After the Google Scholar button is installed, click the button that is now located on your browser bar (see next image). The default Google Scholar search is set for articles, so if you want to change the default to case law, click on the gear icon (see next image) at the bottom right to deploy the Scholar settings page.

On the Scholar Settings page (see next image), click into the radio button labeled “Search case law.” Then, under “Collections,” click into the “Search case law” radio button. That change will switch the database to be searched from journal articles to case law.

There are other settings you can adjust on the Scholar Settings page. For example:

• Google Scholar defaults to showing 10 results (and Google claims this provides the fastest results) but under “Results per page,” you can change this to 20 results;
• Beneath the section labeled, “Where results open,” you can click into the “Open each selected result in a new browser window” radio button. This allows you to view each result in a different tab, but whether we clicked into this radio button or not, each result always opened in a different tab;
• Another choice on the Settings page is the section labeled Bibliography manager.”  You can choose “Don’t show any citation import links” or “Show links to import citations into” one of the following: BibTex, EndNote, RefMan, or RefWorks.

To save all your new settings, remember to click the blue “Save” tab in the lower right-hand corner of the Settings page. To retain these settings forever and to deploy them on any device that you use, you must be in your Google account and turn on Cookies.

After you enter your search terms into the Search box, your search results will be displayed in a drop down list.

Note that even after you changed the search default from articles to case law search, it still refers to articles, but as you can see, these are case law results. Click the case name to view the full case or click on the large quotation mark on the right. If you click on the large quotation mark, the case’s Bluebook citation is displayed (see next image) and four bibliography manager tabs are displayed (see next image).  If you wanted to enter a citation into one of the bibliography managers, you would need to have already downloaded it.

While the Google Scholar button is a quick way to search for case law or articles, some of you might prefer to conduct an “Advanced Scholar Search: to narrow your results.

The Advanced Search allows you to search by various criteria, as shown in the next image. Next month, we’ll publish a free excerpt from The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet, by Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch, which explains how to use the Advanced Search menu. Stay tuned.

The post How to Conduct a Quick Google Scholar Search with the Click of a Button appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

The email further explained:

Working with the Harvard Law Library, the world’s largest academic law library, we’re digitizing the entire collection of U.S. case law. Practitioners, nonprofits, researchers, and law students will be able to freely and comprehensively search and read case law from every jurisdiction, from any time period.

The effort is part of Harvard Law School's "Free the Law" project, which "aims to digitize the entire body of US caselaw and make it available to the Harvard community and the world in an open-access database." The coverage of the project will include:

•     All official reported decisions of the federal courts
•     All official reported decisions of the courts of every state
•     All territorial and pre-statehood decisions in Harvard Law School Library's collection
•     An estimated 43,000 volumes and 40 million pages

According to et seq, the Harvard Law School Library Blog, Ravel Law "pays total costs of digitization" for the materials and "(via vendor) [is] responsible for converting scanned images to text files."

Also according to et seq, the resulting text files will not include "headnotes and other editorial content."

Additional details were provided by a New York Times story on the project linked from the e-mail.

While Harvard’s “Free the Law” project cannot put the lone defense lawyer or citizen on an equal footing with a deep-pocketed law firm, legal experts say, it can at least guarantee a floor of essential information. The project will also offer some sophisticated techniques for visualizing relations among cases and searching for themes.

Complete state results will become publicly available this fall for California and New York, and the entire library will be online in 2017, said Daniel Lewis, chief executive and co-founder of Ravel Law, a commercial start-up in California that has teamed up with Harvard Law for the project. The cases will be available at www.ravellaw.com. Ravel is paying millions of dollars to support the scanning. The cases will be accessible in a searchable format and, along with the texts, they will be presented with visual maps developed by the company, which graphically show the evolution through cases of a judicial concept and how each key decision is cited in others.

Other terms of the relationship include Harvard getting, "a 4% equity interest in Ravel, with any proceeds going to a sustainability fund to support the project."

According to their respective Web sites,

"Established in 1817 [in Cambridge, MA], Harvard Law School is the oldest continuously operating law school in the nation."

"The mission of the Harvard Law School Library is to support the research and curricular needs of its faculty and students by providing a superb collection of legal materials and by offering the highest possible level of service. To the extent consistent with its mission, the Library supports the research needs of the greater Harvard community as well as scholars from outside the Harvard community requiring access to its unique collections."

The San Franciso-based Ravel Law describes itself as a "legal search, analytics, and visualization platform...that enables lawyers to find, contextualize, and interpret information that turns legal data into legal insights." The company was initially developed at Stanford University's Law School, Computer Science Department, and d.school [its Hasso Plattner Institute of Design], with the support of CodeX (Stanford's Center for Legal Informatics).

The post Harvard Law School Teams with Ravel Law To Digitize Case Law | Make It Available For Free appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

In July 2014, at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting, I got a sneak preview of Fastcase 7 but was sworn to secrecy. Then, in August 2014, I visited Fastcase’s headquarters in Washington, DC where CEO Ed Walters demonstrated some additional new features…still sworn to secrecy. This was its first re-design since 2003. I had just written a new book for the ABA LP Division, Internet Legal Research on a Budget. It included a chapter on Fastcase, Version 6. My heart sank. Was my book already out of date? Then, there was nothing about Version 7…until April 2015 at the ABA TECHSHOW. Once again I was introduced to Version 7 and once again I was sworn to secrecy. Then, nothing again, until today when Walters gave me an official introduction to Version 7. Now in “private beta,” this demonstration did not include a secrecy pledge. With the cone of silence lifted, here are my highlights of Fastcase Version 7.

Fastcase users will have some time to get used to the new version. Version 7 is being rolled out to bar associations and enterprise law firms on an opt-in basis. Their individual users will be able to choose whether to use Version 6 or 7 by toggling a slider on the top right side of the log-in screen. The two versions will run side by side for a year and users can toggle between the versions on an ad hoc basis, even after they have logged in and began using one version or the other. (Existing Fastcase users can request an invitation to the private beta by sending an e-mail to support @fastcase.com.) Thank you, Fastcase 7 for waiting almost a year to launch and still calling it beta for one more year. My book lives on (https://www.netforlawyers.com/products)!

Walters calls Fastcase 7 “the Tesla of legal research databases.” He explains that “it’s not a poor man’s Lexis or Westlaw.” Instead it’s a powerful tool with improved features and some features that are new to legal research databases, such as the Tag Cloud. (Click any tag to see only results with that tag.) Walters explained that Fastcase 7’s goal is to be simple to use for the typical user but also powerful enough for the power user.

Universal Search

For me, the top improvement is universal search. Finally, users can conduct searches through all (or multiple) jurisdictions and types of materials by using the Advanced Search menu. No longer does a user have to first search cases, then statutes, etc., jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Users can also conduct a very precise search by restricting a search to a specific title name.

Single Page Result

Another improvement is the “Single Page Result,” which creates a faster search experience. After viewing the search results you used to have to click to various pages to view other related information and tools, but now you will see everything at a glance—segregated into panels in one single page. The panels (shown in the next image) include: the search results, the Interactive Timeline, an expanded Suggested Results (in addition to law reviews from HeinOnline, the Suggested Results now include Forecite Results (cases that relate to your search but don’t include all your key words), Educational Materials, Attorney General Opinions, Jury Instructions, and more), and two new features, the Tag Cloud noted above and a Facets/Filters feature to narrow your search to a particular jurisdiction, court level, or material type if you did a broad search and now want to narrow it.

If you use the Facets in the left-hand column (above) and choose Washington, for example, the Interactive Timeline will re-adjust and show only results for that state.

Also making your search experience faster is the “Bottomless Research” feature, which allows you to continuously scroll through all the results without clicking next, next, next...

HeinOnline

For those not familiar with HeinOnline, this is a database of all law review articles published in the U.S. (over 2,000 titles), from volume one to the present. (This represents more than two times the size of Westlaw and Lexis law review databases). However, HeinOnline is not available for free as part of your Fastcase account. You can subscribe by the day, month, or year. Fastcase will eventually be adding the rest of HeinOnline’s offerings (Attorney General Opinions and historical statutes). No bars subscribe to Hein for members.

Customize Your Results Page

If you experience sensory overload, you can easily customize the page to expand, contract, or even close one or more of the various panels of the page. You would do this by clicking orange arrows that are located in each panel of the page.

The next image displays how your screen will look when you click on one case result. Fastcase’s results layout was originally designed for a square computer monitor but now it’s designed for the widescreen monitors found on laptops and mobile devices, which makes it more readable. Also, the typeface was changed to improve readability.

Notice that the panel on the left remains even after you click to view the full text of a case. This way, the list of all results remains displayed if you want to quickly choose another result. Also the Interactive Timeline is displayed for the case you are currently viewing.

Authority Check Report and Full-text Case Now Side by Side

If you click the red flag at the top of the case above, the next image shows how the Authority Check Report panel pops up to the left of the full-text of the case instead of in a new screen. This allows you to scroll through the case or the report from the same page.

Expand the Authority Check and Interactive Timeline Panel

The next image shows what it looks like when you expand to the full Authority Check and Interactive Timeline. When you click one of the Interactive Timeline bubbles, a pop-up box will display the paragraph where your case is cited. New to this display are the jurisdictional boxes, which show the number of cites by jurisdiction and Bad Law Bot (negative treatment) cites.

Expanded Search History List

Fastcase 7 offers an expanded Search History so you can view not only your search terms, but also the jurisdictions where you ran your search and the date you ran your search. Also, you are no longer limited to viewing only your ten most-recent searches.

Name Your Print Jobs

An improvement to the Print feature allows you to name your print jobs when you place them into a queue, which makes it easier to recall which ones to print if you decide to print them at a later time. Some older improvements worth mentioning are the ability to manage multiple documents in your queue by saving them into (1) one long continuous document or (2) saving each as a separate document by selecting Zipped. There’s also a choice to print in single or dual column.

Fastcase App

For those of you not yet using the free Fastcase App (even free to non-subscribers), it is a lighter version of the web-based version of Fastcase, and therefore will not have all the new features of Fastcase 7. However, Fastcase is currently working on a new Version 4 of the App to be released in the near future. The Fastcase App is described in great detail in both of my books: The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet, 13th edition, 2015 and Internet Legal Research on a Budget, 2014 (https://www.netforlawyers.com/products).

My Wish List

I think Ed Walters, Phil Rosenthal (Fastcase president), and the entire Fastcase team have done a great job adding features and functions to Fastcase 7. I only have two wishes for Version 7.1 (whenever that becomes available) and they both relate to improving Authority Check: First, I’d like to see an Affirmed flag. After all, we are supposed to cite to an affirmed decision (if one exists) instead of citing to the lower court’s decision. Second on my wish list: I’d like to see the subsequent history of an unpublished decision included in Authority. As you know, “unpublished” decisions are sometimes “published” by Fastcase (and the other legal research database vendors), but Fastcase, Casemaker, and Google Scholar don’t include them in their citator databases (Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg do). Therefore, if an unpublished decision later is affirmed or reversed by a higher court AND that court orders publication of their decision, we won’t find out about it through Authority Check.

Final Words

About its cars, the Tesla website says: “Model S gets faster, smarter, and better as time passes….it actually improves while you sleep. When you wake up, added functionality, enhanced performance, and improved user experience make you feel like you are driving a new car. We want to improve cars in ways most people didn't imagine possible.” Like the Tesla Model S, Fastcase 7 is faster and smarter, but it’s even better than Tesla because you won’t have to search for a Supercharger to use Fastcase.

The post Fastcase 7: Better Than a Tesla appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Dockets for the following courts (previously removed) have been restored to the PACER system.

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Dockets for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California have not yet been restored. The PACER Web site indicates that "Work to restore access for the Central District of California Bankruptcy Court continues and electronic access should be available before the end of the year."

At the time of the dockets' removal, the AOC explained that the dockets were removed because the systems used by those courts were not compatible with the new NextGen system being implemented by PACER.

The post Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Returns Most Documents Removed from PACER appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Clicking the Filter Results button opens a pop-up box that allows you to further filter your results by numerous criteria (e.g., Court Type, Court, Year Filed in the screenshot above). Clicking the plus sign next to any of the listed filters expands that filter to show the narrower filtering options

While many of the filter options seem to be the same as the column labels that we have been able to use for sorting for the past few years, one seems unique - the Party Role filter. Even though my test searches were by Party Name, it turns out the results also included attorney names. To see only party names in your results list, you can click the Filter Result tab, then click on the + sign to the left of the Party Role label (it will change to a minus sign), and then choose pla (plaintiff), dft (defendant), intv (intervenor). To see only attorney names in your results list, choose aty.

(Note that the Party Role filter does not appear for every search. In fact, the Party Role filter may be a limited test that PACER is conducting because I did not see that filter on the list that appeared in the pop-up box for any subsequent test searches.)

Who else has seen this filter?

The post Is PACER Testing New Filters in its Case Locator Search Results appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

State Bar Associations:

• South Carolina Bar Association
• State Bar of Montana

Ohio Metropolitan Bar Association Consortium:

• Akron Bar Association
• Columbus Bar Association
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• Dayton Bar Association
• Toledo Bar Association

Carole Levitt's new book, Internet Legal Research on a Budget, contains chapters detailing how to use Fastcase effectively.

Lawyers in 48 states and the District of Columbia have access to free case law research as a member benefit via either Casemaker or Fastcase. Only California and Delaware do not offer such access.

The post More Bar Associations Provide Fastcase Case Law Research to Members appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

"The Administrative Office is working to restore electronic access to these cases by converting the docket sheets in these cases to PDF format which will allow us to make them available in PACER. This process will be completed in the four appellate courts by the end of October.  We are also working to provide a similar solution for the dockets on the legacy system in the California Central bankruptcy court."

It's important to note that the statement refers only to restoring PDFs of the docket sheets for these courts/time frames and not the underlying documents from those cases. Addressing that issue in the same blog post, Sellers reportedly told the Washington Post that "the vast majority of the records consist of docket sheets rather than actual court documents."

On August 11, the AOC announced that select documents from five courts would no longer be available in the PACER Case Locator. The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL),  Special Libraries Association (SLA) and individual law librarian bloggers have been vocal critics of the changes.

Previously, the Washington Post had reported that Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the  Judiciary Committee contacted the AOC, urging the courts to restore online access to the documents that had been removed.

The post Documents Removed from PACER Set to Return Says Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Recently, the New York City Bar Association added access to Casemaker's premium services as a free benefit for their members.

The Casemaker Federal Library contains items such as the United States Supreme, Circuit, District and Bankruptcy court opinions; Federal Court Rules; United States Code; Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Rules Decisions, and Constitution. Its State material libraries (for all 50 states and the District of Columbia) include, at a minimum, Case law, Statutes, Court Rules, and State Constitution. The New York library on Casemaker includes:

• Appellate and Trial Court Opinions
• New York Statutes
• New York Administrative Code
• New York Court Rules
• New York Attorney General Opinions
• New York Legislative Acts
• New York Constitution
• New York City Administrative Code
• New York City Charter
• New York City Local Laws

And as a bonus, the New York City Bar is providing ALL of Casemaker’s premium services to its members for free, such as:

• CaseCheck+ – A negative citator system that informs you if the case you're reading is still good law.
• CasemakerDigest – daily e-mail summaries of state and federal appellate decisions (within 12-24 hours of publication), listed by practice area.
• CiteCheck – Upload a brief and in minutes Casemaker will automatically check your citations to be sure they are still good law.

Internet Legal Research on a Budget’s Chapter 8 provides detailed instructions on how to use Casemaker and also explains some of the features and limitations of CaseCheck+ and CiteCheck…and provides you with a work-around.

To purchase Internet Legal Research on a Budget, see https://www.netforlawyers.com/page/internet-legal-research-budget-free-low-cost-resources.

The post New York City Bar Association Adds Access to Casemaker Legal Research Resources as a Member Benefit appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

With this new agreement with Fastcase, Texas attorneys are the first to receive access to both Fastcase and Casemaker as a free benefit of their membership in the Bar.

The State Bar of Texas had previously offered its members free access to Casemaker. Texas attorneys will continue to receive free access to the Casemaker legal research service, along with expanded premium Casemaker services at no cost.

Carole Levitt's new book, Internet Legal Research on a Budget, contains chapters detailing how to use Casemaker and Fastcase most effectively.

“We are thrilled to offer this free research tool as an additional benefit to Texas attorneys alongside our popular Casemaker service,” Trey Apffel, 2014-15 State Bar of Texas president said in a press release announcing the agreement. “Part of our mission at the State Bar of Texas is to provide superior online resources and benefits to members which help them better serve their clients. We believe this agreement helps us achieve that.”

Lawyers in 48 states and the District of Columbia have access to free caselaw research as a member benefit via either Casemaker or Fastcase. Only California and Delaware do not offer such access.

The post State Bar of Texas Offers Members More Access to Free Legal Research appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

But, beginning August 1, 2014, PBA will shift its alliances to Casemaker, which provides increased content, such as federal cases and codes, as well as cases and codes for all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Casemaker also includes access to other legal research materials, increased dates of coverage, and other services such as the ability to to save your searches in folders not available via InCite.

And as a huge bonus, PBA is providing ALL of Casemaker’s premium services to its members for free, such as:

• CaseCheck+ – A negative citator system that informs you if the case you're reading is still good law.
• CasemakerDigest – daily e-mail summaries of state and federal appellate decisions (within 12-24 hours of publication), listed by practice area.
• CiteCheck – Upload a brief and in minutes Casemaker will automatically check your citations to be sure they are still good law.

Internet Legal Research on a Budget’s Chapter 8 provides detailed instructions on how to use Casemaker and also explains some of the features and limitations of CaseCheck+ and CiteCheck…and provides you with a work-around.

To purchase Internet Legal Research on a Budget, see https://www.netforlawyers.com/page/internet-legal-research-budget-free-low-cost-resources.

The post As Pennsylvania Bar Association Shifts from InCite to Casemaker, Members Will Discover the Benefits appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.