4/11/2022

Online Legal Sites

Online Legal Research Sites
Free Online Legal Research Sites

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Free Online Legal Research – Resources Available by Information Type

Free Online Legal Information - Popular Resources

Case Law Access Project (Harvard Law) Provides access to all U.S. official published case law from 1658 to June 2018.
FindLaw for Legal Professionals(Thompson Reuters) Includes case law, case summaries, statutes, legal search engine, legal news, RSS court updates, and practice information.
Government Publishing Office (Govinfo) Access to official Federal Government publications, including authenticated PDF documents.
Guide to Law Online(Law Library of Congress) Annotated Portal containing selected links to United States, Foreign, and International law resources, many offering primary, full-text legal materials.
Justia Includes case law, statutes, regulations, articles, opinion summaries (newsletter), and limited access to Federal District Court dockets.
Law Guru Free legal advice forum with a network of more than 8,000 specialized attorneys in all legal areas
Law Stack Exchange Question-and-answer forum for legal professionals, students, and others with an interest in law
Legal Information Institute (LII) (Cornell University Law School) Provides primary legal materials, legal encyclopedia, and the Supreme Court Bulletin.
PublicLegal Categorized index of select legal websites, thousands of legal forms, and helpful legal resources and documents
Public Library of Law (Fastcase) Includes case law, statutes, regulations, court rules, constitutions, and legal forms.

Search Engines

These sources limit Web-searching to law-specific resources.

American Law Sources OnlineCompilation of links to freely accessible online sources of law for the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
AnyLaw Legal research search engine with free access to Federal and State case law
Dragnet (New York Law School Library) Search limited group of law websites, constitutions and codes, and law reviews with online content.
Google Scholar Search Federal and State legal opinions and journals.
Laws.com Statutes, state laws, legal forms, legislation, and more.
Legal Web Search (Justia) ( Justia > Search > Legal Web Search
Ravel Law Search a comprehensive collection of United States case law
USA.gov Search federal and state government websites.
World Legal Information Institute Search engine with links to over 15,000 law-related websites all over the world.

Free Online Legal Research – Resources Available by Information Type

Federal Law

United States Constitution

American Memory(Library of Congress) Find documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention (1774-1789), includes images of original documents and related materials.
Founder’s Constitution (University of Chicago Press) Provides links to historical documents related to the development of the Constitution.
Govinfo (U.S. GPO) Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation (Historical 1992-).
LIICRS Annotated Constitution Prepared by the Congressional Research Service.
National ArchivesImages of original documents and historical information.

United States Code

Govinfo(1994-) Authenticated PDFs. Note that official Code is print edition published by the Government Printing Office.
LII Current and newly codified (preliminary release) legislation. Browse or search by citation. Links to part of Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for which statute provides rule making authority.
Office of Law Revision Council(U.S. House of Representatives) Prepares and publishes U.S. Code, provides searchable code (1988-), preliminary release Code, and tables.

Legislative Information
- American Memory: A Century of Law Making for a New Nation(Library of Congress)
  - Congressional Bills (House 1799-1873, Senate 1819-1873)
  - Congressional Committee Reports (U.S. Serial Set 1833-1917)
  - Congressional Debates (1789-1877)
- Congress.gov (Library of Congress, replacement for Thomas)
  - Congressional Bills (1973-)
  - Congressional Committee Reports (1995-)
  - Congressional Debates (1995-)
- Congressional Bills (1993-)
- Congressional Hearings (1985-)
- Congressional Committee Reports (1995-)
- Congressional Debates (1994-)

Govinfo (Official, Authenticated Documents)

Case Law
- U.S. Courts
  - U.S. Supreme Court (PDFs of U.S. Reports 1991-, slip ops 2008-)
    - Browse documents by Term or search “All Documents or “Docket Files.”
  - U.S. Courts of Appeals (links to court websites, coverage varies)
  - U.S. District Courts (links to court websites, coverage varies)
- Findlaw (Cases & Codes > Select Court)
  - U.S. Supreme Court (1893-)
    - Search by citation, party name, or full-text
    - Browse cases by year (2005-)
    - May use Boolean and proximity operators, and wildcards
  - U.S. Courts of Appeals(1995-, First Circuit 2/1984-, Ninth Circuit 11/1994-)
    - Search full text, by party name, or docket number
    - Browse recent decisions
- U.S. Supreme Court (1759-)
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (1950-)
- Provides access to all U.S. official published case law from 1658 to June 2018.
- Search a comprehensive collection of United States case law
- Free public access to published U.S. court opinions, statutes, and legal resources

Google Scholar(Legal Documents > Search all or selected Federal Courts)
- U.S. Supreme Court (1791-)
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (1923-)
- U.S. District Courts (1923-)
Justia(Laws: Cases & Codes > Browse by Volume or Year (Sup. Ct. 1959-).
- U.S. Supreme Court (1791-)
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (1951-)
- U.S. District Courts (coverage varies) Decisions and Orders by State/District
Legal Information Institute (LII) (Legal Resources > Federal Law > Judicial Branch)
- U.S. Supreme Court (1991-, historic decisions) Search by keyword, browse by topic, author, or party.
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (links to court websites)
Public Library of Law(Case Law > Search by Keyword; Advanced Options > Restrict by Date Range and/or Jurisdiction > Search by Keyword. Results displayed by relevancy)
Case Law Access Project (Harvard Law)

United States Supreme Court Briefs, Oral Arguments, and Other Information
- Term Archives PDFs of argument transcripts, opinions (links to Bloomberg Law), dockets (links to the Supreme Court website), aggregated blog commentary by case (Oct. 2007 Term-).
- Petitions Tracks select petitions, links to docket information and lower court opinions (links to Bloomberg Law).

U.S. Supreme Court
- Dockets (current and prior terms)
- Argument Transcripts (Oct. 2000 Term-)
- Argument Audio (Oct. 2010 Term-)
American Bar Association
- Merits Briefs (2005 to 2016)
Find Law: U.S. Supreme Court Center
- Scanned Briefs (Oct. 1999-2007 terms)
- Dockets 1999-2009
- Case Index by Topic
LII Supreme Court Bulletin Journal covering cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oyez (Chicago-Kent College of Law) Oral Argument Audio (1981-).
SCOTUSBlog(sponsored by Bloomberg Law) provides extensive coverage of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Court of Appeals Oral Arguments

Court Listener Audio of Circuit Court oral arguments. Coverage varies.

U.S. District Court Case Records

Justia (U.S. Law > U.S. Federal Law > U.S. Federal Court Dockets & Case Filings) Coverage varies, may only include docket sheet (2004-)
RECAP The LawProvides instructions to access donated District and Bankruptcy Court documents from PACER (Coverage incomplete, varies).

Finding Citing Cases
- Findlaw From case display, select “cases citing this case”
- Google Scholar From case display, select “how cited”

Administrative Law: Consult individual websites for agency-specific rules, regulations, decisions, and other resources.

Links to Federal Agencies

USA.govA-Z list of U.S. federal government departments and agencies, with

Regulations
- Govinfo (Official, 1994-) Browse by date and agency, PDFs.
- Office of the Federal RegisterBrowse current issue, links to Federal Register content on Govinfo.
- Regulations.gov Search regulations by keyword, title or Regulation Identifier Number, filter searches by agency, document type, comment period, or category. Find and post comments on proposed regulations.

Federal Register

Code of Federal Regulations

Govinfo(official, 1996-) Browse by year and Title, PDFs.
e-CFR (unofficial) Current edition, updated daily. Browse by Title, search by keyword. Content should be verified against official version when available on Govinfo.
Legal Information Institute (LII) (unofficial) Browse by title, search by keyword. Includes Parallel Table of Authorities showing agency regulatory authorization. Content in database refreshed weekly.

Presidential Resources

The White House: Presidential ActionsIncludes Executive Orders, Presidential Memorandum, and Proclamations (January 2009- ).
National Archives
- Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders Prepared by the Office of the Federal Register, includes proclamations and Executive orders with “general applicability and continuing effect” (April 13, 1945- January 20, 1989).
- Executive Orders Disposition Tables Index (January 8, 1937-May 1, 2012) Includes subject index by president.
- Public Papers of the Presidents (1981- (Ronald Reagan-)) Official series including presidential writings, addresses, and public remarks, organized chronologically.
Govinfo
- Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993- ) Official documents released by the White House Press Secretary, includes weekly and daily editions.
- Public Papers of the Presidents (1991- (George H.W. Bush -)) Official series including presidential writings, addresses, and public remarks, organized chronologically.

State Law

Please also consult the library’s Virginia Legal Materials Research Guide for information about free Virginia resources.

Primary State Materials (Constitutions, Statutes, Cases)
- FindLaw: State Resources Includes state constitutions, codes, bills, court opinions, and administrative codes. Coverage varies by state.
- Google Scholar Provides state supreme court and appellate decisions (1950-). Use 'advanced search' to restrict to specific state courts.
- Justia: U.S. States Includes state constitutions, cases, and links to legislative resources. Coverage varies by state.

Sites Providing Links to State-Sponsored Websites
- LII: Collection of State Legal MaterialsAccess to state constitutions, statutes, regulations, and judicial opinions.
- National Association of Secretaries of State: Administrative Rules Online by State Provides links to state administrative registers, codes, and manuals.
- National Center for State Courts Provides links state court websites.
- National Conference of State Legislatures: Internet Links Provides links for state legislative materials.
- Public Library of Law Provides state supreme court and appellate decisions (1997- ), links to state administrative sites, constitutions, statutes, and court rules.
- State Legislatures, State Laws, and State Regulations: Website Links and Telephone NumbersCompiled by the Law Library’s Society of Washington (LLSDC).
- Congress.Gov: State Legislatures and WebsitesProvides a map linking to state legislative sites.

International and Foreign Law

Please consult the library’s International Law Research Guide under the heading “Other Online Resources” for additional resources.

FindLaw: International ResourcesLinks include primary legal materials, databases, statistics, and international organizations.
GlobaLex(NYU School of Law) Provides International and Comparative Law guides and articles by subject.
Guide To Law Online
LII: Law by Source (Global) Links to sites with primary International and Foreign sources, including international organizations, national government and other legal information. Coverage varies by country.
Yale Law Library: Country by Country Guide to Foreign Law Resources Links to both free and fee-based resources.
World Legal Information InstituteDatabases and catalog to over 15,000 law-related websites in every country of the world.

Journal Articles

ABA Legal Technology Resource Center/Law Technology Today Search more than 400 online full-text journal/law reviews and related sources, including Congressional Research Service Reports. Coverage varies.
BePressBrowse or Search over 90 law journals published in the Digital Commons open access repository.
- Law Review Commons a resource provided by Bepress, browse and search law journal articles made available by institutions through their bepress Digital Commons repositories.
Google Scholar Limits Google search to academic journal articles, conference papers, dissertations, theses, indexes articles and abstracts from major academic publishers. Coverage and access to full-text varies.
Law Reviews Online An index to online journals provided by the Library of Congress.
Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Widely used by scholars to share papers and articles in several topical networks. Legal Scholarship Network includes over 130,000 papers searchable by keyword, title, author or date.

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Findlaw Legal Dictionary
Law.Com Dictionary
Nolo’s Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions
Wex Legal Dictionary and Encyclopedia (LII)

Legal News and Blogs

ABA Journal Magazine of the American Bar Association.
ABA Journal Blawg Directory Lists regularly updated law blogs by topic. Annual ranking of the “Top 100 Blawgs.”
Findlaw: Legal Pulse Legal headlines and topical updates.
Jurist U.S. and World Legal News.
Justia Blawg Search Find blogs on numerous legal topics.
National Law Journal/Legal Times (Online Editions) Registration required to access all free content.
Law Street MediaFastcase's legal news by industry. Readers can track litigation, companies, and firms within industry sectors.
LexisNexis CommunitiesLegal news, blogs, and podcasts for select practice areas.
Subscript LawVisual reports of Supreme Court decisions and other legal news using infographics

Research Guides

There are numerous topical online legal research guides, many written by librarians at university and public law libraries. In addition to George Mason Law Library Research Guides, other recommended sources for research guides include:

Emory Law Library Includes links to free electronic resources related to secondary sources, foreign law sources, and U.S. federal, state, and local primary sources
Georgetown Law LibraryA large number of legal research guides and treatise finder.
Harvard Law LibraryA large number of legal research guides and legal web search available.
HG.orgInformation, overviews, definitions, and links for more than 260 legal practice areas.
Judicial Learning Center Helpful basic information on the role, organization, and operation of federal courts.
Law Library of Congress: Guide to Law Online Includes links to resources on U.S., Foreign, and International Law.
LLRXWeb journal with guides covering Internet research and technology.
Zimmerman’s Research Guide (LexisNexis) Online encyclopedia and collection of research guides.

Low Cost Mobile Apps & Databases

The services listed below offer a variety of plans that provide enhanced searching for primary legal materials, although fewer search features than premium legal databases. In addition, while these products offer citators, however the updating features are not equivalent to Shepards, Keycite, or BCite.

Federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, and rules with annotated codified law, advanced citator, and free customer support
All-inclusive monthly price per month starting at $65

Casemaker
- Federal and state cases and statutes, citator
- Monthly and annual subscriptions available, fees based on state bar membership (free with some state bar memberships---not D.C., Maryland, or Virginia).

Detailed guidance for pro se litigants on how to represent yourself in court.
Monthly membership fee of $24.95/month includes end-to-end legal case management toolbox.

Courtroom Objections (Mobile App)

A quick guide to making and responding to courtroom objections, including lists of common objections and responses.
App price is $2.99 with family-sharing option available for up to six (6) people.

Federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and bar publications. Also includes a free mobile app.
'Authority Check' citator: identifies citing cases, flags cases that have been reversed or overruled. Note this is done with computer analytics so it is not equivalent to the human editing provided by Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg law).
Free access for Virginia Bar members, limited/reduced fee access for D.C. and Maryland Bar Members.

Law Stack (Mobile App)

Current, downloadable statutes, regulations, and rules.
Subscription options range from free access to paid packages.

Legal Dictionary (Mobile App)

Search 58,000+ cases and legal terms from top sources, including West's Encyclopedia of American Law.
Free download, option to add in-app purchases.

Online Legal Research Sites

Nolo's English Law Dictionary (Mobile App)

Complete and up-to-date legal dictionary, edited by a team of lawyers with expertise in vital areas of the law.
Free with family sharing available for up to six (6) people.

Oyez (Mobile App)

Multimedia judicial archive of the U.S. Supreme Court, plus the Justia Lawyer Directory and Annotated Constitution
Free with family sharing available for up to six (6) people.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)

Operated by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, provides access to Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy Court case and docket information.
Charges $0.10 per page retrieved, $3.00 cap per document. Quarterly charges of less than $15.00 are waived.

Rule Book (Mobile App)

Exclusive mobile publishing platform for the Bluebook and other leading legal publishers. Included Federal Rules of Evidence, U.S. Constitution, and more.
Free download with option to add in-app purchases.

Versus Law
- Available content includes U.S. and foreign primary source materials, varies with plan.
- Three legal research plans offering monthly and yearly options.

Free Online Legal Research Sites

Last updated January 21, 2021