Chapter 1



Chapter 9

Computer-Assisted Legal Research

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

2. Going Online—An Internet Primer

3. Conducting Online Research

4. Locating People and Investigating Companies

5. Some of the Best Legal Resource Sites on the Internet

6. CD-ROMs and DVDs for Legal Research

7. Westlaw and Lexis

Chapter Objectives

After completing this chapter, you will know:

• What the Internet is and how it can be navigated.

• Some strategies for planning and conducting research on the Internet.

• How you can find people and investigate companies using Internet search tools and databases.

• How to find some of the best legal resources available on the Internet.

• How CD-ROMs and legal research services provided by Westlaw and Lexis help legal professionals in computer-assisted legal research (CALR).

Chapter Outline

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Computers and online databases have greatly simplified the tasks of paralegals in all areas of their work.

B. New cases and changes in statutory law are entered almost immediately into certain online databases.

II. GOING ONLINE—AN INTERNET PRIMER

A. Internet Tools—two of the most widely used parts of the Internet are e-mail and the World Wide Web.

1. E-mail—one of the most common uses of the Internet

2. World Wide Web

a. The Web is a system of web pages or “sites.”

b. Home page—main page of a Web site.

3. Uniform Resource Locators—URLs

a. A URL is an Internet address.

b. To a paralegal this is an electronic citation.

4. http—hypertext transfer protocol—what allows computers to communicate with each other

B. Navigating the Internet

1. Browsers

a. How the Internet is accessed.

b. Browsers allow the computer to roam the Web.

c. Browsers make it possible to copy text from a Web site and put it into a word processing document.

2. Guides and Directories—provide a list of Web sites arranged into categories.

3. Search Engines—One of the most important tools for conducting research.

a. Search Engine Variations—Some search engines search only specific categories of resources.

b. Kinds of Searches

i. Keyword—The search engine looks for the exact term entered.

ii. Concept search looks for related words.

c. Search Operators—Boolean logic is a system that uses connecting words to link the key words and makes the search more precise.

d. Choosing a Search Engine

i. Google ()

ii. Yahoo ()

iii. Ask ()

iv. AOL Search ()

v. AlltheWeb ()

III. CONDUCTING ONLINE RESEARCH

A. A Threshold Question: Is the Internet the Right Research Tool for Your Project?

1. Conducting Legal Research on the Internet—Many primary sources of law are available on the Internet. Some of the ones available are:

a. The U.S. Constitution

b. U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

c. Decisions from the U.S. courts of appeals over at least the last two or three years

d. United States Code

e. Code of Federal Regulations

f. Materials focused on specific areas of law, such as intellectual property

g. Some state laws

h. Foreign laws

2. The Limited Scope of Online Legal Sources

a. Scope of legal resources is limited.

b. Material prior to 1990 is usually not available.

3. Conducting Fact-Based Research on the Internet—The Internet is a great resource for information other than the law.

B. Plan Ahead—Analyze the Facts and Identify the Issues

1. Know what you are looking for.

2. Determine which sources are most likely to lead you to the desired results.

C. Online Research Strategies

1. Starting Points

a. You can start with an online directory.

b. A search engine can be used to compile a list of Web sites containing certain key words.

c. Visit the sites to determine which ones are useful.

2. Discovering What Resources Are Available

a. Listservs—list of e-mail addresses of persons interested in a particular topic.

b. Newsgroups—a forum that resembles a community bulletin board. Researchers post questions and wait for responses.

c. Blogs—online journals

3. Browsing the Links

a. Mark sites as favorites or use bookmarks.

b. Use a mirror site to improve availability to the original site.

4. Narrowing Your Focus

a. After finding a helpful Web site, you will probably need to zero in on specific data in that site. Use links within the site to accomplish this.

b. Many sites have internal search engines to aid in searching the site.

D. Evaluating What You Find

1. Consider the reliability of the information found

2. Identifying the type of source

3. Is the source reputable?

E. Updating Your Results—One way to stay current is to check the most recent data by going online.

IV. LOCATING PEOPLE AND INVESTIGATING COMPANIES

A. Finding People

1. Broad Searches—You can run a broad search with a general search engine.

2. Narrow Searches—The knowledge about a person can be used to narrow a search for that person.

a. The person’s place of employment or their profession—for example, professors at a college or employees of certain companies.

b. Business licenses can also be used.

c. Adoptees and birth parents.

d. State’s driving and vehicle registration.

3. Locating Expert Witnesses

4. Fee-Based Searches

B. Investigating Companies

1. Finding Company Names and Addresses

a. Running a search with a telephone number can be used to find a company’s name and address.

b. You can also find a company’s name and address by using a directory that searches by industry and state.

2. Uncovering Detailed Information about Public Companies—Use the company’s Web site to see annual reports, press releases, price lists, and staffing directories.

3. Learning about Privately Held Companies

a. Data on privately held companies is harder to find.

b. Much of the information available is what the company wants to reveal.

V. SOME OF THE BEST LEGAL RESOUCE SITES ON THE INTERNET

A. Basic Resources—Web sites

B. University Sites

1. University Web sites are good points to start because of the updated material and links to other sources.

2. Law-Related Starting Points

a. law.cornell.edu

b. law.indiana.edu

c.

3. Government Resources Listings

C. Government Sites

1. Federal Law Starting Point

a. —links to every branch of the federal government

b. —posts information about all three branches of government

c. —U.S. Department of Justice Web site

2. Federal Legislative Home Pages

a. —House of Representatives

b. —U.S. Senate

3. Business and Economic Information

a. —Web site for the U.S. Department of Commerce

b. —U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site

c. —U.S. Copyright Office Web site

d. —EEOC Web site

e. sbaonline.—U.S. Small Business Administration

4. Information about Public Companies—EDGARD database of the Securities and Exchange Commission ()

5. Environmental Regulations—Environmental Protection Agency ()

D. Sites for Associations and Organizations

1. Associations—The Internet Public Library has a Web link “Associations on the Net” ().

2. Professional Organizations— ()

3. Nonprofit Organizations—()

E. Free Commercial Sites

1. All-Purpose starting points—Yahoo, Google, Internet Public Library

2. Law-related starting points—West Legal Studies, Internet Legal Resource Group, Legal.Online, Lectric Law Library

3. Media directory—

VI. CD-ROMs AND DVDs FOR LEGAL RESEARCH

A. Advantages of Using CD-ROMs

1. Less costly to purchase.

2. Require less storage space.

3. Amount of material that can be stored on a CD-ROM.

4. Can be easily transported.

5. Searching contents is easier and quicker.

B. Disadvantages of Using CD-ROMs—They become outdated.

VII. WESTLAW AND LEXIS

A. Accessing Westlaw or Lexis

1. You must be a subscriber, and access is through the Internet.

2. You must have a password.

B. Conducting a Search—You can use any of the following:

1. Citation

2. Legal topic

3. Case name

4. Party name

5. Publication

C. Checking a Citation

1. Both provide online citators.

a. Auto-Cite—Lexis

b. KeyCite—Westlaw

D. Selecting a Database

1. Select a database you want to search.

2. “Search these databases” can be used in Westlaw.

E. Searching a Database

1. The Terms and Connectors Method—Use numerical and grammatical connectors to specify the relationships of the terms.

2. The Natural Language Method—Type a description of an issue in plain English.

F. Searching within Results—Westlaw’s “Locate in Results” tool allows a scan of documents for terms not in original query.

G. Additional Research Features

1. Customization of display to efficiently access frequently used features

2. Automatic monitoring of status of laws, regulations, cases, and the capacity to alert you to new changes

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