1. Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future A CLE Program during Cornell Law Alumni Reunion Claire M. Germain Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law cmg13@cornell.edu Friday, June 9th, 2000

2. Context of Legal Research Today Inflation of Information Inflation of Legal Issues Difficulty of Distinguishing Domestic from Foreign and International in a Global Setting Pressures on Law Firms

3. Advice for Successful Internet Research A Thoughtful Approach to Legal Research Concrete Examples How to Become Empowered Principles of Efficient Research

4. You are representing a bank in South Carolina that learns it now has to provide information on account holders who are delinquent in paying their child support. You know that there is a recent federal law that mandates each state must come up with a procedure by which they will help identify these parents. Sample Search Research Strategy?

5. Evaluation of a Web Source Web SourceWeb Source Characteristics of Superior Information Sources –What is the source? –Is this source reliable? –Is it up-to-date? –Is this the official, final version of a text? Can you cite this to a court? –What is the cost? Time is money!

6. Sample Search Sample Search

7. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes Cornell Law Library ‑ Print: The official code is the United States Code (U.S.C., KF 62.A2), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor. It does not have case annotations ‑‑ e.g., references to cases interpreting a statute.

8. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) Cornell Law Library ‑ Print (cont.): There are two annotated, commercially published, U.S. Codes: –United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A., KF 62 1927.W51), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor; and –United States Code Service (U.S.C.S., KF 62 1972.L42), located in alcove 7 ‑ 8 of the Reading Room and on the first floor.

9. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) On the Internet: The (unannotated) U.S. Code is available at Cornell's Legal Information Institute (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/) andCornell's Legal Information Institute The House of Representatives website (http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm)The House of Representatives

10. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) On LEXIS and WESTLAW:LEXISWESTLAW On LEXIS, the U.S.C.S. is available. –In classic LEXIS, choose the genfed library, uscs file. –On the web (http://www.lexis.com/research), go to the source directory, select "Federal Legal ‑ U.S.", then "United States Codes Service (USCS) Materials." On WESTLAW, the U.S.C.A. is available in the USCA database.

11. Sample Search

12. LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet One-stop Shopping

13. LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet Sophisticated Databases Fully-indexed Content Powerful Search Engines Validating Your Search: –Shepard’s –Keycite Reliability

14. Low Cost Services: Loislaw, Versuslaw, etc. Alternative for solo practitioners or small law firms Full-text cases and statutes for all 50 states Not equivalent to LEXIS-NEXIS or WESTLAW No citator service

15. Free Internet Sources Lots of useful information for the practice of law Federal and state governmental resources Good place for current information, news, facts, statistics, people, and events Worldwide coverage

16. International and Foreign Law on the ’Net Understanding a foreign legal system Comparative law methodology –How to read a case in civil law –faux amis The perils of translation

17. Cornell Law Library International Resources Foreign and International Law Guide Country Guides Mirror Sites International Court of Justice International Labor Organization

18. Cornell Law Library International Resources

19. Legal Research Principles Considerations when making choices Evaluate –not only the end product, but –the way in which information is retrieved, and –the context in which the research is performed

20. Free-text Searching versus Classified Arrangements Free-text works best for factual research, but not always with best results West’s Digest and Synopsis advantage LEXIS’ Core Concepts

21. Information versus Research Access to information is different from use in your practice as a reliable source No organized control of information How to know what you are missing

22. Favorite Web Sites Legal Portals

23. Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library Cornell Law Library www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

24. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute Cornell’s Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu

25. Findlaw Findlaw Findlaw www.findlaw.com

26. Law.com Law.com Law.com www.law.com

27. LLRX.com LLRX.com www.llrx.com LLRX.com

28. Favorite Web Sites General-- for everyday use, facts, figures, background information, etc.

29. Library Spot Library Spot www.libraryspot.com Library Spot

30. Refdesk.com Refdesk.com www.refdesk.com Refdesk.com

31. Favorite Search Engines

32. Lawcrawler Lawcrawler www.lawcrawler.com Lawcrawler

33. Google Google www.google.com Google

34. The Future Much more governmental and commercial information to come New issues with digital information How to keep track of amended, repealed provisions How to ensure long-term access

35. Conclusion Have Fun and Come to our “Hands-On” Session Tomorrow!