A free online course covering HTML, CSS, and other nifty things. Free Legal Research Guide. Introduction The major legal research databases can be prohibitively expensive for some researchers.
There are, however, a number of online alternatives that are either free or less expensive than Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw. The first part of this guide provides an overview and links to different types of free materials and the second part summarizes the features and costs of less expensive databases. Free Sources of Legal Materials There are several databases which provide access to primary source materials on their own sites, without any charge to the user.
Because the availability of state legal materials varies so widely, we have only included descriptions of the federal materials available for free online. Secondary Sources While most of the free legal material available online is primary law, there are a few sources of secondary materials, and we have identified and described some of the best sites we have found. Case Law There is an abundance of free case law available online. AALL Core Legal Research Competencies. California Code (by code) US & State Law (code) US Fed Case Law. Justia.com Justia, a legal portal, offers free access to a wide range of federal case law resources.
Find Supreme Court decisions (1759 - Present) and Federal Appeals Court decisions since 1950. Justia also provides access and RSS feeds to Federal District Court dockets. Google Scholar Google Scholar provides a US Federal case law database which includes US Supreme Court opinions since 1 US 1 (pre - 1776), Federal Appeals opinions since 1 F 2d 1 (1924+), and many Federal District Court opinions from the Federal Supplement. The Public Library of Law Owned and powered by Fastcase, The Public Library of Law (PLoL) makes available all cases from the U.S. Public Resource.org and Law.gov The non-profit Public.Resource.Org, Inc., run by archivist Carl Malamud, is working via the Law.gov initiative to make all primary law of the United States, including court opinions, available for download in bulk format.
RECAP the Law CourtWeb FastCase The Federal Judiciary The JURIS Database lexisONE On The Docket. William S. Richardson School of Law. Using the Law Library Guide to Call Numbers for United States Law .pdf Understanding the Federal and State Court Systems Federal-State Court DirectoryLocated in the Law Library at KF8700.A19 F42.
Inside the Federal Courts - Federal Judicial CenterOnline tutorial explaining the powers and role of the Federal Courts.Understanding the Federal Courts - By the U.S. GovernmentProvides description of the federal court system and its role in United States government. National Center for State Courts Finding a CaseBy Citation - Finding Case Decisions by Citation .pdfBy Party Name or Topic - Instructions for Using Legal Digests .pdfFinding a Case by Name - University of Illinois, College of Law Library Finding a StatuteBy Citation, Name, or Topic - Finding Federal & State Statutes .pdfBy State - States and Territories: Current Statutory Codes .pdfStatutory Research Tutorial - Georgetown University Law Library.
Law Resources: Digital Librarian. Digital Librarian: a librarian's choice of the best of the Web Digital Librarian is maintained by Margaret Vail Anderson, a librarian in Cortland, New York See Also: Directories - Lawyers | Electronic Texts | Government | New York State Law Resources American Indian Law Indian Law Resource Center - "Legal advocacy for the protection of indigenous peoples’ human rights, cultures, and traditional lands so that Indian tribes and nations may flourish for generations to come.
" Has information on Land Rights and Sovereignty and Self-governance. Associations and Organizations American Arbitration Association American Association for Justice - "AAJ is the world's largest trial bar, providing trial attorneys with information, professional support and a nationwide network that enables them to most effectively and expertly represent clients. " Awards George Polk Awards - Administered by Long Island University.
Bar Associations American Bar Association State and Local Bar Associations Blogs.