TABLE OF CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

Transcription

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS AT A GLANCE CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET AND WEB BROWSERS 1 CHAPTER 2: RELIABILITY AND ADMISSIBILTY OF INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET 31 CHAPTER 3: HOW TO SEARCH THE WEB: SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES 35 CHAPTER 4: SEARCH ENGINES: GOOGLE 51 CHAPTER 5: OTHER FAVORITE SEARCH ENGINES AND META-SEARCH SITES 97 CHAPTER 6: FINDING OLDER VERSIONS OF WEB PAGES THAT HAVE BEEN DELETED OR REVISED 115 CHAPTER 7: FREE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH RESOURCES: TO LOCATE AND BACKGROUND PEOPLE 123 CHAPTER 8: FINDING EXPERTS AND VERIFYING THEIR CREDENTIALS 213 CHAPTER 9: LOCATING AND BACKGROUNDING ATTORNEYS, JUDGES, AND OTHER LEGAL PROFESSIONALS 225 CHAPTER 10: PAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH DATABASES 233 CHAPTER 11: USING THE INTERNET FOR SUBSTANTIVE LEGAL RESEARCH 271 CHAPTER 12: FREE ONLINE CASE LAW DATABASES 303 CHAPTER 13: FREE MEMBER BENEFIT TO LAWYERS ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES: CASE LAW AND MORE 335 CHAPTER 14: CITE CHECKING CASES 361 CHAPTER 15: INTERNET SITES FOR GOVERMENTAL RESOURCES 371 CHAPTER 16: DOCKETS 447 CHAPTER 17: FINDING LEGAL WEB SITES THAT ARE TOPIC-, JURISDICTION-, OR FORMAT-SPECIFIC 463 CHAPTER 18: HOW TO CITE RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET 483 INDEX 489

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3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET AND WEB BROWSERS 1 STARTING AT THE BEGINNING 1 WHAT IS THE INTERNET 1 WEB BROWSERS 2 Tabbed browsing 3 Title Bar 5 Address Bar 6 Menu Bar 7 Saving Web Pages 8 Downloading Information from Web Pages 9 Printing Web Pages 10 Edit and Find Functions 13 View Function 14 Tools 14 Toolbar (Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, Home, and Search) 17 Favorites 18 Adding Favorites 19 Organizing Favorites 20 Creating Favorites Folders 21 Moving Favorites to Folders 22 Deleting Favorites 23 Viewing, Launching, and Closing Favorites 23 Backing Up Favorites 25 ing Internet Data 26 ing a Link 26 ing a Web Page 27 Saving Web Pages and Working Off-line 28 WHAT EXACTLY IS A LINK? 29 CHAPTER 2: RELIABILITY AND ADMISSIBILTY OF INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET 31 iii

4 CHAPTER 3: HOW TO SEARCH THE WEB: SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES 35 NAVIGATING TO INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET 35 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES 35 SEARCH ENGINES AND THE INVISIBLE WEB 38 DIRECTORIES 39 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VARIOUS SEARCH ENGINES 41 Boolean Logic: How to Connect Search Words and Phrases 41 Differences Between Boolean Connectors 42 Boolean Connector "Defaults" 42 A Search Engine s Default Boolean Connector Can Greatly Effect the Results that Search Engine Returns 42 Phrase Searching 44 Proximity Connectors 45 Searching with Wildcards 48 Organizing Your Search with Parentheses 48 Search Engine Help Pages and Features Comparison Chart 49 CHAPTER 4: SEARCH ENGINES: GOOGLE 51 Why Google? 52 "Basic" Google Search Strategies 53 Instant Search Results with Google Instant 54 The Basic "Google Search" vs. the "I m Feeling Lucky" Search 57 Creating Sophisticated Searches Using Google s "Advanced Search" Page 63 Using Google s Advanced Search for Domain Searching 66 Using Google s Advanced Search to Discover Who is Linking to Whom 67 Using Google s Advanced Search File Type Drop-Down Menu to Locate Specific File Types 69 Using Google s Advanced Search File Type Drop-Down Menu to Locate PowerPoint Presentations 69 Using Google s Advanced Search File Type Drop-Down Menu to Locate PDFs 71 Using the Tools on the Specialty PDF Toolbar 72 Finding Your Keywords in Web Documents 73 Using Tabs on the Google Home Page to Find Other Types of Files, Databases, and Services 74 Using Google to Locate Current News 77 Google News Advanced Search 79 Using Google Alerts to Keep Up to Date with Information Automatically 80 iv

5 CHAPTER 4: SEARCH ENGINES: GOOGLE (cont.) Using Google News Archive to Locate Historical Information 81 Using Google to Locate Blogs 82 Using Google to Locate Non-Text Files Such as Sound/Audio/Podcasts and Video 83 Using Google to Locate Images 86 Secret Google Search Tips and Tricks 87 "Hidden" Search Engine Features Not Even Found Behind Google s Even More Menu 88 Using Google as a Phone Directory or Address Directory 89 Search Tips and Tricks: How to Locate Invisible Data in Databases 91 HUMAN SEARCH ENGINES 93 FINDING "SPECIAL TOPIC" SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES 93 BRINGING IN YOUR OWN SEARCH EXPERT 94 CHAPTER 5: OTHER FAVORITE SEARCH ENGINES AND META-SEARCH SITES 97 Yahoo! 98 Bing 102 META-SEARCH SITES: SEARCHING A SEARCH ENGINE OF SEARCH ENGINES 106 Yippy.com (formerly Clusty.com; formerly Vivisimo.com) 106 DuckDuckGo.com 108 USING A LAW OR GOVERNMENT SEARCH ENGINE 110 Justia s Legal Web Search 110 USA.gov (formerly FirstGov.gov) 113 CHAPTER 6: FINDING OLDER VERSIONS OF WEB PAGES THAT HAVE BEEN DELETED OR REVISED 115 Admissibility of Information from the Internet Archive 119 CHAPTER 7: FREE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH RESOURCES: TO LOCATE AND BACKGROUND PEOPLE 123 Public Records vs. "Publicly Available" Information 123 Public Records and Personal Information 124 Public Records and "Sensitive" Information 124 Private Records 124 Driver s License Records 125 v

6 CHAPTER 7: FREE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH RESOURCES: TO LOCATE AND BACKGROUND PEOPLE (cont.) FINDING PORTALS, DIRECTORIES, AND ARTICLES POINTING TO PUBLIC RECORDS AND PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION 126 FINDING OR INVESTIGATING PEOPLE 136 Begin by Ascertaining Whether They re Alive: The Social Security Death Index 136 PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION 140 Gravesites 141 Obituaries 142 Using a Search Engine Search to Find or Investigate People 143 Searching Usenet (Discussion) Groups, Forums, Message Boards, Blogs, and Social Networking Sites to Find and Investigate People 143 Searching Usenet (Discussion) Groups, Forums, and Message Boards 144 Searching Blogs 145 Searching Social Networking Sites 147 MySpace 149 Facebook 151 Classmates 153 Google+ 155 LinkedIn 157 Microblogging Sites (e.g., Twitter) 159 Professional Networking Sites for Lawyers 160 Ethical Concerns for Lawyers Conducting Social Media Research 161 San Diego County Bar Association Ethics Opinion New York City Bar Association Formal Ethics Opinion New York State Bar Association Ethics Opinion # Philadelphia Bar Association Ethics Opinion Gaining Access to Expensive Pay Databases for Free from E-Libraries 166 Locating Pictures and Photographs of People, Products, or Places 169 Reverse Image Searching 171 Finding and Investigating People and Companies Using Telephone Directory Web Sites 172 Restrictions on Obtaining Phone Record Information 176 Finding Telephone Numbers and Addresses in Other Sources 177 Finding Military Personnel 179 vi

7 CHAPTER 7: FREE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH RESOURCES: TO LOCATE AND BACKGROUND PEOPLE (cont.) PUBLIC RECORDS 181 Using Asset Searches to Find People and Investigate Backgrounds 181 Locating Assets Real Property 181 Locating Assets Personal Property 185 Money 185 Aircraft Registration 186 Pilot Certification 187 Boat Registration 188 Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights) 188 Patents 189 Trademarks 189 Copyrights 189 Locating Assets Businesses 190 Company Ownership, Registered Agents, and Fictitious Business Names (FBNs) 190 Locating Information About Company Stocks 193 A Lack of Assets Bankruptcies 195 UCCs, Judgments, and Liens Databases 196 Criminal Background Information 197 Verifying Occupational Licenses of Professionals, Experts, and Others 201 Medical Licenses 202 Finding Background Information About Attorneys and Judges 203 Vital Statistics: Births, Deaths, Marriages, Divorces, and Social Security Numbers 203 Marriage and Divorce Records 205 Birth Records 207 State and Local Death Records 208 Social Security Numbers 209 Locating Information Via a Freedom of Information Act Request 212 vii

8 CHAPTER 8: FINDING EXPERTS AND VERIFYING THEIR CREDENTIALS 213 Finding Experts by Searching Free National Expert Witness Directory Databases 213 Finding Experts by Searching a Search Engine, Discussion Group, or Social Network 215 Finding Experts by Searching Law Association Web Sites 216 Finding Experts by Searching Other Association Web Sites 217 Finding Experts by Searching a Product Directory 218 Finding Experts by Searching a College or University Web Site 218 Finding Experts Via a Literature Search Through Topical Article Databases 219 Finding Experts Through Jury Verdict, Settlement, Case Law, and Brief Bank Web Sites 221 Verifying Experts Professional or Trade Licenses 222 Expert Witness Background Research Services 222 CHAPTER 9: LOCATING AND BACKGROUNDING ATTORNEYS, JUDGES, AND OTHER LEGAL PROFESSIONALS 225 Contact Information, Biographies, and Directories 225 Contact Information and Biographies: Judicial Directories 225 Articles by and About Judges or Attorneys 231 Blogs, Blawgs, and Tweets by and About Judges or Attorneys 231 CHAPTER 10: PAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH DATABASES 233 What are Pay Investigative Research Databases? 233 When Should You Use a Pay Investigative Research Database? 234 What Types of Records are Found in Pay Investigative Research Databases? 235 Where Do Pay Investigative Research Databases Obtain Their Data? 236 Pay Investigative Research Databases Restrict Access to Social Security Numbers 236 Pay Investigative Research Databases are Relational Databases 238 Some Pay Investigative Research Databases Include Credit Headers from Credit Reports 238 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), 15 U.S.C. 6802(e) 241 MAJOR PAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH DATABASES 244 Pricing and How to Become a Subscriber to Pay Investigative Databases 244 TLO 245 LocatePLUS 251 LexisNexis Investigative Research Databases: Accurint, SmartLinx (and Other Databases Owned by LexisNexis) 253 Westlaw Investigative Research Tool: PeopleMap 256 Merlin Information Services Investigative Research Database 258 viii

9 CHAPTER 10: PAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH DATABASES (cont.) OTHER PAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH DATABASES 265 Intelius 266 US Search 267 Should Legal Professionals Use Databases Like Intelius or US Search? 268 COURT DOCKETS AS INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH TOOLS 269 CHAPTER 11: USING THE INTERNET FOR SUBSTANTIVE LEGAL RESEARCH 271 Putting Internet Search Tools to Work for Legal Research 271 Pay Legal Research Databases 272 Finding a Subject Specialist or an Internet Research Book Arranged by Subject 272 LEGAL PORTALS AND LEGAL DIRECTORIES 273 Assessing Legal Portals and Legal Directories 274 The Top Legal Directories and Portals 276 Free Commercial Legal Portals and Directories 276 Justia 276 Justia s Free U.S. Regulation Tracker 277 Recent Additions: Justia s Free Court Opinion Newsletters 278 Recent Additions: Justia s Free Latin American Law Links 278 Justia s Free Online Case Law Databases 279 Justia s Free Federal Court Docket Databases 279 FindLaw 279 FindLaw s Free Online Case Law Databases 281 LexisNexis (LN) Communities (Formerly LexisONE) 281 Law.com 283 HG.org (formerly Hieros Gamos) 285 LLRX.com 286 Nolo Press 287 LexisNexis InfoPro: Zimmerman s Research Guide 288 Law Firm Portals 288 Government Portals and Directories 289 USA.gov (formerly FirstGov.gov) 289 Academic Portals and Directories 292 Legal Associations Portals 298 NON-LEGAL PORTALS AND DIRECTORIES 300 ix

10 CHAPTER 12: FREE ONLINE CASE LAW DATABASES 303 All Federal and State Case Law (and Articles) Database: Google Scholar 304 Federal and State Online Case Law Databases: FindLaw 311 Selected Federal and Select State Online Case Law Databases: Findlaw s Opinion Summaries Archive 311 Full-Text Search Tips for FindLaw s Federal and State Case Law Databases 314 Selected Federal and All States Case Law Databases: FindLaw 315 Selected Federal Online Case Law Databases: FindLaw 316 All States Online Case Law Database, 1997 to Present: FindLaw 318 Selected Federal and All States Online Case Law Database: The Public Library of Law (PLoL) 319 Selected Federal and All States Online Case Law Database: The Free Law Reporter (FLR) 320 Selected Federal and All States Online Case Law Database: FindACase Network 321 Selected Federal and All State Online Case Law Database: LexisNexis (LN) Communities (Formerly LexisONE) 323 Selected Federal Online Case Law Databases: Federal Digital System U.S. Courts Opinions Collection 323 U.S. Supreme Court Online Case Law Database: Justia 326 U.S. Courts of Appeal and District Courts Online Case Law Database: Justia 327 California Online Case Law Database: LexisNexis 329 California Online Case Law Database, 1934 to Present: FindLaw 332 CHAPTER 13: FREE MEMBER BENEFIT TO LAWYERS ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES: CASE LAW AND MORE 335 Casemaker: Free Member Benefit Database of Case Law (Plus Other Legal Materials) 336 Fastcase: Free Member Benefit Database of Case Law (Plus Other Legal Materials) 350 CHAPTER 14: CITE CHECKING CASES 361 Cite Checking Cases: Free Alternatives to Shepard s (LexisNexis) and KeyCite (Westlaw) 361 Google Scholar s Free Cite Checking Service 362 FindLaw s Free Cite Checking Service (For California and U.S. Supreme Court Only) 366 Party Name as Keyword Cite Checking Alternative 369 x

11 CHAPTER 15: INTERNET SITES FOR GOVERMENTAL RESOURCES 371 Federal and State Government Internet Portals and Directories 371 USA.gov 372 GPO (Government Printing Office) Migrates From GPO Access to FDsys (Federal Digital System) 372 MetaLib 373 FDsys Documents Include GPO Seal of Authenticity 375 GPO s FDsys (Federal Digital System) 376 Academic Portals and Directories That Link to U.S. Federal and State Governmental Sites 384 STARTING POINTS FOR FEDERAL STATUTORY RESEARCH 385 United State Constitution and Declaration of Independence 385 United States Code (U.S.C.): Three Sites Compared 386 Searching the House OLRC U.S.C. Database 390 How to Keyword/Phrase Search the House OLRC s U.S.C. 391 Updating the House OLRC U.S.C. Database 393 New House OLRC U.S.C. Database: Public Beta 394 Searching the Cornell LII U.S.C. Database 395 How to Keyword/Phrase Search Cornell LII s U.S.C. 395 How to Navigate Through Cornell LII s U.S.C. Results 396 Updating the Cornell LII U.S.C. Database 397 Linking to CFR Parallel Authorities from the Cornell LII U.S.C. Database 398 Searching the FDsys U.S.C. Database 400 Researching Legislative/Congressional Materials (Public Laws, Bills, Resolutions, Hearings, etc.) 402 Library of Congress s Thomas Legislative/Congressional Materials 403 FDsys Legislative/Congressional Materials (Collections) 406 House and Senate Web Sites 407 STARTING POINTS FOR FEDERAL EXECUTIVE BRANCH RESEARCH 408 Searching the Federal Register (FR) via FDsys 408 Searching the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) via FDsys 410 Searching the e-cfr 413 Searching the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) and the List of CFR Parts Affected from the Federal Register via FDsys 414 FDSys and Presidential Materials 416 The White House 417 Federal Agencies 418 Finding Federal (and State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal) Agency Web Sites 418 xi

12 CHAPTER 15: INTERNET RESOURCES FOR GOVERMENTAL INFORMATION (cont.) Finding Defunct Federal Agencies and Commissions Web Sites 420 FOREIGN COUNTRIES EXECUTIVE BRANCHES 420 STARTING POINTS FOR FEDERAL JUDICIAL RESEARCH 421 Linking to all U.S. Courts 421 U.S. Supreme Court: Official and Unofficial Sites 423 U.S. Supreme Court: Official Site 424 U.S. Supreme Court: Unofficial Sites for Case Law and More 427 U.S. Courts of Appeal: Official Court Locator 432 U.S. Courts of Appeal: Individual Circuit s Official Sites 433 U.S. Courts of Appeal: Dockets 433 U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts: Official Court Locator 433 U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts: Individual Court s Official Sites 434 U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts: Unofficial Sites for Case Law Searching 434 U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts: Dockets 435 STARTING POINTS FOR STATE, LOCAL, U.S. TERRITORIAL, AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENT INTERNET RESEARCH 435 State, Local Territorial, and Tribal Statutory and Regulatory Law 436 State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal Executive Branches, Agencies, Boards, and Commissions 437 Directory of Official State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal Courts 437 Directory of State Case Law Databases 438 State Case Law Databases 438 State and Local Courts: Dockets 438 Local Government Web Sites: County and City Level 438 Local Codes: County and City Level 438 STATISTICAL INFORMATION AND DATABASES: U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL (AND ALSO FOREIGN COUNTRIES) 441 GOVERNMENT PRINT AND WEB PUBLICATIONS 446 CHAPTER 16: DOCKETS 447 How Dockets Can Be Used for Investigative Research 447 Directory of Federal, State, and Local Dockets 447 Federal Dockets: PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) 448 Federal Docket Databases for Electronic Filing and E-Alerts: CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files 453 xii

13 CHAPTER 16: DOCKETS (cont.) RECAP (PACER Spelled Backwards): Free (Partial) Federal District and Bankruptcy Court Dockets Database 453 Free Federal Dockets from Justia 456 Free Federal Dockets from Freecourtdockets.com 458 U.S. Supreme Court Dockets 460 Westlaw CourtExpress.com and LexisNexis CourtLink.com 461 Courthouse News: State, Federal, and Local Complaints 462 State Courts Online Dockets (and Documents) and State E-Filing 462 CHAPTER 17: FINDING LEGAL WEB SITES THAT ARE TOPIC-, JURISDICTION-, OR FORMAT-SPECIFIC 463 Advertising Law 464 Bankruptcy Law 464 Class Action Lawsuits 465 Copyright Law 465 Corporate Law 466 Criminal Law 467 Employment and Labor Law 468 Family Law 468 Foreign and International Law 469 Forms 470 Insurance Law 472 Intellectual Property 472 Journals and Magazines (General) 474 Journals and Magazines (Legal) 475 Legal Ethics 475 Litigation/Practice Tools 477 Medical Malpractice Law 478 Real Estate Law 479 Securities Law 479 Tax Law 480 CHAPTER 18: HOW TO CITE RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET 483 INDEX 489 xiii

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