Searching for law on the Internet.

Internet networking allows access to the combined experience and specialized collections of government agencies, specialty libraries, nonprofit and research institutes, trade associations, universities, professional organizations, and a host of other information-rich agencies.(1) effective use of the Net for research requires an understanding of its unique properties.(2)

The Internet does not connect legal researchers to an electronic equivalent of a law library. The resources available online are available free of charge and, therefore, are not all-inclusive. While online databases tend to have more current information than print materials do, print documents include older information and a greater amount of current information than Internet sources. WESTLAW and LEXIS, which charge researchers a fee, are the most reliable Internet databases.

The Internet provides full-text documentation of legislation, statutory law, administrative law, and case law. Generally, legal resources are available on the Internet for four years from the date the law is established. Eventually, past and current law will be available as technology improves and more government agency resources are published online.

This proliferation of legal information on the Internet requires law students, paralegals, law clerks, attorneys, judges, and laypeople to understand the techniques needed to identify and retrieve full-text law from the Net efficiently. Deft facility with computer research is essential to compete in the legal arena of the 1990s.(3)

In 1964, Trenton Jackson, one of the nation's fastest athletes in the indoor 60-yard dash, told me, "Kid, we're all fast; it's technique that's going to win the race." Likewise, successful retrieval of legal information from the Net requires technique.

Regardless of format, the four steps to an effective full-text literature search on the Net are:

* identify the information needed,

* identify the words to be used in the search,

* identify alternate words, and

* formulate the search strategy.

Full-text literature searches

Suppose a researcher wants to find recent legislation, statutes, regulations, court cases, and law reviews surrounding genetic testing. More specifically, the issue concerns genetic testing of blood in a paternity case as opposed to genetic testing of semen in a rape case or hair in a murder case. Now that the information need has been specifically stated, the terminology and the alternate terminology that accurately describe the information must be selected.

A full-text literature search uses Boolean operators. In most sites using a Boolean-formatted search statement, the "and" operator connects unlike key words, while the "or" operator stacks like key words. Like key words must be couched in parentheses so they will be searched for as one term. It is advisable to click on "help" for rules particular to each Web site.

Using Boolean operators and alternate terminology, the search statement for genetic testing to determine paternity would be constructed as (blood OR genetic) AND (test OR testing) AND paternity. Internet searches are generally more effective if key words are typed in lower case and Boolean operators are typed in upper case.

The literature search for the above may also be constructed with a search statement that includes the term "child support." The search statement will then appear as (blood OR genetic) AND (test OR testing) AND paternity AND (child support). Note that the two words "child support" represent one concept and are in parentheses.

Describing a legal theory thoroughly and accurately and formatting a search statement with Boolean operators correctly is a creative process that allows many possibilities. Exploring all combinations of alternate terminology and search statement syntax results in the most thorough literature search. Power researchers tend to be linguists, connoisseurs of system documentation, and people with low blood pressure.(4)

Although a search using Boolean operators will produce the most accurate results, casual researchers may find the use of Boolean operators cumbersome and difficult. A search statement may be constructed without Boolean operators only if the Web site being used does not require Boolean operators.

If Boolean operators are not required, it would be incorrect to formulate a search statement as follows: genetic test to determine paternity for child support. A more correct search statement would be: genetic test paternity child support. Each word in this statement represents a concept essential for achieving the desired result.

The rules are:

* use Boolean operators only when required by a Web site,

* use Boolean operators for greater accuracy, and

* eliminate words that do not represent essential concepts.

Some Web site search engines allow for searches by case name, citation, and docket number. A case name search statement for Roe v. Wade, for example,would appear as Roe AND Wade. A citation search statement for Roe v. Wade would appear as 410 U.S. 113, and a docket number search for the case would be constructed as 70-18. A full-text key word search for Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), docket 70-18, would be written as texas AND criminal AND abortion AND laws AND constitutionality, where each word represents a concept necessary to locate the full text of Roe v. Wade successfully.

The second step in formulating a search strategy is identifying useful Internet databases or Web sites. The objective is to research any subject of law as founded in legislation, statutes, administrative law, and case law.

Three categories of legal sites

* Catchall sites. Some Web sites offer a key word search capability for all levels of law. These sites are one-stop shopping malls. While catchall sites offer a trail mix of law, they lack the focus required to identify and retrieve legal information missing from a brief quickly and precisely.

FindLaw and LawCrawler are catchall Web sites. Both are located at http://www. Iawcrawler.com/index.html.

* Subject-specific sites. These sites conduct a more focused search than catchall sites. One example of a subject-specific Web site is American Immigration Resources on the Internet at http://www. wave.net/upg/immigration/resource.html.

Web sites in this category are too numerous to list, and more are constantly being created. These sites can be accessed easily through a key word search on ProFusion at http://topaz.designlab.ukans. ecu/profusion. Other Web sites that are in this category include Metacrawler at http://www.metacrawler.com/index.html and The Internet Sleuth at http://www. isleuth.com.

* Sites reflecting the process of law. There are also Web sites that offer key word access to law by "type" (for example, legislative, statutory, or case law) rather than "subject" (for example, intellectual property law).

These sites focus on the process of law as a holistic framework for legal research and provide information on legislative intent as well as relevant statutes, regulations, rulings, and case law.

FarisLaw contains federal and state legislation, regulations, and court cases--including territorial law and foreign national law for Australia, Canada, France, Malaysia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and European communities. FarisLaw is at http://www.farislaw.com.

Other Web sites in this category include The Internet Legal Resource Guide at http://www.ilrg.com; The National Law Net at http://www.lawsites.com; Hieros Gamos at http://www.hg.org/hg.html; Lawmarks at http://www.cclabs.missouri.edu/ ~thrown/lawmarks; and Law Journal Extra! at http://www.ljx.com.

Alternate Web sites

Although these Web sites are comprehensive for all levels of federal, state, and some foreign national law, it is necessary to have alternate Web sites that provide support for legal research because popular Web sites are sometimes difficult for users to access.

Web sites offer different search engine formats, content, and access points. A listing of alternate Web sites specific to types of law follows.

* U.S. federal legislation. Full-text U.S. congressional bills from 1993 to 1997, the history of bills from 1994 to 1997, and the House and Senate calendars for the current year are available on GPO Access at http://www.access. gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/ aaces002.html. Full-text congressional documents and reports for the 104th (1995 to 1996) and 105th (1996 to 1997) Congresses and the full text of the Congressional Record from 1994 to 1997 are also available on GPO Access.

Some full-text U.S. congressional hearings from 1995 to the present are provided by the University of Michigan at http:// www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents. center/hearings.html.

* U.S. federal statutes. The United States Code with full-text public law and legislative histories can be accessed through the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library at http://law.house.gov/usc. htm as well as GPO Access. Public law emerging from the 104th and 105th Congresses may also be accessed through GPO Access.

* U.S. federal administrative law. Full-text federal regulations for the current year as compiled in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) can be accessed through the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library at http://www.access.gpo.gov/ nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html and through GPO Access. Full text of the Federal Register from 1994 to 1997, which lists regulations for public review and comment, is available through GPO Access. Additionally, full text of bills, the Congressional Record, congressional committee reports, historical documents, a description of the U.S. legislative process, and links to other government Internet resources are provided by THOMAS at http://thomas.loc.gov.

* U.S. federal case law. Full-text Supreme Court decisions from 1793 to 1966 (leading cases) and from 1967 to the present (complete coverage) can be found at InfoSynthesis: U.S.S.C.+ at http://www. usscplus.com. InfoSynthesis also offers hotlinks to any of the cases cited.

Supreme Court decisions from 1937 to 1975 (leading cases) and from May 1990 to the present (complete coverage) can be found at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/ supct. Full-text federal circuit court decisions from 1995 to 1997 can be accessed at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/Harvest/ brokers/circuit-x/limits.htm.

* U.S. state law. Full-text state legislation, administrative rulings, and case law are available through the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library: U.S. State and Territorial Laws at http://law. house.gov/17.htm.

Legal.online, at http://www.legalonline. com/statute2.htm, is also an excellent site for searching state law on all levels.

* Law journals, reviews, and reports. These materials often provide leads and suggestions on legal positions and litigation strategies. Web sites in this category include The Internet Lawyer: The Legal Newsstand at http://www.internetlawyer. com/news.htm; FindLaw Law Reviews at http://207.121.187.34/lawreviews; and Web Journal of Current Legal Issues at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nlawwww. The most prominent law reviews--for example, the Harvard Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, and the Indiana Law Review--however, are not available online.

* Newspapers and magazines. These summarize national, state, and municipal legislation as it happens, and they occasionally contain articles referring directly to on-point unpublished cases that have gone to trial. A comprehensive link to local, national, and world newspapers and magazines is available at AJR News Link at http://www.newslink.org.

The Internet provides a vast amount of information, and it can be the key that facilitates legal research. A game plan is needed to discover precise legal information successfully.

Subject-specific Web sites focus on areas of law and may not include the legislation, regulation, or court cases that well may be the difference between winning or losing a case. Catchall Web sites provide a hodgepodge of law that requires sifting and editing to find relevant legislation, regulations, and court cases.

Conducting legal research on the Internet using basic search techniques is a game plan that works. For more information, visit my home page at http://cc.usu.edu/ ~stewei/hot.htm for an Internet Quick Reference Guide to government and law around the world.

Notes

(1.) James Seidl, Power Research: Tools, Techniques and Trends (visited July 28, 1997) http:// www.lrci.com/power4.html.

(2.) Josh Blackman, How to Use the Internet for Legal Research, DATABASE, Apr./May 1997, at 39.

(3.) Charles J. Moxley Jr., Effective Litigative Writing: Harnessing the Wild Spirit of Stephen Dedalus, 10 J. BUS. & TECHNICAL COMM. 143 (1996).

(4.) Seidl, supra note 1.

Stephen C. Weiss is a documents and reference services librarian at Utah State University Libraries, Logan.