Take a look at the Charlotte Law Library’s Guide to Free Online Family Law Resources. A few resources are North Carolina-specific, but there are lots of others that will be useful to lawyers in other states.
When The Google isn’t good enough and you need Good Value (i.e. not full-service & not expensive) for full-text, all-cases or statutes (or almost all) legal research database searching:
1) Law Library of Congress: How to Locate Free Case Law on the Internet
2) Georgetown Law Library’s Free and Low Cost Legal Research Guide
Lawyers at Adler Vermillion & Skocilich, LLP have made this remarkable copyright resource publicly available – and free.
Copyright Codex (Beta): A Free Treatise for Lawyers and Artists
Many thanks for the tip from Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites blog, where you will find information about the Copyright Codex and much more, including a link to the Trial of Whitey Bulger website.
Lawyers at Adler Vermillion & Skocilich, LLP have made this remarkable copyright resource publicly available – and free. (Thank you!)
Copyright Codex (Beta): A Free Treatise for Lawyers and Artists
Many thanks for the tip from Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites blog, where you will find information about the Copyright Codex and much more, including a link to a Trial of Whitey Bulger website.
Before paying for legal forms online (or from a book), check to make sure they are forms the court will accept and to find out if your county or state already makes the correct forms available free of charge.
It’s not unusual to find “cheap,” “low-cost,” and “free, if …” legal forms online that judges and public law librarians know are available totally free AND are up-to-date, AND are official (that is, they will be accepted by the court where they need to be filed).
It’s also not unusual to hear about legal papers drawn up and filing fees paid, only to have the case dismissed or delayed because the wrong forms were filed or local court instructions weren’t followed.
From U.S. Courts News, 1/31/13: Access to Court Opinions Expands
“A pilot project giving the public free, text-searchable, online-access to court opinions now is available to all federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts….” [Link to full news release.]
Access will be through FDsys.
Quick and Dirty Research Strategy:
1) Make an outline of your Quick and Dirty Legal Research strategy and take good notes as you proceed, especially keeping track of citations, effective keywords, and other results you find along the way.
2) Search Google or other search engine: You can find official and unofficial statutes, appellate court briefs, law review articles, case law, subject-specialist lawyer and law professor blogs, and much more.
CALI and the Legal Information Institute join forces to provide free ebooks of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence.
“The 2013 Editions (effective December 1, 2012) as well as the 2012 and 2011 editions can be found on the eLangdell Bookstore.
Guidelines for Open Data Policies (and more from the Sunlight Foundation and Open Congress)
Everyone likes open data, government transparency, consumer protections, and life online, but do you ever think about what it costs to make these happen?
I was visiting the ever-enlightening FGI blog (Free Government Information) and came across a blog post about this treasure: State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States
You can link directly to the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States and if you do, make sure to click on the Oregon link, which was set up by the very talented Oregon librarian, Liz Paulus.
Oregon Legal Research Blog