LEGAL RESEARCH: TOP TIPS THAT WILL TURBOCHARGE YOUR SKILLS

Transcription

1 LEGAL RESEARCH: TOP TIPS THAT WILL TURBOCHARGE YOUR SKILLS Presented by the American Bar Association Law Practice Division, Division for Public Services, Young Lawyers Division and Center for Professional Development

2 American Bar Association Center for Professional Development 321 North Clark Street, Suite 1900 Chicago, IL Submit a Question Visit to submit a question on the content of this course to program faculty. We ll route your question to a faculty member or qualified commentator in 2 business days. The materials contained herein represent the opinions of the authors and editors and should not be construed to be the action of the American Bar Association Law Practice Division, Division for Public Services, Young Lawyers Division or Center for Professional Development unless adopted pursuant to the bylaws of the Association. Nothing contained in this book is to be considered as the rendering of legal advice for specific cases, and readers are responsible for obtaining such advice from their own legal counsel. This book and any forms and agreements herein are intended for educational and informational purposes only American Bar Association. All rights reserved. This publication accompanies the audio program entitled Legal Research: Top Tips That Will Turbocharge Your Skills broadcast on May 25, 2016 (event code: CE1606LPI).

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Presentation Slides 2. The Unofficial User Guide to New Casemaker Features Carole A. Levitt and Mark E. Rosch

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5 Legal Research: Top Tips That Will Turbocharge Your Skills Wednesday, May 25, :00 PM Eastern Sponsored by the ABA Law Practice Division, Division for Public Services, Young Lawyers Division and the ABA Center for Professional Development Faculty Carole Levitt, JD, MLS Internet for Lawyers Judy Davis, JD, MLIS USC Gould School of Law

6 ABA LEGAL TECHNOLOGY RESOURCE CENTER FULL-TEXT ONLINE LAW REVIEW/JOURNAL SEARCH RESULTS ( C ABA Legal Technology Resource Center provides a Free Full-Text Online Law Review/Journal Search "child custody" AROUND(10) kidnap "hague convention" "domestic violence" ABA LEGAL TECHNOLOGY RESOURCE CENTER FULL-TEXT ONLINE LAW REVIEW/JOURNAL SEARCH RESULTS

7 C ABA Legal Technology Resource Center provides a Free Full-Text Online Law Review/Journal Search THE LAW REVIEW COMMONS: FULL-TEXT ONLINE LAW REVIEW/JOURNAL ADVANCED SEARCH MENU linkon.in/lawcommons C Law Review Commons FIELD SEARCH KEYWORDS

8 C Justia PORTAL SEARCH JUSTIA.COM PRACTICE AREA NEWS- LETTERS LINKS TO CASES/CODES JUSTIA BLAWGSEARCH C Justia BlawgSearch ( FAMILY LAW

9 C Justia BlawgSearch A CHILD IS MISSING C Justia BlawgSearch

10 C Justia BlawgSearch KEYWORD SEARCH C Justia Twitterers JUSTIA LEGALBIRDS ( "HAGUE CONVENTION"

11 JUSTIA LEGALBIRDS C Justia Twitterers-55 ( Tweets match "HAGUE CONVENTION" No More Thomas! J The Former Retiring Thomas July 5th Website

12 Congress.gov Congress.gov

13 Congress.gov - Search Results Congress.gov Search Results - Explanations

14 Congress.gov Search Results - Filters Congress.gov Document Page - LAW J Congress.gov Law Page

15 Congress.gov Alerts & Saved Searches J Congress.gov alerts Congress.gov Alerts & Saved Searches With a Congress.gov account, you can receive alerts about: Bills Specific Members of Congress The Congressional Record You can also save your searches.

16 FDsys Federal Digital System replaced GPO ACCESS Maintained by U.S. Government Publishing Office Free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government FDsys Home Page

17 FDsys Help FDsys ADVANCED SEARCH

18 FDsys SEARCH RESULTS LIST FDsys Results: Congressional Record Pages (use CTRL+F)

19 USA.gov USA.gov Bing Search Tips (Search for Bing help advanced search options )

20 USA.gov Sample Keyword Search ( USA.gov Search Results

21 Cornell s Legal Information Institute LII LII - Sample Search Results

22 LII U.S. Code Section * J LII U.S. Code Section LII Related Regulations & Wex J LII Code of Federal Regulations

23 Free Legal Research Databases Casemaker (Web Version and App) Fastcase (Web Version and App) Google Scholar FASTCASE: NEW VERSION 7 HOMEPAGE/SEARCH FC7 SIDEWALK W/10 ("SNOW-COVERED" OR SNOW*) AND (FALL* OR FELL) HELP ADVANCED SEARCH ALERTS SEARCH HISTORY PRINT QUEUE

24 SEARCH FASTCASE: SEARCH RESULTS WITHIN FASTCASE 7: SEARCH RESULTS RESULTS (NOTE $) RESULTS BY DOCUMENT TYPE RESULTS BY COURT LEVEL/JURISDICTION TAG CLOUD TIMELINE AND FORECITE FASTCASE 7: ADVANCED SEARCH C FASTCASE: ADVANCED SEARCH-ALL CASE LAW SIDEWALK W/10 ("SNOW-COVERED" OR SNOW*) AND (FALL* OR FELL) ALL CASE LAW HELP REMOVE ALL SEARCH ALL CASE LAW HISTORY DATE RANGE JURISDICTION CHOOSE ALL, ONE, OR MORE SEARCH TIPS SORT RESULTS BY

25 FASTCASE 7: FILTER ADVANCED SEARCH RESULTS BY JURISDICTION/SUGGESTED RESULTS FASTCASE: FILTER ADVANCED SEARCH RESULTS BY JURISDICTION TX(9) SUGGESTED RESULTS: FORECITE & HEIN ONLINE APPLY FILTERS FASTCASE 7: NINE TEXAS CASES & AUTHORITY CHECK NINE TEXAS CASES & AUTHORITY CHECK AUTHORITY CHECK 9 TEXAS CASES RELEVANCY RESULTS: 1 DATABASE: 6

26 FASTCASE 7: FULL-TEXT CASE READ FULL-TEXT OF CASE WHITE FLAG PARAGRAPH DOCS TERM PRINT/FAVE FASTCASE 7: SEARCH RESULTS: RED FLAG FASTCASE SEARCH RESULTS AUTHORITY CHECK/RED FLAG SEARCH: PEOPLE WHO CARE RED FLAG

27 FASTCASE 7: FULL-TEXT CASE / RED FLAG AUTHORITY CHECK CLICK RED FLAG FASTCASE 7: AUTHORITY CHECK REPORT & BAD LAW BOT BAD LAW BOT ONE BAD LAW BOT CASE SCROLL DOWN Assisted Living Associates 996 F.Supp. 409 (D.N.J., 1998) Negative treatment indicated in a citation in this case

28 FASTCASE 7: AUTHORITY CHECK TIMELINE AUTHORITY CHECK TIMELINE CITING CASES CITED CASES FASTCASE APP FREE TO EVERYONE CASELAW SEARCH OR BROWSE STATUTES

29 FASTCASE APP RECENT SAVED NEW SEARCH SETTINGS FASTCASE APP C FC APPS SETTINGS

30 FASTCASE APP: JUDGE NAME AND KEYWORDS SEARCH C FC APP SEARCH CASELAW MORRIS (FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE) TEXAS FASTCASE APP RESULTS LIST : JUDGE NAME AND KEYWORDS SEARCH RESULTS TIENDA V. STATE (TEX. APP., 2010) MORRIS (FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE)

31 FASTCASE APP FULL-TEXT CASE: TIENDA V. STATE (TEX. APP., 2010) TIENDA V. STATE (TEX. APP., 2010) MORRIS (FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE) FASTCASE APP FULL-TEXT CASE: TIENDA V. STATE (TEX. APP., 2010) AUTHORITY CHECK 0/0 MORRIS (FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE) DO NOT PUBLISH

32 C FC APP SEARCH CASELAW USING PARTY NAME AS KEYWORD FASTCASE APP: SEARCH PARTY NAME AS KEYWORDS TO CREATE CITATOR TIENDA RONNIE TEXAS FASTCASE APP RESULTS FASTCASE LIST: STATUTES PARTY NAME AS KEYWORD SEARCH FINDS A 2012 TIENDA CASE TIENDA V. STATE, 358 S.W. 3D 633 (TEX. CRIM. APP., 2012) TIENDA RONNIE

33 FASTCASE APP: PARTY NAME AS KEYWORD SEARCH RESULTS 2012 TIENDA CASE TIENDA V. STATE, 358 S.W. 3D 633 (TEX. CRIM. APP., 2012) C FC APP SEARCH RESULTS FOR CASELAW TIENDA RONNIE FIND FASTCASE APP: 2012 TIENDA CASE USE FIND FEATURE TIENDA RONNIE FIND 2010

34 FASTCASE APP: 2012 TIENDA CASE FIND RESULTS TIENDA V. STATE, 358 S.W. 3D 633 (TEX. CRIM. APP., 2012) AFFIRMS 2010 CASE SAVE TIENDA RONNIE CASEMAKER: VIA VARIOUS STATE/LOCAL BAR ASSNS/LIBRARIES C Casemaker-updated MAY 1, 2016;

35 CASEMAKER HOMEPAGE SEARCH C BEGIN A SEARCH. CHANGE JURISDICTIONS ON AN AD HOC BASIS RESULTS LIST C All results lists are divided into 2 columns OVERVIEW CASES SAVE SEARCH RED THUMBS DOWN GREEN THUMBS UP

36 time graph CASEMAKER: CHANGE JURISDICTIONS (AD HOC) C CAN SELECT MOST ANY COMBO OF JURIS

37 TOOLS (UNIQUE TO CASEMAKER) C CASEMAKER HOME TOOLS PAGE-Tools CASEMAKER ADVANCED SEARCH (CASE LAW ONLY)

38 MN STATUTES: COMBINED SEARCH KEYWORD: RECKLESS* ARSON COMBINED SEARCH CHAPTER: 604 MN STATUTES: FULL-TEXT OF MN STATUTES-COMBINED SEARCH results & ANNOTATOR COMBINED ANNOTATOR SEARCH SEARCH TERM HYPERLINK RECKLESS ARSON

39 MN STATUTES: ANNOTATOR MN STATUTES-COMBINED SEARCH ANNOTATOR results & ANNOTATOR COMBINED (20) SEARCH READ CASE ANNOTATIONS CASEMAKER: ADD NOTES C ADD NOTE ADD / SHOW / HIDE NOTES

40 CASEMAKER APP CLICK DOWN- ARROW TYPE SEARCH FEDERAL ONE STATE CASEMAKER APP: FIELD SEARCHING SELECT A FIELD HERE

41 CASEMAKER APP OR CHOOSE ONE BOOK TYPE SEARCH HERE TO SEARCH ALL GOOGLE SCHOLAR ENTER SEARCH HERE CHOOSE ARTICLES OR CASE LAW

42 GOOGLE SCHOLAR Searching Case Law GOOGLE SCHOLAR Selecting Courts

43 GOOGLE SCHOLAR Searching After Selecting Courts GOOGLE SCHOLAR Advanced Search

44 GOOGLE SCHOLAR - Advanced Search Screen GOOGLE SCHOLAR Search Results

45 GOOGLE SCHOLAR - Alerts GOOGLE.COM Alerts and Settings (google.com/alerts)

46 GOOGLE SCHOLAR Viewing a Case GOOGLE SCHOLAR How Cited

47 PACER PACER Searching in Case Locator C PACER CASE LOCATOR SEARCH ALL FED CTS TOGETHER. ENTER DADON, DAVID- CAN ADD IN CASE FILED DATES. FOR BANK COURT SEARCH: CAN SEARCH BY FULL SSN OR PARTIAL SSN W/ LAST NAME. SEARCH: DADON, DAVID

48 CLICK ON CASE NUMBER C PACER CASE LOCATOR LIST OF PARTY CAN RE-SORT NAMES--14 HITS-3 BANK (ONLY 1 IS OUR DAVID DADON) 10 FED DIST CT CIC CASES AND 1 APP CASE. RESULTS DISPLAYED BY PARTY NAME. CAN RE-SORT DISPLAY BY DISPLAY DATE CLOSED/FILED, COURT, NOS. CHOOSE 1994 BANK BY CLICKING ON CASE NUMBER. PACER C 80 CENTS TO VIEW/PRINT DOCKET SHEET (2/22/10). IF NUMBER TO L OF DESCRIP IS UNDERLINED (WHICH IT IS) CAN CLICK ON NUMBER TO VIEW IMAGE OF DOC. CHOOSE 1-COMPLAINT (2009 CASE). IF NUMBER IS UNDERLINED, CAN DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT

49 C COMPLAINT: Not a searchable pdf. SEC FRAUD, BREACH OF K, COMMON LAW FRAUD, CONVERSION, AIDING & ABETTING. C ALLEGES PL SMART CORP GAVE DADON SHARES IN THEIR CO. IN EXCHANGE FOR DADON AGREEING TO BE CHAIRMAN OF BD AND CAUSE HIS BIZ ASSOC TO USE SMART CORP. ALLEGED D FAILED TO PERFORM/REFUSED TO RETURN SHARES. ALLEGE 20 LAWSUITS WERE FILED V. DADON BY OTHER DEFRAUDED COS. DADON FRAUDULENTLY AND DECEITFULLY OBTAINED THE CONVERTED SHARES

50 C NOTICE ADDRESS FOR DADON CAN TRY USING A RECENT COMPLAINT TO LOCATE SOMEONE THIS IS FROM 5/11/05 ADDRESS TO SERVE DAVID DADON: WILSHIRE STE. 501 RECAP ARCHIVE ADVANCED SEARCH

51 RECAP ARCHIVE ADVANCED SEARCH C RECAP ARCHIVE ADVANCED SEARCH. BUY FROM PACER OR DOWNLOAD FREE. SET UP ALERTS BUY FROM PACER ALERTS DOWNLOAD (FREE) Questions? All attendees can submit questions via the chat feature on the webinar interface

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53 The Unofficial User Guide to New Casemaker Features By Carole A. Levitt, Esq. and Mark E. Rosch Principals of Internet For Lawyers, Inc. Internet For Lawyers, Inc This handout supplements the presentation and the Casemaker chapter in Internet Legal Research on a Budget by Carole A. Levitt and Judy K. Davis. The folks at Casemaker have been extremely busy adding new features and materials to their database, and extending date coverage further back in time, all of which we will explain in this white paper. With so many new additions, the online User Guide is now out of date. This is our attempt to explain the new additions. We have added screen shots to illustrate many of the features. The Same Basic Core Materials Are Now Provided For All States Each state s database now offers the minimum of Case Law, Statutes, Administrative Code, Administrative Register (in all states where they are published), Court Rules, Legislative Acts, and the State Constitution. Case Law Date Coverage Expanded Casemaker has increased Case Law date coverage for every state; coverage now goes back to statehood or earlier, or at least to the first state reporter volume. 1

54 Some States Databases Offer More Some states have added additional materials (e.g., Attorney General Opinions or Ethics Opinions). Recently, Casemaker has added new state material to its database for the following select states: Workers Compensation Decisions: Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin Environmental Hearing Decisions: Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel Formal Opinions: Alabama New Time Graph In an attempt to add visuals to its database results, Casemaker has introduced a time graph to show all cases citing each case in your results list over time. To access this time graph pop-up, simply click the graph icon as shown in the next illustration. Although Casemaker s User Manual mentions this graph icon, it doesn t show you what it looks like, so here is a screen shot with the graph pop-up shown on the left-hand side. The manual explains that the graph will plot the number of times a case has been cited over the years on a line graph, but it fails to tell you that it is possible to re-sort the graph to display cases by jurisdiction. 2

55 Case Summaries from the CasemakerDigest Now Displayed In Two More Places Back in 2011, Casemaker introduced the CasemakerDigest so subscribers could keep up-to-date by reading summaries of recent cases from any federal or state jurisdiction they were interested in. For those who have access to CasemakerDigest, which is almost all users, if there is a case summary it will be noted in the case results list with a link labeled CS (as shown in the next illustration). The Digest was rolled out over time to all states, so not all cases will display summaries back to After you click CS (as shown in the next illustration), you can quickly read the case summary to ascertain whether the case is relevant. If it s not, this saves you the time of reading the full text of the case. 3

56 If you click the link to the case displayed at the top of the Case Summary, you will be able to read the full text of the case, and an abbreviated case summary is also displayed (its heading will say Short Summary). Search Within Results Now Available for Citing References As you review a specific case s Citing References overview, notice that the Search Within Results feature, which you have always seen in the Case Law Overview, has now been added to the Citing References Overview. This allows you to enter a new search term (e.g., police) into the Search Within Results search box to pinpoint which of the Citing References includes that search term. 4

57 Case Law Database Offers Case Linking and Statute Linking Statute Linking in cases is almost complete in all state and federal cases. This works the same way as Case Linking (which has been available in all state and federal cases on Casemaker for some time). Statute Linking and Case Linking are useful if the case you are reading doesn t provide the full text of the statute (or case) it cites to and you need to quickly review it. Just click on the statute (or case) citation and you will be taken directly to it. For example, as shown in the next illustration, as you are reading the Tienda case, you can click the link to Tex. Penal Code Ann. 7.02(a)2) to go directly to that exact statute for review, or you can click on the link to 225 S.W.3d 491 to go directly to that case for review. 5

58 Statutory and Administrative Codes Now Include Tagged Subsections Hand in hand with Statute Linking, Casemaker now displays Tagged Subsections for all statutory (and administrative) codes to allow for quickly linking to the subsection level. This feature is proving most useful when working with lengthy sections. For example, as you view the case shown in the prior illustration, if you click the link to Tex. Penal Code Ann. 7.02(a)(2), you will be taken to that subsection because it is now Tagged in Casemaker s Texas Statutes. Previously, only the main section ( 7.02) was tagged, but now all the subsections are tagged, such as (a), (b), etc. 6

59 Copy and Paste Feature Now Includes the Case and Statute Citation and the Case Pin Citation When you highlight a portion of a case or statute s text because you plan to copy it and then paste it into another document, be sure to right click to take advantage of the Copy pop up menu. This menu now offers you the choice to automatically insert the full Citation or the Pin Citation to the end of your highlighted text selection when you paste it into a document. For example, if you highlight the paragraph from 224 P.3d 437 (shown in the next screen shot) and then right click the highlighted paragraph, you can choose Copy with pin citation. 7

60 This will paste the highlighted paragraph into your Word document, with the Pin Citation 224 P.3d at 442 appended at the end of your pasted selection (see next screen shot). 8

61 If you right-clicked the highlighted paragraph and instead chose Copy with citation, then the case title and citation [Burbach v. Canwest Investments, LLC, 224 P.3d 437 (Colo.App.Div )] would be appended to your pasted selection. Subsequent Case History Feature Introduced For Texas Cases Only But Coming Soon for Others A subsequent case history feature has been introduced for Texas cases. When viewing a Texas Court of Appeals case, a click of the Subsequent Case History button brings the user links to any subsequent history. This refers only to whether petitions or writs for review were granted or denied. Casemaker will be extending this feature to other jurisdictions. Pleadings Database Casemaker has teamed up with CaseEdge to offer a Pleadings database. When we first tested this database, it was limited to Colorado, Texas, and California (but not necessarily every trial court in the state). It has now been expanded to a few other 9

62 states, including Florida and Illinois. For some states that appear to be included, such as Minnesota, we were unable to find any results in our test searches. We suggest you check back periodically to see if Minnesota and other states have actually been added. The database contains five million pleadings, and soon it will have expanded to thirty million pleadings by adding more Colorado and California courts and other states courts. There are two ways to search the Pleadings database depending upon whether you want to only search Pleadings or search all of Casemaker s databases, including Pleadings. To only search Pleadings, click Pleadings by CaseEdge from the left column on Casemaker s home page. You are then given the option of conducting one of three searches. The Text Search allows you to search using keywords and/or phrases (using Casemaker s Boolean and proximity connectors) and choosing a State (or all States), as shown in the next illustration. 10

63 The Quick Search allows you to search by Pleading Type. This refers to the underlined header in the pleading after the caption naming the parties such as "Motion for Summary Judgment." The Advanced Search is a combination of the: (1) Pleading Type (described earlier); (2) the Fact Type, which refers to keywords related to events in the Pleading s Statement of Facts; and (3) the Issue Type, which are keywords surrounding references to law, rules and statutes that represent the legal issues on which the pleading is based (e.g., "when is Summary judgment for a defendant proper). A second way to search Pleadings is to simply conduct your regular Casemaker search and if there are pleadings relevant to your search, this will be indicated in the Overview list (see next screen shot). Here, we searched all Texas materials with the phrase negligence per se. In addition to results for Cases, Statutes, etc., there is an indication there are 500 Pleadings. 11

64 After you choose Pleadings from the Overview, you can narrow your search with the filters in the left-hand column as shown in the next screen shot. This is also the same result you would receive if you had begun your search by clicking Pleadings by CaseEdge from the left column on Casemaker s home page (as described above). 12

65 Click the down-arrows for each of the following three filters to display their drop-down lists, which allow you to filter by: Pleading Type Fact Type Issue Type You can also use the following two filters to filter by: States (Texas, California, etc.) Jurisdictions (Choose a local court) You will be shown a Preview of any pleading you choose, but you can only view the Full Pleading if you set up an account with CaseEdge (no credit card is required). You are entitled to five full pleadings free each month as part of your free Casemaker subscription. Each additional full pleading will cost $1.99. To obtain unlimited pleadings, you will need to set up a paid account with CaseEdge ($35/month), but this will also entitle you to their Law practice technology platform where Your entire firm can access legal research, e-signature, expert witness profiles, and build a pleadings library and much more as shown in the following screen shot. 13

66 For more information on CaseEdge, see They offer free webinars and guides about their platform. Currency of Statutes and Administrative Codes Casemaker s editors continuously update all State Statutes directly from the legislative acts as they are passed. State Administrative Codes are treated in a similar fashion. They are continuously updated directly as regulations are adopted or amended in the State Registers. Now, you no longer have to check two different places to view the most up-to-date Statutes and Regulations. Statute Annotator Many legal researchers dislike using free and low-cost online legal research databases because their Statutes/Codes lacked the case annotations that they were used to reading in the print sources and the pay databases. This issue has been eradicated now that Casemaker has added the Statute Annotator to its federal and state Statutes/Codes. Although this feature is mentioned in the Casemaker User Manual, it s worth pointing it out because you might not notice it on your results page. When viewing any statute on Casemaker, click the Annotator button (as shown in the next screen shot). 14

67 You will then receive a list of linked cases that cite the statute with enough words around the statutory reference to help discern the context of the reference (as shown in the next screen shot). Casemaker s Statute Annotator, as explained by a spokesperson at Casemaker, is unlike those of some other services; it is the product of much editorial effort to retrieve as many references as possible and, perhaps more importantly, to avoid references to other works that happen to use the same number as the statute. Casemaker Libra After you conduct a search, the Overview might include a section labeled: Books, Treatises, CLE, & Other Research Materials. This is Casemaker s Libra online searchable library of materials, published by the ABA, Colorado Bar, and the Washington Bar. You can review the title and table of contents for free, but to view the full text (and search full-text), you would need to purchase the materials. There are three purchase/subscription plans; subscription prices vary, based on whether you are subscribing as an individual, a group, or an enterprise of 51+ attorneys). 15

68 The All-Publications library subscription (containing all materials) The Practice area libraries subscription (containing materials in specific practice areas) An individual book purchase (not every book can be purchased individually though; some can only be subscribed to as part of a Practice area subscription). Need More Help? Live chat was added to Casemaker s customer support, expanding Casemaker s and toll free phone customer support, free webinars, and free video tutorials. 16