Low-Cost Legal Research Services on the Web

Name	Casemaker
Contents	Federal Library has U.S. Supreme Court (1935 to current; selected cases from 1790-1935), Courts of Appeals (from 1995, except 1^st Cir. from fall 1992 and 2^nd Cir. from 1989), US Code, and CFR. Washington State Library has Supreme Court (from 1854) and Court of Appeals (from 1969) with official pagination, RCW, session laws, Attorney General’s Opinions (from 1949), WAC, Growth Management decisions, Environmental Board decisions, court rules, Rules of Professional Conduct, and ethics opinions. Other libraries contain case law, statutes, and regulations (and in some instances other information) for twenty states which are currently members of the Casemaker Consortium.
URL	https://pro.wsba.org/Casemaker/
Cost *	Free to bar members of states that belong to the Casemaker Consortium.
Notes	Currently, federal district court cases are not available and case law coverage varies widely. Casecheck allows updating of cases. Federal case law is added monthly. Washington case law is added within 48 hrs. after posting on court websites.
Student Use	Law school access will be offered soon by the Washington State Bar Association. Ask a reference librarian for a password.
Reviews	Barbara J. Konior, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Casemaker, Washington State Bar News, April 2006, at 26. T.R. Halvorson & Margi Heinen, Casemaker: Ohio Incubates Another Legal Information Service (9/16/2002).

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Name	Fastcase
Contents	U.S. Supreme Court (from inception), Courts of Appeals (from 1924), District Courts (from 1912), Tax Court (from 1924), Bankruptcy Courts (from 1979), US Code, and CFR. State materials include appellate court decisions (from 1950), constitutions, codes, administrative codes, and court rules. Cases are added within 24-48 hrs. of decisions.
URL	http://www.fastcase.com
Cost *	Two plans: $65 or $95 per month ($695 or $995 per year). Free 24 hr. trial and 30-day money-back guarantee. Free through some bar association memberships (not WA State Bar Association).
Notes<	Excellent online demo and FAQs. Very clean display of results and easy navigation tools. Star pagination for official reporters. Boolean and natural language searching. "Authority check" provides list of citing cases. Save selected documents to your computer or add links to the documents from your browser’s Favorites. Formal privacy policy. Live chat help.
Student Use	Currently, no UW Law School subscription.
Review	T.R. Halvorson, Evaluating an Online Information Service for Management: A Fastcase Review (8/1/2002). (Click on the Inter-departmental Memorandum toward the end of the article.

Name	National Law Library
Contents	U.S. Supreme Court (from 1754), Courts of Appeals (from 1950 for most Circuits), US Code, and some court rules. State materials include appellate decisions (coverage varies), some state codes, constitutions, and court rules. Washington State materials include appellate decisions (from 1950) and RCW. Cases are updated daily. “Plain Language Forms” available for state and federal collections
URL	http://www.itislaw.com
Cost*	Several plans, from $32 to $86 per month. “Pay by the Search” runs from $3 to $5 per search
Notes	CaseCite finds cases citing the entered citation. Tables of contents provided for codes and court rules. Formal privacy statement. 24/7 tech support.
Student Use	No law school access program.
Review	T. R. Halvorson, National Law Library: A View through the Southern California Online Users Group Rating Scale Lenses (5/1/2000).

Name	RegScan
Contents	Federal, state, and international regulations. Federal Register changes are daily integrated into the full regulatory text; regulations from EPA, OSHA, DOT, FDA, FAR, Banking, and Agriculture are updated daily. Only environmental health and safety regulations are available for states; access to OSHA (29 CFR) and Protection of the Environment (40 CFR) are available for states that follow federal requirements for OSHA or EPA). State data is updated and revised quarterly. International regulatory information covers Canada, Mexico, and European Union; also available are Country Monitoring, Country Profiles, EPC Abstracts, and full-text in dual language.
URL	http://www.regscan.com
Cost *	Federal regulatory database is $299 a year. A single state’s regulatory data is $295 a year.
Notes	Call for a free two-week trial. Features include enhanced searching and navigation, hyperlinks, bookmarks, notes, saved search queries, “Summary of Changes,” “My Watch List,” and more. Text includes graphics, illustrations, tables, and formulas.
Student Use	No law school access program.

Name	TheLaw.net Corporation
Contents	U.S. Supreme Court (from 1886), Courts of Appeals (from 1930 for most Circuits), District Courts (no coverage information), state appellate courts (coverage varies, WA from 1935), some tribal courts, federal and state codes, regulations, court rules, forms, and more. Provides links to free websites.
URL	http://www.thelaw.net/
Cost*	$475 per year for a single user. No monthly option; check Web site for other packages. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Notes	Multiple case law databases may be searched simultaneously. New cases added by the next business day. Search by keywords or citation. Software provides pull-down menus that are essentially directories containing particular types of legal documents or information.
Student Use	No law school access program.
Review	Roger V. Skalbeck, The New Legal Browser That Could: TheLaw.net Examined and Explained (1/15/2001).

Name	VersusLaw
Contents	U.S. Supreme Court (from 1886), Courts of Appeals (from 1930 for most Circuits), District Courts (coverage varies), other federal courts, US Code, CFR, state appellate courts (coverage varies, WA from 1935), state codes and regulations,court rules, tribal courts, and Australian courts/
URL	http://www.versuslaw.com
Cost *	$13.95 to $39.95 per month. Special pricing for members of some bar associations (see under the heading “Special Groups”). “U.S. Legal Forms” include state and federal forms, starting at $10 per form.
Notes	Multiple federal or state case law databases may be searched simultaneously. A non-subscriber may search and retrieve the document hit list as a guest by providing a name and email address. Also available are a citation tool (V.Cite) and a current awareness service (AdvanceLinks) which sends weekly email with links to new cases in selected topics. Formal privacy policy.
Student Use	To register, click on “Law School” under the heading “Special Groups.” Registration is good for one year from Aug. 15 through July 15. You must reactivate your account each year. Students have access only to case law databases.
Reviews	Kathy Biehl & T.R. Halvorson, Preview of VesusLaw's USConline, CFRonline, and CFRupdate (9/17/2001). T. R. Halvorson, VersusLaw's V: A View through the Southern California Online Users Group Rating Scale Lenses (3/15/1999).

* Cost figures, which used to be included at all service websites, are now often absent. Instead, interested parties are urged to contact the vendor for specific pricing. Check with the vendor for the most accurate information, including special discounts or sales.