1. Free and Low-cost Online Legal Research Tina S. Ching Reference Librarian February 28, 2006

2. Real World Costs of Lexis and Westlaw… sort of Access in Law School Billing Clients Overhead Costs Rate Increases Examples of Pricing

3. Pay versus Free Search Function Annotations Lag Time Information for your Clients Not everything is online Not everything can be bought

4. Starting Points Free sites that provide access or links to various types of legal information Does not always have good searching capabilities May need to register May be owned by major publisher

5. Starting Points - FindLaw Cases Codes News Links Forms Directory Jobs http://www.findlaw.com/

6. Starting Points - lexisone Cases Codes News Links Forms Directory Jobs http://www.lexisone.com/

7. Starting Points - LII Cases Codes News Links Directory http://www.law.cornell.edu/

8. Starting Points - GPO Access Bills Regulations U.S. Code Public Laws Reports http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

9. Cases May be able to search multiple states at once Date ranges of available cases vary Keyword and Boolean searching may be available May link to court’s website

10. Cases - lexisone

11. Cases - FindLaw Miranda “motion picture” near copyright

12. Cases - Court Websites http://www.supreme.state.az.us/opin/ http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/

13. Briefs Briefs are not always available even with Westlaw Supreme Court briefs are easier to find for free Older briefs may only be available in print or microfiche

14. Briefs http://curiae.law.yale.edu/ http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/resources.html

15. Court Rules Court Rules are free But no annotations  Check the court’s website for a link to court rules May have to “register” to access information Access may be through publisher (i.e. West)

16. Court Rules - Arizona http://azrules.westgroup.com/home/azrules/default.wl

17. Court Rules - Ninth Circuit

18. Court Rules - Federal

19. Statutes and Bills Available for free! No annotations Not all info may be available Older materials may not be available

20. Statutes - U.S. Code http://uscode.house.gov/

21. Statutes - Arizona http://www.azleg.state.az.us/

22. Bills - G.P.O.

23. Bills - Thomas http://thomas.loc.gov/

24. Bills - Arizona

25. Regulations Federal Register has final rules and regulations, proposed rules and notices of administrative actions (such as hearings) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is an annual subject compilation of the rules and regulations

26. Regulations - G.P.O. Access

27. Regulations – Other Sources

28. Regulations - Agency Web Site http://www.epa.gov/epahome/lawregs.htm

29. Arizona Regulations http://www.azsos.gov/public_services/

30. California Regulations http://www.oal.ca.gov/

31. Washington Regulations http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/

32. City Ordinances Not always available in Print Usually linked to City’s website

33. Tempe City Code http://www.tempe.gov/citycode/

34. Municode

35. Secondary Sources Mostly written for the public Great for clients who want to do some research Great for attorneys or students who want general information Limited Information

36. Secondary Sources - FindLaw

37. Secondary Sources - Nolo http://www.nolo.com/

38. Secondary Sources - ABA http://www.abanet.org/public.html

39. Secondary Sources - State Bar http://www.azbar.org/LegalResources/brochures.cfm

40. Low Cost Alternatives More advanced search functions than free resources Can search multiple databases at once Access to more secondary resources Do not expect Lexis or Westlaw

41. Low Cost Alternatives - LoisLaw http://www.loislaw.com/

42. http://www.itislaw.com/ http://www.thelaw.net/ http://www.versuslaw.com/ Other Low Cost Alternatives https://www.fastcase.com/Corporate/Home.aspx

43. Don’t Forget your Local Law Library Access to paid databases usually only in the library –Westlaw Patron Access –Academic Universe –Congressional Universe Research Guides often available online Portals – links to free and subscription databases http://www.law.asu.edu/Library/researchguides