1 / 35

Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future

Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future. A CLE Program during Cornell Law Alumni Reunion Claire M. Germain Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law cmg13@cornell.edu. Friday, June 9th, 2000. Context of Legal Research Today. Inflation of Information

norina
Télécharger la présentation

Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future A CLE Program during Cornell Law Alumni Reunion Claire M. Germain Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law cmg13@cornell.edu Friday, June 9th, 2000

  2. Context of Legal Research Today • Inflation of Information • Inflation of Legal Issues • Difficulty of Distinguishing Domestic from Foreign and International in a Global Setting • Pressures on Law Firms

  3. Advice for Successful Internet Research • A Thoughtful Approach to Legal Research • Concrete Examples • How to Become Empowered • Principles of Efficient Research

  4. Sample Search You are representing a bank in South Carolina that learns it now has to provide information on account holders who are delinquent in paying their child support. You know that there is a recent federal law that mandates each state must come up with a procedure by which they will help identify these parents. Research Strategy?

  5. Evaluation of a Web Source • Characteristics of Superior Information Sources • What is the source? • Is this source reliable? • Is it up-to-date? • Is this the official, final version of a text? Can you cite this to a court? • What is the cost? Time is money!

  6. Sample Search

  7. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes • Cornell Law Library‑Print: • The official code is the United States Code (U.S.C., KF 62 .A2), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor. It does not have case annotations‑‑e.g., references to cases interpreting a statute.

  8. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) • Cornell Law Library‑Print (cont.): • There are two annotated, commercially published, U.S. Codes: • United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A., KF 62 1927 .W51), located in alcove 7 of the Reading Room and on the first floor; and • United States Code Service (U.S.C.S., KF 62 1972 .L42), located in alcove 7‑8 of the Reading Room and on the first floor.

  9. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) • On the Internet: The (unannotated) U.S. Code is available at • Cornell's Legal Information Institute (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/) and • The House of Representatives website (http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm)

  10. Sample Search: U.S. and State Codes (cont.) • On LEXIS and WESTLAW: • On LEXIS, the U.S.C.S. is available. • In classic LEXIS, choose the genfed library, uscs file. • On the web (http://www.lexis.com/research), go to the source directory, select "Federal Legal ‑ U.S.", then "United States Codes Service (USCS) Materials." • On WESTLAW, the U.S.C.A. is available in the USCA database.

  11. Sample Search

  12. LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet One-stop Shopping

  13. LEXIS/WESTLAW versus the “Free” Internet • Sophisticated Databases • Fully-indexed Content • Powerful Search Engines • Validating Your Search: • Shepard’s • Keycite • Reliability

  14. Low Cost Services: Loislaw, Versuslaw, etc. • Alternative for solo practitioners or small law firms • Full-text cases and statutes for all 50 states • Not equivalent to LEXIS-NEXIS or WESTLAW • No citator service

  15. Free Internet Sources • Lots of useful information for the practice of law • Federal and state governmental resources • Good place for current information, news, facts, statistics, people, and events • Worldwide coverage

  16. International and Foreign Law on the ’Net • Understanding a foreign legal system • Comparative law methodology • How to read a case in civil law • faux amis • The perils of translation

  17. Cornell Law Library International Resources • Foreign and International Law Guide • Country Guides Mirror Sites • International Court of Justice • International Labor Organization

  18. Cornell Law Library International Resources

  19. Legal Research Principles Considerations when making choices Evaluate • not only the end product, but • the way in which information is retrieved, and • the context in which the research is performed

  20. Free-text Searching versus Classified Arrangements • Free-text works best for factual research, but not always with best results • West’s Digest and Synopsis advantage • LEXIS’ Core Concepts

  21. Information versus Research • Access to information is different from use in your practice as a reliable source • No organized control of information • How to know what you are missing

  22. Favorite Web Sites Legal Portals

  23. Cornell Law Librarywww.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

  24. Cornell’s Legal Information Institutewww.law.cornell.edu

  25. Findlawwww.findlaw.com

  26. Law.comwww.law.com

  27. LLRX.comwww.llrx.com

  28. Favorite Web Sites General-- for everyday use, facts, figures, background information, etc.

  29. Library Spotwww.libraryspot.com

  30. Refdesk.comwww.refdesk.com

  31. Favorite Search Engines

  32. Lawcrawlerwww.lawcrawler.com

  33. Googlewww.google.com

  34. The Future • Much more governmental and commercial information to come • New issues with digital information • How to keep track of amended, repealed provisions • How to ensure long-term access

  35. Conclusion Have Fun and Come to our “Hands-On” Session Tomorrow!

More Related