DEAN LISA SMITH-BUTLER ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH FALL 2009 Cost Effective Legal Research: The Internet & Beyond

Introduction There are three primary sources of American law produced by the three branches of government:  opinions/cases are issued and published by courts;  statutes are enacted and then published by legislatures; and  regulations are promulgated and next published by regulatory agencies operating via the delegated power of the legislative branch.

In addition to the print versions, there are numerous Internet sites that provide access to primary sources of law (cases, statutes, or regulations) as well as secondary sources of law such as law reviews, forms and other legal documents. While some sites charge fees for access, many do not. When using these free sites with understanding, you can be said to be performing cost effective legal research. Federal and South Carolina primary sources of law will be reviewed along with secondary resources at both fee and reputable free Internet sites.

Evaluating Web Sites Before deciding to use a web site, evaluate it just as you would evaluate a print resource. Consider:  whether the publisher of the site is reputable and knowledgeable?  whether the content of the site is accurate, authentic and objective?  whether the content can be retrieved via keyword, author, or title searching?  whether the information is current? and  the frequency with which the information is updated.

Federal Court Information Today, we will review Internet sites that publish opinions and information from the following courts:  U.S. Supreme Court  U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal  U.S. District Courts.

United States Supreme Court Opinions published by the U.S. Supreme Court appear in print in the following sources:  Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)  United States Reports (U.S./official)  United States Reports, Lawyer’s Edition (L.Ed.)  United States Law Week (U.S.L.W.)

United States Supreme Court Supreme Court decisions are also available in fee electronic resources such as:  Westlaw (use SCT database) or  Lexis (use Federal Legal US Library).

United States Supreme Court The United States Supreme Court created the official web site, in This site provides the full text of opinions from 1991 onwards. Recent opinions are provided in date issued order with hyper text links. Earlier opinions are located in the “bound volumes.” Opinions can also be searched via keyword at the search text box that asks to search for documents containing:

United States Supreme Court In addition to the full text of Court opinions from 1991 onwards, this site also contains historical information about the Court, biographical information about the justices, the Court’s calendar, court rules, and case handling guidelines.

United States Supreme Court In addition to the official site, there are also other sites that provide access to the full text of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. These include:  Cornell’s Legal Information Institute at ;  Findlaw at ;  Flite at FedWorld at ; &  Oyez, Oyez, Oyez at

United States Supreme Court Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, available at provides complete access to the full text of U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1990 onwards. Selected historical Supreme Court decisions are also available at this site. How can you locate cases at this site?  party name searching;  keyword searching;  use of Cornell created descriptive word index, called Topic; or  searching with the name of Justice who wrote the opinion.

United States Supreme Court The site also provides biographical information about the justices as well as historical information about the Court. Court rules can also be located at this site.