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There are many ways to retrieve known opinions from
TheLaw.net’s
Caselaw
Database and we explain them all on these pages. What follows
is, in our opinion, the BEST, FASTEST, MOST RELIABLE way to retrieve cases
from our database:
1. After you read this page click the big red button to the
left
which says: CLICK HERE FOR CASE LAW DATABASE. If you want to have this
page for reference, click the PRINT BUTTON in the
toolbar, above.
2. From the initial screen, select a Federal or state path. If you
are looking for a
state case, select, for example, State Appellate, scroll down, and click
CONTINUE.
3. Now you are presented with a menu of jurisdictions. Click the
check box next to the jurisdiction that issued the judicial opinion you need.
4. Now, under bullet number two, where it says: ENTER YOUR SEARCH,
enter the most
unique party name in the opinion. For example, if the caption is State v.
Johnson,
simply enter Johnson in the search box.
5. Now restrict your search to the year of issuance by following
the date format
provided. If the opinion was issued in 1968 then you would enter the
following
into the From Field: 01/01/1968 and then in the To Field enter:
12/31/1968.
Now click SUBMIT.
6. You are asking the search engine to return judicial opinions
containing the term
Johnson, that were issued in 1968, by the jurisdiction you
selected. Your
document will appear first (or close to first on the list) because our
search engine
already knows to prioritize by ranking first those opinions that include
your search term in
the party field of the opinion.
7. Once you have located and displayed the opinion, if you are interested,
check out
the first group of instructions on our FAQs page discussing the various
things
you can do with a case once you find it:
>print
a case directly from the database
>print
only selected pages of a case
>reformat
a case into two columns
>save
a case to your computer.
NOTE: As mentioned, you can certainly find a known case other ways;
by citation, for
example. The process outlined above, however, represents best practices
when
using our database. West's system, is more sophisticated than ours in that
they use
fuzzy logic to make up for errors entering search terms. This is one
of the enhancements that makes West much more expensive than TheLaw.net.
Using West, if you attempt to retrieve a case by entering 100 F3d 200 (an
incorrect citation format) their system will still find the case for you.
With TheLaw.net, you have to be sure to include the period between the "F"
and the "3"; a format that precisely mirrors the one used when citing to
Fed Third opinions (100 F.3d 200). TheLaw.net represents the first time
many users have enjoyed unfettered electronic access to judicial opinions
from all 50 states, all Federal circuits and otherwise. Since many users
are unfamiliar with the citation format for every jurisdiction, retrieving
cases by citation can be a tedious process. In contrast, the simple
process outlined above can be taught to just about anyone and quickly
deployed across an enterprise, regardless of jurisdiction, the person's
level of legal training, or computer savvy.
TROUBLESHOOTING: If you cannot find a case for any reason, we will find it
for you. You can request overnight email of any known Federal or state
judicial opinion via
TheLaw.net's Virtual Asssistant Service. |
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