Legal Research

Westlaw FormFinder

By Amy Levine

At one time or another we all go on a form hunt. Westlaw now gives us hunters another place to search. The database is called ?FormFinder?. Right now it is highlighted in yellow text at the top of the Westlaw page. The database contains forms, PDF forms, clauses and checklists obtained from other Westlaw databases from other national and state form sets. For complete information on the contents see the information page accessible by clicking on the information icon next to the database name. A user can search the forms by terms and connectors, natural language search or by template. When searching by template, the user can select the legal topic from a pull-down menu, document type and jurisdiction.  Additional search terms can be added to the text box available on the bottom of the screen. Without limiting document type or legal topic a sample search of Arizona forms resulted in 6856 forms! It is important to narrow your search. There is also a ?Locate in Result? option on the results page to help a user further tailor the search.

Full post as published by Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).