What is Fastcase?
Fastcase is an online legal research provider. Through a link from the Illinois State Bar Association Web site, you have unlimited free access to the Fastcase federal and national library and "framed" Illinois statutes and codes.

Here's just some of what Fastcase includes:
• an easy-to-use search engine that allows both Boolean and natural-language searching;
• cases from the courts of review from Illinois and every other state, as well as U.S. Supreme and federal appellate cases (users can search all jurisdictions at once);
• star pagination and double-column printing.

If they choose, ISBA members who have logged into the free plan can upgrade to the Fastcase Premium Plan, which offers federal district and bankruptcy court cases and other miscellaneous federal material at the sharply discounted rate of $195 a year.

Other legal organizations offering Fastcase to their members include the Florida Bar, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association, the Virginia State Bar, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Cleveland Bar Association, the Social Law Library, the Cincinnati Law Library, and a host of state trial lawyer associations, to name a few.

What if I need more help?
View or print our online user's guide, take the brief Fastcase online demo, call the Fastcase Customer Service Group at (703) 740-5950 (toll free at (866)77-FASTCASE) or e-mail them at support@fastcase.com. Please note that Fastcase customer service representatives cannot answer legal questions or provide legal advice.

Will it cost anything to use Fastcase?
No! The use of Fastcase's online legal library is free to all Illinois members of the ISBA as a memberhip benefit.

Where does the data come from and how current is the database?
Fastcase's research library is a compilation of licensed data and data on the Internet. Data is updated directly for the courts, court Web sites, and from published material. Fastcase updates its caselaw databases between 24 and 48 hours from the date of decision.

What internet browsers are compatible with Fastcase?
Fastcase works on most major browsers, including Internet Explorer 6.0 or greater, Netscape version 7.0 or greater and Firefox 1.1 or greater on PCs. Fastcase is also compatible with Mac versions of Firefox1.0.4, Safari 1.2 and Netscape 7.2. Unfortunately, at this time Fastcase is not compatible with any version of Web TV.

Where are the statutes, constitutions, regulations and court rules?
In the navigation menu under the Fastcase logo, go to the Search menu to select your search type. Fastcase "frames" the official statutes, constitutions, regulations and court rules directly from the Web sites of federal and state legislatures and courts.

What are Boolean searches, Natural language searches and Citation searches?
"Boolean" (or "keyword") searches are familiar to most Web users. They allow searchers to use terms such as AND, OR, NOT, ( ), " ", to find cases germane to a research question. Using "w/n" between two search terms (where n is a number) will find cases in which the two terms appear within n words of each other. Fastcase uses the "implied AND" search protocol, which means if there is no connector between search terms, it is treated as if the "AND" connector was used.

Natural language searches are much less precise, but are a good place to start if you don't have exact search terms. Natural Language searches return the best 100 results for your search, even if some of your terms don't appear in the results, or even if more than 100 cases contain your search terms. This search works well if you want to include certain words in your keyword search that might or might not appear in the result. For example, if you wanted to search for the phrase "Rule 11 sanctions for frivolous filing", a Boolean search, the search would only list cases using the word "frivolous", whereas a Natural Language search would return the most relevant 100 results, even if the word "frivolous" did not appear.

Citation searches should be used when you know the exact citation of the case you are looking for. Be sure to put in the volume number, the reporter identifier, and the first page of the case only (e.g., 700 F.2d 1). For more information, see the search tips, located underneath the search box, for a list of correct citation formats.

Why am I having trouble seeing everything on my screen?
Fastcase is set to work on a default screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels. Some users with screen resolutions set at 800 x 600 pixels, or with very small monitors might have trouble seeing the entire screen. Clicking within a case and using your keyboard's arrow keys will allow you to scroll. However, the best way to resolve this problem is to readjust your screen resolution. For Windows XP, right-click on your desktop, click Properties. Select the Settings tab, and under "Screen Resolution" slide the arrow to the right until the setting is 1024 x 768 (or higher). Click OK and OK again to refresh the screen. Don't worry that the screen goes blank for a few seconds – this is normal. For other operating systems, consult the help documentation that came with your computer to set your screen to a higher resolution setting.

How do I sign up?
Visit the Fastcase sign-up page.