Legal News

Law Blog News You Can Use: Free Legal Research Sites!

By Dan Slater

Last week, a Law Blog buddy who recently hung out his own shingle was lamenting the high cost of document retrieval sites like Pacer. “Why doesn’t the Law Blog compile filings on its website and spare readers the cost?” he asked us. We liked the idea, but, alas, the Law Blog’s tech skills extend not far beyond the know-how it takes to operate our blogging software.

But don’t fret, buddy! Here’s some news you can use:

JD Supra: Founded by Aviva Cuyler, a former litigator, JD Supra is a new site that allows lawyers of all stripes to post court docs, filings, articles, client alerts — anything relevant to a case, really — for others who are doing legal research. The homepage has a cool sidebar that keeps track of who’s contributing the most docs. The leaders? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted 664 docs; Morrison & Foerster is a distant second with 256 docs.

The PLOL: Fastcase, a subscription-based research site, has created the Public Library of Law, a brand-new, free alternative. It offers access to a subset of what’s available on Fastcase: state supreme court and appellate cases from 1997 to the present, as well state and federal case law and statutes.

LB readers, if anyone out there has used these sites yet, chime in and let us know how they — or any others — work in practice.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 26, 2008 (boomark / email).