Illinois Bar Journal

Subject Index Legal Research

New vLex Fastcase Rollout

By Ed Walters
November
2024
LawPulse
, Page 14
ISBA members receive major upgrade to vLex Fastcase, including AI-assisted legal research.

A Giant Leap Forward

By Ed Finkel
August
2024
Cover Story
, Page 24
Legal research giant vLex Fastcase, whose database and tools are free to ISBA members, to implement AI across its products by the end of 2024.

Battle of the AI Bots

By Jesse Bowman
July
2023
Column
, Page 48
Pitting versions of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard against one another yields interesting results.

More on ChatGPT

By Jesse Bowman
May
2023
Column
, Page 42
The author finds some helpful but also some inaccurate results from Open AI’s ChatGPT 3.0.

Cracking the Local Code

By Jesse Bowman
March
2023
Column
, Page 44
Tracing local ordinances and laws using free online resources.

How the People Have Spoken

By Jesse Bowman
January
2023
Column
, Page 42
Tracing statewide ballot initiatives and the intentions behind them.

So Many Federal Regulations

By Jesse Bowman
November
2022
Column
, Page 44
Exploring the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ content-rich website.

It’s Election Season

By Jesse Bowman
September
2022
Column
, Page 48
The Illinois General Assembly’s website provides abundant information for gauging the productivity of legislators seeking reelection.

The Search Is On

By Jesse Bowman
July
2022
Column
, Page 42
Artificial intelligence-driven products provide a boost to your search for relevant authorities.

Proclamations, Celebrations, and Disasters

By Jesse Bowman
May
2022
Column
, Page 42
Online resources for finding the full text of executive orders and proclamations issued by Illinois governors.

A Supreme Site

By Jesse Bowman
March
2022
Column
, Page 48
A quick cheat sheet for accessing some of the U.S. Supreme Court website’s more helpful resources.

Don’t Out-PACER Yourself

By Jesse Bowman
January
2022
Column
, Page 48
The Free Law Project’s crowdsourced tools rival PACER.

My Treaty or Yours?

By Jesse Bowman
November
2021
Column
, Page 42
Resources, strategies, and tips for locating bilateral and multilateral treaties.

Using Google Scholar in a Pinch

By Jesse Bowman
September
2021
Column
, Page 42
While not perfect, Google Scholar’s free caselaw database is pretty robust.

When You Need to Know How the Sausage Is Made

By Jesse Bowman
July
2021
Column
, Page 48
Online tools for tracking legislation as it passes through the Illinois General Assembly.

Because, Science!

By Jesse Bowman
May
2021
Column
, Page 42
The usefulness of PubMed and its access to more than 32 million research records. 

Fastcase and Casemaker Merge

By Rhys Saunders
March
2021
LawPulse
, Page 14
Combined, the two legal-research companies will provide more benefits to current subscribers, including ISBA members.

Traveling the Legal World Online

By Jesse Bowman
March
2021
Column
, Page 46
Free online resources provide lots of information about legal systems throughout the world.

All the Presidents’ Documents

By Jesse Bowman
January
2021
Column
, Page 46
Online resources offer treasure troves of presidential records.

Search Me

By Pete Sherman
November
2020
LawPulse
, Page 12
ISBA members’ free access to Fastcase upgraded to redesigned Fastcase 7.

Wayback When

By Jesse Bowman
November
2020
Column
, Page 42
Using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to resurrect ancient websites.

Public Records Shortcuts

By Jesse Bowman
September
2020
Column
, Page 46
Two free websites guide the way to thousands of public-records databases.

Corpus Linguistics

By Jesse Bowman
July
2020
Column
, Page 52
An online tool for homing in on a word’s evolving definition depending on the context.

Search and Assist

By Ed Finkel
June
2020
Cover Story
, Page 20
Legal-technology companies are promising that artificial intelligence will make you a better lawyer.

A Deep Dive Into Congress.gov

By Jesse Bowman
May
2020
Column
, Page 44
Congress.gov may be the best site out there for researching legislation and related materials dating back decades.

ISBA Members to Test Pilot New Court Records Database

By Pete Sherman
January
2020
LawPulse
, Page 12
Roughly 30 ISBA Members selected to provide feedback on case information portal, re:SearchIL.

Looking for Purpose in Illinois Legislative History

By Jesse Bowman
January
2020
Column
, Page 50
The Illinois General Assembly’s website is a great free resource for legislative research.
1 comment (Most recent January 13, 2020)

Make Like a Senator and Lean on the Congressional Research Service

By Jesse Bowman
November
2019
Column
, Page 52
The Congressional Research Service’s “authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan” analysis of congressional issues.

Legal Research on the Go

By Jesse Bowman
September
2019
Column
, Page 48
Great mobile apps for Illinois practitioners.

The CaseLaw Access Project: 360 Years in the Making

By Jesse Bowman
July
2019
Column
, Page 50
A free database developed by the Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab provides access to American and territorial caselaw dating back to 1658.

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