Category «Online Legal Research Services»

LegalTech’s AI Race: A Sign of What’s to Come

Nicole L. Black notes the milestone of Thomson Reuters announcement that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Casetext, a legal research software company, for $650 million. For the past decade, Casetext has provided a legal research platform grounded in AI technology. The company consistently developed innovative features that utilized AI technology to streamline legal research and brief creation, most recently releasing CoCounsel, a generative AI legal assistant tool powered by GPT-4, which is the same technology that powers ChatGPT Plus.

Subjects: AI, KM, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Online Legal Research Services

Remote Work Proves the Firm Library Is More Than a Physical Space

Marshall Voizard is a law firm reference supervisor. He shares significant insights into the profession in the time of COVID. Voizard states that the past 18 months have accelerated positive changes, illustrating to all that the library is no longer primarily a physical place, but rather an entire ecosystem of electronic legal information resources. Our expert guidance is needed more than ever.

Subjects: Business Research, Competitive Intelligence, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Marketing, Library Marketing, Online Legal Research Services, Technology Trends

Justia Portal by the Numbers: Resources for Aspiring Lawyers (And Practicing Lawyers Too!)

Justia’s mission is to make the law and legal resources free for all. In keeping with this mission, the Justia Portal offers free access to statutes from all 50 states, cases from federal courts and the highest state courts, legal guides, and more! While these resources make the law more accessible to the general public, they also help aspiring lawyers just beginning their journeys into the profession and ease the early stages of legal research for practicing attorneys looking for quick access to relevant laws. Additionally, Justia Law Schools helps prospective law students (and those already studying to become lawyers) gather information on U.S. law schools and the law school admissions process. In this post, Justia’s team shares some data about some of the most frequently viewed law schools nationwide, as well as some information about the most viewed provisions of the law and cases on their site.

Subjects: Court Resources, KM, Legal Education, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Online Legal Research Services, Reference Resources, Search Engines

How Can We Help To Free Legal Research From Algorithmic Bias?

Stephanie Farne, Legal Information Librarian and Lecturer in Law at Boston College Law School, raises increasingly important issues respective to the bias inherent in artificial intelligence powered search algorithms, both on the Internet and in commercial databases.

Subjects: AI, Law Librarians, Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Online Legal Research Services, Technology Trends

Book Review: A Short And Happy Guide To Advanced Legal Research

Nicole L. Black’s review highlights this book’s breadth of coverage and its format, information about a variety of free online tools, including public records databases, newsletters, and encyclopedias, and case law and statutes, fee-based legal research tools, as well as traditional case law and statutory research tools, and cutting edge AI-based legal research and data analytics software.

Subjects: AI, Book Reviews, Legal Research, LEXIS, Online Legal Research Services, Reference Resources, Westlaw

Private browsing: What it does – and doesn’t do – to shield you from prying eyes on the web

Prof. Lorrie Cranor, Carnegie Mellon University and Hana Habib, Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute for Software Research, Carnegie Mellon University, highlight their research on how many people who use private browsing have misconceptions about what protection they’re gaining. A common misconception is that these browser modes allow you to browse the web anonymously, surfing the web without websites identifying you and without your internet service provider or your employer knowing what websites you visit. The tools actually provide much more limited protections.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Competitive Intelligence, Internet Trends, KM, Legal Research, Online Legal Research Services, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Spyware

Legal Research: Resources for Reviewing Employment Policies on Harassment

This timely guide by Genevieve Zook, reference & instructional services librarian at the U.W. Law Library, addresses the significant issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers are increasingly reviewing sexual harassment policies and procedures in their organizations, and Zook’s comprehensive guide is an actionable resource with which to effectively engage and implement positive change.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Resources, Legal Research, Online Legal Research Services, Reference Resources, Search Strategies

Surveillance and Legal Research Providers: What You Need to Know

Legal research companies are selling surveillance data and services to law enforcement agencies including ICE. Their participation in government surveillance raises ethical questions about privacy, confidentiality and financial support: How private is your search history when your legal research vendors also sell surveillance data? Are you funding products that sell your patrons’ and clients’ data to ICE and other law enforcement agencies? Law professor professor and faculty services librarian Sarah Lamdan’s article focuses on how librarians uphold their privacy and intellectual freedom standards when they rely on surveillance companies for their research resources.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Law Librarians, LEXIS, Online Legal Research Services, Privacy, Social Media, Westlaw