List of Legal Resources:

[happyslug]

Here is a list of Web-Cites for Court Opinions, Statutes and other legalese:

Find Law (A good place to find Legal Opinions):
http://lp.findlaw.com/

Here is the US Supreme Court Opinions:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

US Code (Federal Statutes):
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

Code of Federal Regulations:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html

US Senate Rules: http://rules.senate.gov/senaterules/menu.htm


Ohio Supreme Court Decisons:
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/?source=4


Pennsylvania Law:
Here is a Partial List of Pennsylvania Statutes:
http://members.aol.com/StatutesPA/Index.html

Here is a List of Pennsylvania Regulations:
http://www.pacode.com/

Pennsylvania Legal Research Database:
http://www.pennsylvanialegalresearch.com/

[RPM]

1. thanks...

as one who will soon be a lawyer in PA, these will be handy.

Cheers!

[happyslug]

2. I have practiced the last 15 years

And I have used all of these sites plus Lexis.

[RPM]

3. Been on the lexis for the last 2.5 years...

Unfortunately, the free access ends after graduation :-(

[iverglas]

4. if you're looking for Canadian legal info

It may sound arcane, but people engaged in equal rights struggles actually need to know what is going on in other jurisdictions. There are both similarities and differences between, say, Canada and the US, when it comes to the kinds of arguments that can be made for things like same-sex marriage, for example.

To find decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, include the word lexum in your search terms (e.g. through Google). LexUM is the Université de Montréal site that publishes SCC decisions. Your search will return, usually as the first result, a link to an SCC decision with the terms you are looking for, and a link to a complete list of LexUM pages with those terms.

For example, ask google for lexum "same-sex marriage", and the first result will be last week's opinion on the reference questions submitted to the Court by the fed. govt.

To find Canadian statutes (federal, provincial and territorial), include the word canlii in your search terms. CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) publishes virtually all Canadian legislation on the net (I think they're still working on completing a couple of provinces).

CanLII also publishes SCC decisions and the decisions of most provincial and territorial supreme and appellate courts. At www.canlii.org you can search for particular decisions or decisions about particular things, and that search seems to be more complete than doing it through google.

For example, ask google for canlii "rights and freedoms" (or canlii "equality rights", and of course you get 4,000 things; but the top one is the Constitution of Canada, with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

And hey, don't be afraid to cast your net wider. The Constitutional Court of South Africa has some interesting things to say:
http://www.marriageequalityca.org/home.php?view=1101839386&cat=News

Well, I can't get the site to respond, but here's the link:
http://www.worldlii.org/links/2221.html

If it does respond, www.worldlii.org has "440 databases from 55 countries including 20 international databases".


And of course the Legal Information Institute in the US, the handiest way of accessing what I'm sure most here are most often interested in, is at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
with links to searchable databases of US federal and state legislation and judicial opinions.

[rickrok66]

5. Another Link

Here is a good link for checking court records, licenses, and who the real owner of a business is in DBA (Doing Business As) records.

http://www.searchsystems.net

Rick

[Floogeldy]

6. It costs a little, but . . .

www.versuslaw.com

STANDARD PLAN - $11.95/mo.
VersusLaw's basic legal research plan contains federal and state appellate case law opinions.

PREMIUM PLAN - $19.95/mo.
VersusLaw's Premium legal research offers access to Standard Plan case law as well as selected state source materials, and increased search engine capabilities including a citation search feature.

PROFESSIONAL PLAN - $34.95/mo.
VersusLaw's Professional legal research plan provides you with all the essentials of the Premium Plan, access to additional federal specialty practice courts, and current versions of the U.S. Code and Code of Federal Regulations.

[JDPriestly]

7. Versuslaw is good for federal case law

I use Findlaw for Supreme Court and California cases and Versuslaw for federal appellate cases.