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Legal Eagle Lines - By Marlene Baugh

Associate Editor, Computer Times

With today's world of technology flying so fast that daily research is now necessarily centrally connected to a computer terminal, it follows that the herd of legal dinosaurs will soon download or become extinct. Typically when entering an attorney's office, you expect to see a library boasting of volumes of books on the law. The larger collection of mahogany tables and leather bound volumes, the better the lawyer, right?

Yet, the current advice given to recent law school graduates hanging their shutters for the first time is to simply to buy the antiquated collection of a retiring attorney for the perceived legal ambiance. All true legal research is done online! With the flexible nature of the law changing course with every new judge and justice, the law cannot afford to stay bound and stagnant in print.

The law needs the daily database updates, the e-mail reminders of important cases being heard by the courts, the electronic client time spreadsheet programs, and the ability to file complaints, motions, and appeals with the click of the send button. Yes, the days of legal sized manila folders are being replaced by CD-ROMs and laptops; the last minute filings are commonplace from home. Tape recordings of defendant interviews, photographs of crime scenes, and pages of court transcriptions are stored now in megabytes. Yet with all this electronic cyberspace data, what legal advice can and should you trust online?

The following three general guidelines should help you navigate the Web for legal research:

1. Who is sponsoring the Web site with the legal advice?
2. In what state is the legal adviser situated?
3. What sort of law does the publisher practice (as stated in the biography)?

When determining who is sponsoring the legal Web site you are navigating, you are, in essence, determining the motivation of the publisher or advertiser of the site.

* Is it a lawyer seeking a larger client base or a state court Web site?

* Is it an advertisement for a legal research software program or other product?

* Is this product, organization, corporation, or individual politically motivated in their interpretation of the law?

Generally, the word of a practicing attorney that includes a disclaimer will reflect basic black letter law principals to go by-at least, in the state in which their business is located. Attorneys across all fifty states are subject to their individual state's version of the Rules of Professional Conduct and are not ethically allowed to misrepresent the law. Likewise, the state court Web sites are going to have the local rules of law and case interpretations of the rule as up-to-date as possible. For example, the United States Supreme Court Web site at www.supremecourtus.gov hosts the latest published opinions of the Supreme Court, the rules of court, the court docket, and helpful links to other U.S. offices and Courts. Most states have a link on their home government page to their state judicial branch of government. Try for example, the format of www.state.tn.us Web domain for a state government link or automatic link to their Web site and further link to the judicial department.

Any company motivated to sell its product will be biased towards its product. Two well respected and most reliable legal databases are Westlaw and Lexis. Found at www.westlaw.com or www.lexis.com, these extensive legal databases publish online state codes, court rules, court cases, as well as the federal jurisdiction's codes, rules, and cases. Attorney General opinions, law review articles, and law journals can also be accessed during legal research. These two competing databases are user-friendly and reliable; however, the expense of subscribing to one is great and the accuracy of some of the public records information is limited to what the individual state governments are willing to sell to them.

Last, a great number of politically motivated organizations will have pseudo law sites dedicated to their individual causes. For example, opponents of the death penalty will include opinions of reversed criminal cases and history of the legal briefs and arguments made in death penalty cases; however, their motivation is to advocate against the death penalty. Link to www.capdefnet.org for an example. For attorneys or individuals researching for statistics on the death penalty and yearly reports, this site is helpful. Likewise, those favoring the administration of the death penalty will have similar Web sites with additional legal references. Any organization for or against the continuation of the doctrines of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, (1973) will advocate their individual beliefs alongside the legal reference and case law to support their cause. In all these cases, determine the motivation of the Web site when reviewing the legal research supplied there.

Note the state in which the legal adviser is located. Within the Web, the state boundaries are non-existent, but within the courts, the boundary demarcations are clear and distinct as each state seeks to continue its individual sovereignty. If you are conducting legal research for a friend in Kentucky, California law is not going to help you. So carefully conduct your search within the context of the state law you need.

Everyone has special talents, including attorneys. Although many attorneys may boast a general practice, there is likely one sort of law they emphasize in their practice more than any other. A criminal defense attorney may not be able to answer your tax law questions; an attorney practicing family law may be lost in bankruptcy proceedings. Look at the field of practice when looking for advice. You would not go to a plumber to decorate your living room, so why not look to those who know their service fields best?

The World Wide Web is a proven tool to assist in legal research. If it is simply a legal terminology or Latin phrase that needs decoding, the Web will prove a quick and effective way to decode the legal language to a simpler form. However, if you are writing your own will or looking up family law such as divorce or child support, be wary what you trust online. A number of companies wishing to sell you their product advertise an easy map through the legal process; however, their products may or may not comply with the laws of the state. A will, for example, that does not comply with the state statute requirements will not be considered valid for that state. Lastly, use the Web to look up the contact information to refer to a local attorney for consultation on legal questions. High flying to you !

-The Legal Eagle

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