Legal Research

Legal Vertical Search Tool Unveiled

By Simon Chester

The world’s largest legal vertical search engine launched yesterday according to a press release. The Public Library of Law (pLoL) has partnered with legal research provider Fastcase, Inc. It may be more of a directory than a search engine, even though Fastcase CEO Ed Walters claims it makes”first-time legal research as easy as using Google.”

What is available on PLoL?

* Cases from the U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals
* Cases from all 50 states back to 1997
* Federal statutory law and codes from all 50 states
* Regulations, court rules, constitutions.

“Unlike other free resources, Fastcase backstops PLoL, so citations to older cases not in its database appear as links to Fastcase, increasing the size of the PLoL library to virtually the entire American law library. Additional professional research tools are available through Fastcase.com as well.”

But Search Engine Watch is duly sceptical.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).