Multiple Sites Now Make Case Law Available Free

Legal research costs money, right? The New York Times reports that the nearly $5 billion legal publishing (and research) market was previously controlled by two companies, Thompson and LexisNexis, with niche players typically filling the need for small firm attorneys. These entities provide case law based on fees for access but new players are providing it FREE!

Growing out of the desire to increase accessibility to public works via the internet, several legal search sites have become popular in the last year. Their content is growing daily, and the great news is that they’re all free, though some sites may charge for “expanded” paid content. Check them out below and, in many cases, a legal search on these sites will provide you with much more than a “you get you what you paid for it” kind of result.

• Fastcase’s “The Public Library of Law”, at www.plol.org
• Justia (created by original co-founders of Findlaw), at www.justia.com (also can sign up for free RSS feeds to be alerted to new cases)
• Alt-Law ( Columbia Law School with Colorado Law School) at www.altlaw.org
• Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute at www.law.cornell.edu
• Oyez (US Supreme Court media), www.oyez.org
• Article about how best to use free case law sources:
  www.virtualchase.com/articles/
  free_case_law_databases.html