Finding Practice Tools

by Sue Altmeyerfor the National Business Institute Program,

“Finding it Free and Fast on the Net: Strategies for Legal Research on the Web”

November 3, 2008

Using Attorney Work Product - Caveats

• Do your own research

•Tailor to your facts

•You may have other arguments

•May be out of date or wrong

Using Attorney Work Product – Copyright Issues?

Stueber Article: •Document used original? •Copying text or ideas?•How much is borrowed?

Isaacs Article:•Attorneys HAVE sued•Fair Use if ADAPT document

Briefs, Motions & Pleadings On Lexis & Westlaw

• Ohio briefs 1990-, motions & pleadings 1999/2000-

• Full text searching–type of case & document, attorney

• At public or county law library

Briefs/Motions in Dockets

Search by type of case:

• PACER

• Montgomery County Docket

(search by attorney on Montgomery Docket)

Search by type of document:Summit County Docket

Finding Court Dockets

• LLRX Court Rules Forms and Dockets

• Cleveland Marshall’s Court Webpages, Dockets & Briefs.

Example

Find an Anders Brief filed in Ohio

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

• Findlaw Supreme Court Briefs (2007-1999)-

• ABA’s Briefs for the 2007-2008 Term

• Where to Find Briefs of the Supreme Court of the U.S. –pay & free databases, document retrieval services

• Yale University – Curiae Project – selected cases.

Federal & State Court Briefs

• Ohio Supreme Court Briefs (2006 -)

Articles:

• Free and Fee Based Appellate Court Briefs Online - Links for state & federal courts.

• A Brief Summary: Free Briefs on the Web

Shared Legal Document Sites

• JDSupra - Documents are tied to attorney profiles

• Scribd

• DocStoc

• LawLink

• Legal On-Ramp

General Internet Searching for Briefs

• Clusty, Google, Dogpile, etc.

• LexisWeb or Westlaw Webplus (if you subscribe to Westlaw)

• Try blog search directories - Justia Blog Search; U.S. Law Blog Directory

Forms and Sample Contracts

• Cleveland Marshall Law Library’s Research Guide: Forms and Practice Materials

Forms and Sample Contracts

• Who publishes the site? A legal publisher? bar association?

• Does the site sell forms?

• Who wrote the form?

• Use with caution, tailor to your facts

Sites for Transactional & Litigation Forms

LexisONE Automated Forms • Registration required• free & fee• some free HotDocs forms. • Download Hotdocs Player • interview-style questions gather information,

custom document generated based on answers. • You can purchase Hotdocs software to convert

your document into a Hotdoc

• Possibly a demo here of Lexis One or Hot docs

Sites for Transactional and Litigation Forms

• Legal Forms Menu

• Findlaw Forms

• All About Forms.com

• Freelegalforms.net

• ‘Lectic Law Library Forms Room

• WashLaw Legal Forms

• Gale LegalForms – via Public Library

Attorney Work Product Sites

• JDSupra - Documents are tied to attorney profiles

• Scribd

• DocStoc

• LawLink

• Legal On-Ramp

Transactional Documents via SEC EDGAR

• sample SEC filings

• other documents attached: management contracts, executive compensation plans, articles of incorporation and by-laws, material contracts, voting trust agreements See Item 601, Regulation S-K.

Forthcoming SEC Database

• IDEA - Interactive Data Electronic Applications

• tagged fields of information

• search for precise information

• generate reports.

• Edgar available during transition

• SEC's Press Release.

More sophisticated SEC Filing databases

• Lexis and Westlaw, GSI, Mergent

• SECInfo.com

Transactional Forms

• CORI: Contracting and Organizations Research Institute –from Edgar

• Home Business Online Legal Forms

• Legal & Business Forms

• WorldLawDirect -22 forms in MS Word

Transactional Forms – Other Ideas

• Clusty, Google, Dogpile, etc.

• LexisWeb or Westlaw Webplus (if you subscribe to Westlaw)

• Use court dockets to find

• Cleveland Law Library FAQs – ex. Living Wills Durable Power of Attorney

Legal Drafting Advice

• Cleveland Marshall Law Library’s Research Guide: Forms and Practice Materials

• AdamsDrafting Blog

Agency Forms

• Forms.gov – federal. Some fillable.

• USA Fed Forms.com - federal. Some fillable.

• State of Ohio - Agency Forms

Court Forms – Lucas County

• Sixth District Court of Appeals

• Lucas County Common Pleas Court – Jury Instructions

• Probate Court Forms

• Clerk of Courts

More Ohio Court Forms

• Cleveland Marshall Law Library’s Research Guide: Forms and Practice Materials

• Cleveland Law Library FAQ – Self Help

Nationwide Court Forms

• LLRX Court Rules, Forms and Dockets

• American Law Sources Online

• Findlaw Forms

Jury Verdicts

Preferred Sources:

• Westlaw or Lexis search (Casemaker database for Ohio OK)

PLUS

• JVR Case Evaluation Manual (LRP)

Jury Verdict Internet Sources

• MoreLaw Recent Jury Verdicts and Settlements – full reports free

• Verdict Search (By American Lawyer Media) – free lists w/ name & jurisdiction

Jury Verdict Internet Sources, Cont’d

• National Law Journal (also published by ALM) – one year of newspaper searchable for free. List of a few recent verdicts and settlements

• Verdicts.com – free list, no party names. Advanced field searching

Jury Verdict Internet Sources, Cont’d.

• Jury Verdict Review and Analysis – free list w/jurisdiction but no names, free emails

• Lawyer’s Weekly USA - free list w/jurisdiction but no names

• Jury Verdict Research.com – for fee staff search

• Jury Verdict Publications – a few free issues online

General Internet Searches for Jury Verdicts

• Try a search for "jury verdict", jurisdiction, keywords