Free Legal Resarch Product From Your State Bar

Authors of 3 Geeks and a Law Blog has assembled an interactive map of the United States displaying what free legal research product is offered by bar associations of individual states. Check it out here.

OpenJurist

OpenJurist is a new collaborative initiative to provide a

resource for access to the case law of the United States. Our organization believes that because the laws of the land are in the public domain, they should be accessible by the public without restriction and especially without charge. Our collection includes approximately 647,000 opinions and other transactions from the United States Supreme Court, beginning with the first session in 1790; and Lower Federal Courts, as published in the Federal Reporter beginning in 1880.

Users may browse or search the United States Code, 647,000 opinions from the United States Supreme Court, and opinions from the lower federal courts, particularly the United States Court of Appeals, as published in the First, Second, and Third series of the Federal Reporter.

Users may also become Facebook Fans of OpenJurist, vote in daily pole, subscribe via RSS feed, and experiment with the new OpenJurist browser Add-on. Check it out!

New On LLRX - Google Scholar For Legal Materials

We already blogged about the Google Scholar newest edition - the ability to search for legal decisions and related legal materials, such are legal periodicals. LLRX.com added a review of the Google Scholar: A New Way to Search for Cases and Related Legal Publications, by Courtney Minick and David Tsai. Check it out!

FAOLEX Legal Office

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has online legal office called FAOLEX.

A multilingual team summarizes and in many cases translates laws and regulations on topics falling within FAO's mandate - agriculture, cultivated plants, environment, fisheries, food, forestry, land and soil, livestock, water and wild species and ecosystems. Legal information is received by FAO from Member Nations pursuant to Article XI of the FAO Constitution.

The website offers advanced search, which allows a user to narrow search by the following subjects: agriculture, forestry, cultivated plants, environment generally, air & atmosphere, fisheries, land & soil, water, mineral resources, energy, food, livestock, wild species & ecosystem, sea, and waste & hazardous substances. The website is available in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. It also offers Basic Texts, Fishlex, Waterlex, Water Treaties, Publications, Right to Food, and Treaties generally.

Casemaker v. Fastcase

Law Technology News compares two low cost legal research services, Casemaker and Fastcase. These services are offered as member benefits by state and local bar associations. The author concludes that coverage is more or less the same, but that the Fastcase search interface is easier to use and more intuitive than that offered by Casemaker.

The NJ bar association offers Fastcase to its members, while Connecticut offers Casemaker. The NY bar association offers Loislaw.

Guide to International Legal Research

The Pace Law Library published another resource guide. Check out our newest addition, International Legal Research Guide. This is a guide to international public and private law, with an emphasis on international public law. This guide presents print, digital, subscription and free online resources to international legal research. It is organized by the type of resource.

Also, take a minute to view the full list of Pace Law Library Guides published so far via LibGuides.

Legal Research Skills Tested On Bar Exam?

A thought provoking post at Legal Blog Watch by Carolyn Elefant Should Bar Exams Test Legal Research Skills?, is a reaction post to Joe Hodnicki post on Law Librarian Blog Should (When Will) Legal Research Skills Be Tested on bar Exam? It is obviously an involved topic, but I will try to briefly sum it up. Both sides seem to agree that strong legal research skills are important. But they disagree on the testability of legal research skills. The first question seems to be: Are legal research skills 'testable'?

One argument states that legal research skills would be hard to test because lawyers often have access to different kind of resources (electronic vs. print). Other argument says legal research skills could be easily tested because it is about the theoretical approach and knowledge of available resources rather than about having access to them. Well, what do you all think? Are legal research skills testable? And if so, should they be tested on bar exam?

Internet Sites for Attorneys & Other Legal Professionals

An article published in Richmond Journal of Law and Technology about helpful Internet sites for attorneys and other legal professionals is worth while reading. Access full article.

This listing of Internet sites for legal, factual, and other research presents a variety of sources for attorneys, law students, law librarians, and others who use the Web. Initially developed for an Advanced Legal Research course and a continuing education session for legal assistants and paralegals, the listing includes sites for primary authorities, both federal and state, as well as URLs for other types of information such as names of possible expert witnesses and biographical and background information about individuals.

Timothy L. Coggins, Legal, Factual and Other Internet Sites for Attorneys and Legal Professionals, XV RICH. J.L. & TECH. 13 (2009), http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/v15i4/article13.pdf

Guide to Free and Low Cost Resources for Legal Research

What will you do after graduation when you don't have free access to Westlaw and Lexis? Check out our guide to free and low cost resources for legal research and find reliable resources for case law, statutory law, regulations, foreign and international law, and even some tips for book research.