremecourtus.gov etc.
 U.S. Courts
 http://www.uscourts.gov
 Pacer; Courtlink etc.

26. Statutory Law www.law.cornell.
edu
 Thomas
 http://thomas.loc.gov (no www)
 House
 http://www.house.gov
 Gallerywatch
 http://www.gallerywatch.com
 Statenet
 http://www.statenet.com

28. Podcasts
 Podcasting is a way to receive audio files
over the Internet. Many content providers
offer podcast feeds at no cost. You can
listen podcasts on your computer or other
mobile devices.
 Several legal talk radio stations and
courts make cases and other legal
information available as podcasts.
 Justia provides a directory of legal
podcasts (http://blawgsfm.justia.com)

29. Periodical Articles
 Infotrieve
 http://www.infotrieve.com
 Publist
 http://www.publist.com
 Ingenta
 http://www.ingenta.com
 FindArticles
 http://www.findarticles.com

31. Click on case to hear oral arguments

32. www.lawwebtv.com

35. Social/Legal Networks
 Sharing views, photos, etc. among people
through free websites (registration required)
offered by online services.
 Lawfirms and lawyers are becoming members of
Popular social networking sites such as
Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin etc.
 There are several social networks exclusively for
legal community are in the offing (beta mode.)

36. Social/Legal Networks -
Websites
 Facebook – www.facebook.com
 Myspace –
www.myspace.com/legallyblondepa
 Linkedin – www.linkedin.com
 Lawlink – www.lawlink.com
 Martindale –
www.martindale.com/connected
 Onramp – www.legalonramp.com

39. What is Web 2 & WEB 3
 Networks & Collaboration
 Blogs
 Wiki
 RSS Feeds
 Podcast (recruitment & research
tool)

40. Acronyms
 What is EDD? (electronic data
discovery)
 What is ESI? (electronically stored
info), ESF (electronically stored
files)
 What is TIFF & PDF?

41. Social Networking
 Facebook, Myspace
 Linkedin
 Martindale/connected
 Lawlink

42. Microblogging
 Microblogging referes to the ability to add
materials such as text, photos, etc. to
one’s blog when away from a computer.
 The postings are bare-bones (140 words),
on-the-go versions of online journals in
which people share their lives and
dreams.
 Twitter – www.twitter.com, Jaiku –
www.jaiku.com are few examples.
 TweetLaw (www.tweetlaw.com) is a
twitter exclusively for legal profession.

46. Comprehensive Legal
Websites
 Findlaw – www.findlaw.com
 Justia – www.justia.com
 Heiros Gamos – www.hg.org
 Cornell – www.law.cornell.edu
 Megalaw – www.megalaw.com
 LawGuru – www.lawguru.com
 Washlaw – www.washlaw.edu
 Library of Congress – www.loc.gov/law

58. Caselaw - Websites
 U.S.Courts – www.uscourts.gov
 U.S.Supreme Court –
www.supremecourt.gov
 Findacase – www.findacase.com
 Google Scholar –
www.scholar.google.com
 PLOL – www.plol.org

59. Provides cited by other
Cases and related
From Scholar select “legal opinions and documents
Journals” and enter your query

71. Statutory Law - Websites
 Thomas – http://thomas.loc.gov
 Gallerywatch –
www.gallerywatch.com
 Statenet – www.statenet.com
 GPO – www.fdsys.gov
 House of Representatives –
www.house.gov

72. Other Popular (new) Search
Engines
 Cha-Cha (www.chacha.com) for
mobile
 Powerset (www.powerset.com)
(Natural Language search)
 Zuula (www.zuula.com)

73. Lawyer Directories
 Martindale (www.martindale.com
 Avvo (www.avvo.com)

79. Adm.Law - Websites
 GPO – www.fdsys.gov
 Federal Register –
www.archives.gov/federal-register
 Regulations – www.regulations.gov
 US Gov – www.usa.gov
 The CRE – www.thecre.com
 Statenet – www.statenet.com

87. Secondary Materials
 Dictionaries
 Encyclopedias
 Law Review Articles
 Legal News
 Directories
 Legal Forms
 Useful Sites

88. Pennsylvania Specific
 Case Law
 Supreme, Superior and
Commonwealth Courts
 http://www.courts.state.pa.us
 http://www.aopc.org

89. Legal News/Research
Articles
 Llrx
 http://www.llrx.com
 Jurist
 http://www.jurist.law.pitt.edu
 Courttv
 http://www.courttv.com
 American Lawyer Media
 www.law.com

92. Administrative Law
 Pacode
 http://www.pacode.com
 Pabulletin
 http://www.pabulletin.com

93. Comprehensive Sites
 Pennsylvania Legal Research Web Sites
 http://www.pennsylvanialegalresearch.com
 Law.com/pa
 http://www.law.com/pa
 PaLawnet
 http://www.palawnet.com
 PaLawLibrary
 www.palawlibrary.com

94. Free Info. From Fee-Based
Sites
 Lexisone
 http://www.lexisone.com
 Incite (From http://www.pabar.org)
 Loislaw
 http://www.loislaw.com
 Versuslaw
 http://www.versuslaw.com

99. Legal Forms
 There are sites which offer free legal forms.
 There are fee-based sites which offer legal forms
for every type and jurisdiction.
 Docstoc (www.docstoc.com) and Your Free Legal
Forms (www.yourfreelegalforms.com) sites
provide several legal forms free of cost that are
uploaded by people to share with others.
 State and federal government sites also provide
court and agency forms.

100. Public Records
 Knowx
 http://www.knowx.com
 ChoicePoint
 http://www.choicepointonline.com
 Accurint
 http://www.accurint.com

101. People Finder
www.docstoc.com
 555-1212
 http://www.555-1212.com
 Switchboard
 http://www.switchboard.com
 Bigfoot
 http://www.bigfoot.com
 Worldpages
 http://www.worldpages.com
 Argali (meta engine)
 http://www.argali.com

105. Alternatives To
LexisNexis/Westlaw
 LexisNexis and Westlaw offers several
package deals and subscription rates
(federal/state/flat/transactional etc.)
 There are several fee-based low cost
online services available for legal research
and practice. Loislaw (www.loislaw.com),
Versuslaw (www.versuslaw.com),
Fastcase (www.fastcase.com) are few
popular ones.

111. Lawyer Directories
 To find a lawyer several free online lawyer
directories are available.
 Sites such as Martindale (www.martindale.com)
and Avvo (www.avvo.com) provide ratings of
lawyers and law firms.
 Lawyerfinder (www.lawyerfinder.com) and
Lawyers (www.lawyers.com) of LexisNexis are
other popular sites.
 Majority of the sites allow you to find lawyers by
name, city, and practice area (subject speciality)
etc.

115. More Useful Sites
 There are several sites providing
citation information, free legal
advice, free legal forms, free public
domain documents such as cases,
statutes, administrative regulations
etc.

127. Pennsylvania Legal
Websites
 State Government –
www.state.pa.us
 Appellate Courts – www.aopc.org
 General Assembly –
www.legis.state.pa.us
 Legislative Reference Bureau –
www.palrb.us

128. Pa.Legal Websites - 2
 Pennsylvania Code – www.pacode.com
 Pennsylvania Bulletin –
www.pabulletin.com
 Palawlibrary – www.palawlibrary.com
 Rao’s Pennsylvania Site –
www.pennsylvanialegalresearch.com
 MyPLS – www.mypls.com

129. Pa.Legal Websites - 3
 Allegheny County Bar Association –
www.acba.org
 Pennsylvania Bar Association –
www.pabar.org
 Pennsylvania Bar Institute – www.pbi.org
 Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners –
www.pabarexam.org
 Pennsylvania CLE – www.pacle.org

130. Pa.Legal Websites - 4
 Pa.Legal Intelligencer –
www.law.com/pa
 Pa.Law Weekly –
www.palawweekly.com
 Philadelphia Bar Association –
www.philabar.org

150. LexisNexis –Legal Practice
Software
 PCLaw – Billing & Accounting
 Juris – Billing & Accounting
 CaseMap – Case Management
 Martindale – Lawyer Directory
 Accurint – Background Checks
 InterAction – CRM
 Total Litigator – Collaboration Tool
 Time Matters – Calendar Application
 Net Documents – Document Management
 Law Prediscovery – EDD
 Concordance – EDD
 LexisNexis Total Search – Knowledge Management
 Lexis Document Profiling – Risk Management
 CourtLink – Docket Search Database of Filings

151. Thomson West – Legal
Practice Software
 LiveNote – Real Time Court Reporting
 Hubbard One – Prospective Client Connection
 PeopleMap – Public Records, Legal Filings
 Elite – Case Management
 ProLaw – Case Management
 West KM – Knowledge Management
 Case Notebook – Case Management
 Westlaw Litigator – Complete Litigation
 CourtExpress – Docket Search Database of
Filings