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With cost-conscious clients scrutinizing legal bills, lawyers cannot afford to depend on fee-based resources the way they used to, especially if reliable free resources are available. That said, sometimes it makes sense to pay for data—especially if the pay databases have something the free ones are lacking (content or functionality) or when using the pay databases can save you time and money.

This article will highlight some of the most reliable free (or low-cost) online resources and give you some tips on how to use them. However, we don’t have the space to go into as great as detail as we’d like, so you’ll need to attend ABA TECHSHOW 2014 to hear us speak and ask us your questions or read our upcoming ABA LP book, Internet Legal Research On a Budget.

To begin with, every legal researcher should bookmark a few free legal portals. A good portal includes links arranged by topics and jurisdictions so you can quickly get to a useful site. But, a good portal should go a step further and provide “added value,” such as a full-text keyword searchable database of court cases or subject-specific articles about an area of law.

The most useful general legal portals are: Justia and FindLaw. [Note: FindLaw is undergoing some database changes and is not functioning as it should. We presume proper functioning will resume.]

For government portals, we’d choose a newer site that you might not be familiar with: the Government Printing Office’s Federal Digital System (FDsys), which provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the federal government. Another choice would be USA.gov, not only useful for retrieving federal governmental agency documents, but also state, local, territorial, and tribal government documents.

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII) is a portal that has some unique databases such as Wex, a free legal dictionary/encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the LII, and its version of the U.S. Code, which provides links to the rules and regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that relate to the U.S. Code section being viewed. This feature, which saves you from having to run a separate search at the CFR, is activated by clicking on the “Authorities (CFR)” tab.

The last legal portal you should bookmark is one that will assist you with your state and local research needs. Look at each of your state’s law school law library’s portals and decide which one suits that need.

Case law research is probably what most legal researchers do more than any other kind of research. One of the most overlooked “free” places for conducting case law research is your state bar association. Forty-seven state bar associations (plus some local bars and other legal professional associations) subscribe to legal research databases on behalf of their members. In turn, they provide their members with free access as a “member benefit.” These “member benefit to lawyers” legal research databases offer more sophisticated search options and broader date coverage than most other free case law databases, including Google Scholar. Typically, these “member benefit to lawyers” legal research databases include all federal and state (and D.C.) cases, codes and regulations. And, for some jurisdictions, you might find law reviews, attorney general opinions, and more. The state bar associations of California, Delaware, and Montana do not yet offer this member benefit.  Of the 47 state bar associations that do offer this member benefit, 46 subscribe either to Casemaker or Fastcase. The other state bar association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), offers access to InCite, a customized LexisNexis database created for the PBA. Be sure to visit your bar association’s website and look for a link to one of these databases.

Turning away from “traditional” websites, let’s take a look at other places where lawyers are finding useful legal research, such as blogs/blawgs, Twitter accounts, and apps.

Following the “right” blawgger or tweeter can help you keep up with your area of law without expending much of your own research time. To find a blawgger in your practice area, you can visit Justia’s BlawgSearch site, scan the list of categories, and choose one that fits your practice area or enter keywords into the search box at the top. After you review the list of blawgger results, subscribe to a few and then take some time to decide which ones are worthwhile. Another source for locating useful blawgs is The ABA Journal’s Blawg Directory, arranged by topic, author type (e.g., consultant, judge…), region (by court, state, or country), and law school.

To figure out the best people to follow on Twitter who write about your practice area, visit http://twitter.com/#!/search-home. You can conduct searches there even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Enter keywords describing your practice area (e.g., ski accidents) into the search box to locate millions of individual tweets—from (roughly) the last two weeks. You can also use Twitter’s Advanced Search page to create more sophisticated searches.

Useful legal apps range in price from free (e.g., Nolo's Plain English Law Dictionary for iOS is free but the Droid version is $16.19) to $54.99 (e.g., Black's Law Dictionary). To locate legal apps, review ones recommended in:

• UCLA Law Library’s free Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers: This is an alphabetical-by-title, annotated list of law apps. You can scan the list or better yet, keyword search the list with your Find function (control F for P.C.s or command F for Apple devices) and enter your keywords (e.g., court rules) into the Find search box.
• Tom Mighell’s book, iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers (ABA LPD, 2012). Visit http://linkon.in/ipadappslaw for the print version and http://linkon.in/ipadappslawebook for the e-book.
• Daniel J. Siegel’s book, Android Apps in One Hour for Lawyers (ABA LPD, 2013). ). Visit http://linkon.in/androidappdan  for the print version and http://linkon.in/androidappebook for the e-book.

By taking the time to read this article, you have made a great start at learning about some of the best free and low-cost legal research sources available on the Internet. To learn about many other sites and how to become a sophisticated researcher of those sites, look for our upcoming book, Internet Legal Research on a Budget. Our book will provide you with a high level of control over your searching and lead to better and quicker results.

This article was adapted from the book, “Internet Legal Research on a Budget” by Carole Levitt and Judy Davis (ABA LPD 2014). Reprinted with permission of the American Bar Association. All rights reserved. It also originally appeared on the ABA LP Division Law Practice Today Webzine.

The post Internet Legal Research on a Budget appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Legislative/congressional materials are valuable to researchers for the following reasons:

• To track a current bill as it is going through the legislative process
• To discern the legislative intent of a bill
• To conduct historical research about a bill that was never passed (and, thus, would not be contained in a Public Law database or the U.S.C.)
• To read a public law in its entirety (instead of trying to piece it together once it has been scattered throughout various sections of the U.S.C.)

Searching the Library of Congress’s Thomas site for Bills, etc.

The Library of Congress’s Thomas site (http://thomas.loc.gov) offers various databases, such as:

From the home page, bills can be searched through the Bill Summary and Status (BSS) database, but only for the current Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov). Although you can keyword and phrase search the BSS, it does not search the full text of the bill. BSS only searches: sponsor(s); cosponsor(s); official, short, and popular titles; floor/executive actions; detailed legislative history; Congressional Record page references; bill summary; committee information; amendment information; and subjects (indexing terms assigned to each bill). Current bills can also be searched by Bill Number or browsed by sponsor at the BSS database on Thomas’ home page.

The BSS database also has an Advanced Search option (http://thomas.loc.gov/bss) where you can search by Keywords and Phrases (but still not the full text). They can be limited to Exact Match Only or expanded to Include Variants. You can also search by one or more of the following: Sponsor by House or Senate Members, Committee, Stage in Legislative Process, Date of Introduction, Type of Legislation, and Standard Subject Term. On the Advanced Search page, you can search back to 1973 (93rd Congress), except for amendment data, which only goes back to the 95th Congress (1977). You cannot search multiple Congress years here. You will have to select one Congress year.

The Bills, Resolutions “Bill Text” database, in contrast to the BSS, does search the full text of the bill and allows you to search through one or multiple Congresses, but only back to 1989 (http://linkon.in/IiVk24). Your keywords and phrases can be limited to Exact Match Only or expanded to Include Variants. You can also limit your search of Bills to: All; Bills with Floor Action; or Enrolled Bills Sent to the President. You can also limit your search of Bills to: Both House and Senate, House Bills Only, or Senate Bills Only.

It is not necessary to use quotation marks to indicate a phrase. For example, a user can enter think tank, not "think tank," to retrieve information about think tanks.

Bills and Resolutions can be browsed by Bill Number, Popular and Short Titles, Public Laws, Private Laws, Vetoed Bills, and Sponsor Summaries (http://linkon.in/IzhwiV). You can also browse the House or Senate bills separately by Bills, Joint Resolutions, Concurrent Resolutions, Resolutions, or Amendments.

The Congressional Record database (http://linkon.in/Hyzgds) goes back to 1989 and is searchable by Keywords, Phrases, Date Received or Session, Member of Congress, and Section of Congressional Record.

The Committee Reports database (http://linkon.in/HyAOnL) goes back to 1995 and is searchable by Keywords and Phrases, Report Number, Committees, or Date Available Online. The Reports can also be browsed by selecting House, Senate, Conference, or Joint.

The Public Laws database (http://linkon.in/HoTZam) cannot be keyword searched. Instead, the only option is to browse the Public Laws in numeric order. However, the database goes back to 1973, which is much farther back in time than the FDsys’s Public and Private Laws database.

Searching the FDsys site for Bills, etc.

For those who need to retrieve a document by its citation, visit the Retrieve By Citation page (http://linkon.in/Ij0nj3) and choose a Collection from the Collection drop-down menu. For those who prefer to browse, visit the Browse Collections page (http:// linkon.in/HyFAsc) and browse through various legislative/congressional materials by: (1) Collection (e.g., Congressional Bills or Congressional Reports, etc.); (2) Congressional Committee (e.g., Energy & Natural Resources); or (3) Government Author (e.g., Impeachment Trial Committee).

FDsys researchers can also keyword or phrase search (using simple or complex queries) through all of FDsys’s Collections together from the search box on FDsys’s home page (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action).

If you want to search fewer than all Collections (e.g., one or two, etc.), you would use the FDsys Advanced Search page (http://linkon.in/y2uMZC). To search, select a specific Collection from the “Available Collections” drop-down menu and click “Add.” You can continue to add more collections (or search all). After choosing the Collection(s) (and date if you wish), you can enter your keywords/phrases into the search box to the right of the “Full Text of Publications and Metadata.” If you want to search by other criteria, click the downward arrow to the right of “Full-Text Publications and Metadata” and you will be offered Collection-specific Search Criteria. If you select the Congressional Bills Collection, you can search by Bill Number, Bill Version, etc. but if you select the Congressional Reports Collection the criteria you can search by would be by Report Number, Conference Report, etc.

Using the Advanced Search also allows us to: (1) add specific dates (into the Publications Date box located at the top of the page) and (2) add five more search criteria options to any search.

According to the documentation at FDsys, its simple queries are similar to a “typical search engine such as Google” because FDsys uses the same Boolean connectors (AND, OR, -) as Google and phrase searching (where you surround a phrase with quotation marks). There are some differences, though: (1) Boolean connectors are case insensitive at FDsys while they must be in uppercase at Google, (2) FDsys researchers can also use NOT instead of the minus sign ( - ), since they are interchangeable at FDsys (but not at Google), and (3) FDsys researchers can use the Boolean connector AND or leave a space in between words (but Google scolds you if you type AND in between words).

• In addition, FDsys allows for the following types of complex queries (some of which are not found at Google): Proximity connectors (near/#, adj, before/#)
• Field operators, which allow you to restrict your keywords to specific metadata fields (parts of a document), such as: 
  • Congress Member: To search by this Field, enter your search this way— member:mcconnell 
• Wildcards, which are indicated by:
  • the question mark symbol (?) to replace one character before, within, or after a search term; 
  • the asterisk symbol ( * ) to replace one or more characters before, within, or after a search term. 
  • Typing int**city into the search box indicates a search for any word that begins with int, is followed by any two characters, and then ends with city. The search results might include the words intercity or intracity, or both words. 
• Parentheses, which should be used when creating complex searches such as those where you use multiple proximity connectors and/or multiple Field operators. The following is an example: 
  • (congressional OR executive) AND hearing AND (member:mcconnell) •

You can narrow your search results by Collection, Date Published, Government Author, Organization, Person, Location, or Keyword. For example, if you wanted to view a Congressional Report on a specific topic from 2004 and also 2011, you would select those dates from the left-hand “Narrow Your Search” column once you retrieved your results.

The Public and Private Laws Collection goes back to 1995 (for earlier years, see Thomas’s Public Laws and Private Laws). This Collection can also be used to update the text of a U.S.C. section (if it was later amended) or to learn if it has been repealed. For example, after reading the text of 22 U.S.C. 6208 at the House OLRC site, visit FDsys’s Advanced Search page (http://linkon.in/y2uMZC) and select the Public and Private Laws Collection, then select United States Code Citation criterion from the Search in drop-down menu and enter the U.S.C. citation (be sure to place periods in between each letter because “USC” will not work). Our search for 22 U.S.C. 6208, which was enacted in 1994, revealed six results, with the first result (Public Law 111–202) showing a 2010 amendment.

The Congressional Bills Collection can be keyword searched back to 1993 by choosing Congressional Bills at FDsys’s Advanced Search page (http://linkon.in/y2uMZC). There are eighteen different criteria to choose from and one or multiple Congresses can be searched. To limit Bills to a specific Congress or multiple Congresses, choose the Congress Number criterion. To search Bills by sponsor, you would select the Sponsors and Co-sponsors criterion. However, you would need to type in the sponsor’s name. We prefer the Library of Congress’s Thomas site for this type of search because there we are offered a list of names from which to choose.

The History of Bills Collection offers fourteen different criteria by which to search. While this Collection is not available at the Retrieve by Citation page, a Bill Number Citation search criterion is one of the fourteen criteria that can be searched by choosing History of Bills from the Advanced Search page (http://linkon.in/y2uMZC). If you don’t know which Congress a specific bill number was introduced in, you can search all Congresses (back to 1983) by selecting the Bill Number Citation and entering the bill number (e.g., enter s. 9 to search for the history of every Senate Bill number 9 in every Congress back to 1983).

The Congressional Reports Collection (also referred to as Committee Reports) offers twenty-one different criteria by which to search by choosing Congressional Reports from the Advanced Search page’s Available Collections.

The Conference Reports are not listed as a separate Collection, but can be searched by choosing the Conference Reports search criterion within the Congressional Reports Collection at FDsys’s Advanced Search page (http://linkon.in/y2uMZC). Dates of coverage go back to 1995.

The Congressional Records Collection can be searched by thirty different criteria back to 1994 by choosing it from the Advanced Search page’s Available Collections.

The Statutes At Large Collection can be searched by twenty different criteria (back to 2003), by choosing Statutes At Large from the Advanced Search page’s Available Collections. To search from 1951-2002, select the Additional Government Publications Collection from the Available Collections, then Publication Name (from the Search in drop-down menu. From the Select Value pop-up box, select United States Statutes At Large (Digitized).

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