Information that law students search in Internet

Two American students – one is a law student (B), the other is a journalism student (A) – are talking in a university library.

A	What do you browse the web for?
B	We do a lot of research in different areas. First of all this can be a certain legal authority that is created through legislation (statutes) or court decisions (case law). Statutes and case law are known as primary sources of law.
A	Hovering over the links on the web page how do you know if this or that site is authoritative?
B	When you are searching the Internet for legal information, you have to look at the top level domain to check the authority of the site. As a general rule, look for .gov and .edu.
A	Well, I see. These are like gpo.gov – Government Printing Office, or law.cornell.edu – Legal Information Institute. And what about secondary authorities?
B	Secondary legal authority, like http://www.justia.com/ is found on the Internet in the form of law review articles and legal periodicals. Secondary sources help explain and interpret primary sources of law and may be a good starting point for research. Law review articles contain citations to statutes and case law and discuss the importance of each as they relate to the topic.
A	But there must be some special tools to make a professional research. You must be taught to do one as the research is so important for your work.
B	You bet, sure! Our program includes Legal Research course where we are trained to dig up information. We are subscribed to the total research system LexisNexis with a huge database and to Westlaw legal research service. Moreover, we also navigate different legal directories when it is necessary to expand the research.
A	We also must be able to do a professional research but we have our sources.

Task 3

Do the summary of the information on Internet research methods of American law students.

Law students of Russian universities do their legal research for Legal English studies. Thus they most often look for expanded definitions of notions and concepts. For effective assignments performance the students search Internet for original information in order to develop the topics and projects.

The useful dictionary sites answers.com, en.wikipedia.com and multitran.ru (translation) have been already discussed.

The following sites will help you to perform more complicated research tasks. Some navigation help is also provided.

FindLaw

www.findlaw.com

FindLaw.com is a free legal information website that helps consumers, small-business owners, students and legal professionals find answers to everyday legal questions and legal counsel when necessary. The site includes case law, state and federal statutes, a lawyer directory, and legal news and analysis.

In 2010, following the 2009 acquisition of the solicitor recommendation service Contact Law, FindLaw launched FindLaw UK (www.findlaw.co.uk), a website for businesses and individuals in the UK looking for information on legal topics.

Site navigation

1. Learn about law link will bring you to the page that contains topics of certain law areas under which you can find necessary information.

TASK: Find out

- the rules of dress code in schools;

- where to look for driver’s responsibility if he/she leaves the scene of accident

2. Find a lawyer link will bring you to the page which contains links to lawyer’s and law firm’s profiles (practice areas) and their location in US.

TASK Find a private practice (not a law firm) Family Lawyer in Chicago Ill.

3. Findlaw answers will bring you to the page where the questions are answered and discussed in forums

4. Legal forms – the page provides information on the documents legal forms

5. News – law news

6. Blogs – links to blogs

There are other links on the front page that you may try to explore.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute

http://www.law.cornell.edu/

Provides links to federal, state, foreign and international legal materials, including U.S. Supreme Court cases; U.S. Constitution, U.S. Code, and Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Rules of Evidence, Criminal Procedure and Civil Procedure; state statutes by topic, and a uniform law locator. "Law about..." section provides information and commentary about broad areas of law, with links to online resources. There is a search box for searching the "Law about..." pages

LII also maintains two Topical Libraries, providing in-depth information on American Legal Ethics and Social Security.

Task 4

Find out

• when the site was founded;

• where the Institute is located;

• who they cooperate with;

• how it is sponsored;

• what sources of American law the site collection include

• what Federal rules you can read about

Legal Encyclopedia link provides information on terms and key words combinations that can be found in a great number of articles. For example, if you want to see the word “statute” the server will return more than 400 results. So you must know exactly what statute you are looking for.

Justia

http://www.justia.com/

Portal provides overviews and links to relevant articles, web resources, laws, news, blogs, and blog posts, by legal practice area, with cross-references to related practice areas and subtopics. Search engine searches Justia.com, legal web, law blogs, or legal podcasts

Task 5

Using the Law Practice Areas section links (click extension more) find special law that protects pets, dogs and animals. And prepare to speak about it.

The Virtual Chase

http://www.virtualchase.com

Founded by law librarian Genie Tyburski, The Virtual Chase has provided online research assistance to legal professionals since the summer of 1996. The site was created in order to disseminate articles and teaching aids to law librarians and other instructors of Internet research. It has since expanded to offer articles, guides and teaching materials. For several years the site was owned by the law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP and is now owned and powered by Justia.com.

The Virtual Chase is available to the public, free of charge. They provide useful content for everyone, from the casual web surfer to experienced researchers, law librarians, and other legal professionals.

http://virtualchase.justia.com/research-resources/legal-subject-area-guides

Task 6

Explore what links will be provided under Cyber Law subject area or Family Law area, or anyone you choose at your discretion.

The Lectric Law Library

lectlaw.com

This is one of the best search directories made up with a great deal of creativity and even humour which you’ll be able to appreciate through frequent use.

The 'Lectric Law Library's

Reference Room

Provides lots of useful articles on the topics listed on the page. You may want to have a look what they offer under the link “Banking, Finance and Credit”, or “Historic Legal Documents” or “The Judicial System”

The 'Lectric Law Lexicon

Explanations for 1000's of law related words, terms & phrases in the Net's most extensive legal dictionary.

Try your search with any term you need or find interest in.

HIEROS GAMOS

http://www.hg.org/

Includes links to U.S. law, both federal and state, foreign and international law, legal associations, and directories, dictionaries and other reference sources, legal forms, and law journals. Law Practice Center includes Law and Government Resources for 230 Countries on over 70 primary practice areas which are further broken out into 130 additional areas. Available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Firstly, examine attentively the opening page of the site to ensure what can be provided at the user’s request.

Then move to Law and Practice page. HG.org Law Center includes over 70 core areas of law which are then broken down into 260 sub areas of practice. The Center provides information on US (Federal and State), European and International Laws. An abundance of information dealing with the specific area of law is also integrated into each page, including: Publications, Articles, Organizations, Resources, Attorneys and Law Firms.

Task 7

Look through alphabetical list. We advise you to click, for example Art and Culture link, or Bribery link, or Internet Law link, to see the resources provided for examination and consideration.

REVIEW Look back at this UNIT’s parts and sections. What is the material that you best remember? What information has been new to you? What exercises have been most difficult? What exercises have been most interesting? What issues or matters have you scrutinized or would you like to scrutinize later yourself?