The Internet as a Legal Research Tool

by Terri Olson

Most lawyers are now aware of the Internet, and some are even dipping their toes in the vast sea of legal information that is out there. This article is not intended to be an overview of the Internet -- that's been done and in a far more comprehensive fashion than I could manage here. Rather, I hope to provide encouragement and education to those who want to test the waters by giving an overview of some of the ways in which legal research can be done on the Internet, along with some cautions (that water can get deep pretty quickly!).

Using Research Sites

It's now possible to go on-line and by browsing around on the World Wide Web locate any number of sites that claim to have vast amounts of substantive legal information -- hundreds of pages of codes, years' worth of case law, and so on. And all of this is basically free (except for what you're paying to your access provider). So, what is the difference between doing research using a proprietary on-line service such as Westlaw or Dialog and researching via the Internet?

Reliability of data. A trade occurs between subscribers to a commercial on-line research service and the owners of that service: in exchange for subscription fees and on-line charges, the service provider is responsible for ensuring that the information is correct, comprehensive, and up-to-date. On the Internet, no such trade occurs. The information is there because someone -- in the vast majority of cases a volunteer -- thought it would be useful and/or fun to make available. This volunteer may or may not update the material on a regular basis and certainly makes no warranties of its comprehensiveness.

That being said, information available for free over the Internet frequently is timely, error-free, and complete. Many sites (Emory and Cornell Universities spring to mind, among others) are enormously proud of their reputations and work as hard if not harder than commercial vendors to provide a quality product. In addition, it's becoming more and more common for a commercial vendor to have an Internet presence, usually through the Web, and the information placed on that site is there to act as an advertisement for the vendor's other services.

Search mechanisms. If you use Lexis or Westlaw, you know that all searches you conduct through them will use the same commands and expressions. The problem with Internet searches is that you can easily end up at seven or eight different sites during a research session -- with each site using its own unique search methods. And because of the difficulty of programming the search forms, frequently only simple searches are available, and even these can be quite slow.

Lack of annotation. With most commercial services or publishers, you are paying to access not only a statute, regulation, or body of case law but also annotations or commentary provided by experts. Free Internet material, however, is usually found in an unadorned state. You might be able to access commentary at another site, but it would not be included with the codes or regulations themselves.

Lack of historical data. Many volunteers who have begun publishing efforts on the Internet start with the current year's information and move forward. Because of time limitations and because it's difficult to get older information in electronic form, they may or may not get around to "backfilling" their data. It's vital to check any body of case law you are researching on the Internet to note when the data begin -- if all critical opinions were issued before the start date of that site, your free information may be worth just what you paid for it.

So do I recommend dropping that expensive Lexis, Westlaw or Dialog subscription and relying instead on the free information at your fingertips across the World Wide Web? Not on your life, at least not yet. But what is out there is still enormously useful, and if it is not an adequate current substitute for a law library or a proprietary on-line service subscription, it's a wonderful adjunct.

Some interesting and useful Internet legal research sites to get you started:

Court of Appeals -- for full text searching of all Eleventh Circuit opinions (Emory has now, with the addition of the First Circuit, all fourteen federal appellate courts available through their site!) United States Code SEC EDGAR database Bankruptcy info -- gets you to a comprehensive collection of case law, commentary, forms, etc. on bankruptcy law Legislative info -- has full text of all versions of House and Senate bills along with other interesting information on current legislation

Other Resources

Law firms with Internet access should also realize the wealth of useful tools apart from sites with the text of case law or regulations on them. One such tool is the Usenet, a collection of discussion groups on an incredible variety of subjects. Readers of a particular newsgroup, as they are called, can view and post messages, with a response to a given question often coming within minutes if the newsgroup is an active one. Newsgroups lawyers might find interesting include misc.legal.moderated or misc.legal.computing.

Less flexible in some ways but more focused is the concept of the mailing list. Mailing lists are set up for those interested in a specific topic, and messages on that topic are e-mailed to those who have requested to subscribe to the list. Since only subscribers post and receive messages, the groups tend to concentrate on the list topic and aren't subject to the nuisance posts and "spamming" that can be an annoyance on some newsgroups. For a list of legal mailing lists, access The University of Chicago on the Web.

Let us know what you think! Call the Law Practice Management program at 404-527-8773.

This article was originally published in the Georgia Bar Journal, June 1996, Vol. 1 No. 6 p. 70