10 Alternative Legal Research Sites

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Looking for alter­na­tives to expen­sive legal research through Westlaw and LexisNexis? Here’s a non-​​exhaustive list of ten alter­na­tive sources for legal research (aimed pri­mar­ily at lawyers and law stu­dents) that are use­ful — and much cheaper:

1. Quimbee — a case brief database.

2. PreCYdent — an “open law source” and legal opin­ion search.

3. SSRN — an ideal source for cutting-​​edge legal schol­ar­ship (and a repos­i­tory of older arti­cles too).

4. AltLaw — free access to fed­eral case law, but not as up-​​to-​​date as other sources.

5. FindLaw — free access to case law, pro­vided by Westlaw’s owner.

6. LexisONE — Lexis’ answer to West’s FindLaw: the last ten years of state and fed­eral court opin­ions, and U.S. Supreme Court opin­ions from 1781 to present, all free.

7. VersusLaw — inex­pen­sive sub­scrip­tion alter­na­tive to LexisNexis and Westlaw (fed­eral and state appel­late case law).

8. Fastcase — subscription-​​based online case law research ser­vice, pro­vid­ing access to law, court cases, statutes, and reg­u­la­tions, at reason.

9. CALI — The Center for Computer-​​Assisted Legal Instruction pro­vides free online train­ing in most law school subjects.

10. Your local law library — paper and elec­tronic resources, plus librar­i­ans who can help:

• Find a law library in California
• Counties often have pub­lic law libraries
• Many law schools have law libraries open to the public

For help with con­duct­ing legal research, ask a law librar­ian or con­sult the Gallagher Law Library’s legal research guide. If you are not a lawyer but still need to do legal research, you might also find it use­ful to read How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-​​Lawyers.

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