The internet is rapidly expanding to provide access to the type of on-line legal research traditionally available at a very high premium. While the premium services provide some of the best organized and most information rich opportunities for legal research, many free sites exist providing access to recent state and federal court decisions as well as general legal information.

Legal Research-Federal Law:

Constitution and Supreme Court:

United States Constitution (from Emory University)
Federal Statutes (from Cornell University)
Biographies of U.S. Supreme Court Justices (from Cornell University)
United States Supreme Court Decisions (from Cornell University)

United States Courts of Appeal:

United States Courts of Appeal Decisions (LawJournal Extra! Database)
United States Courts of Appeal Decisions (Federal Courts Finder from Emory University)
Map of Federal Circuits and Links (from Georgetown University)
Search engine for searching all the circuit courts

Courts of Appeal by circuit:

U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit (from Emory University)
District of Columbia Circuit (from Georgetown University Law Center)
1st Circuit (from Emory University)
2nd Circuit (from Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center)
2nd Circuit (Recent 2nd Circuit Decisions from Law Journal Extra!)
2nd Circuit (from Findlaw)
3rd Circuit (from Villanova Center)
4th Circuit (from Emory University)
5th Circuit (from University of Texas)
6th Circuit (from Emory University)
7th Circuit (from Emory University)
7th Circuit (from Chicago Kent University)
8th Circuit
9th Circuit (from Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy)
9th Circuit (from Findlaw)
10th Circuit (From Emory University)
11th Circuit

District Court Cases:

Federal District Court decisions (fee required)

Federal Statutory law and Regulations:

Code of Federal Regulations
Code of Federal Regulations-U.S. House Site
Administrative Procedures Act
Federal Register (U.S. House of Rep.)
Securities Act of 1933
Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Federal Law and the Family:

Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 620)
Civil Rights of Children (42 U.S.C. 1983)
The Children's Bureau (42 U.S.C., Chapter 6)
Social Security Act, Chapter 7
Child Abuse Prevention, and Adoption Reform Act
Compliance Guide to Family Medical Leave Act

Legal Research--State Law and Related Information:

All States
Uniform Family Law Act
National Assoc. of State Info. Resource Executives (Legislatures, Governors, and Tourism Information)
California-Find California Code
Search California Web Site
Recent California Court Opinions
New York-NY Court of Appeals Decisons (from Cornell University)
NY State Statutes

Federal Government Web Sites:

US Copyright Office
Global Legal Information Network (Access Information on Laws of Foreign Nations)
Library of Congress
Thomas
Social Security Administration
SEC
US GPO
U.S. Postal Service (ZIP Codes)
White House
FedWorld (Obtain public information, and documents)
US General Svcs Admn. (Federal Direcories, and links; international links)
Gateway to Federal Information
Villanova University's Federal Web Locator

Federal Reserve Banks:

Federal Reserve Homepage
Index of Federal Reserve Banks and Map
Federal Reserve System's National Information System
San Francisco
New York

Bankruptcy:

Cornell Bankruptcy Information
Orange County Bankruptcy Forum
American Bankruptcy Institute (Fee Required)
United States Bankruptcy Code

Tax:

U.S. Tax Code
U.S. Tax Code
U.S. Tax Code Index Listing
IRS Forms and Publications
Tax Regs In Plain English

New York State Specific Web Sites:

NY State Bar Association
New York Research from Cornell University's Site

California Specific Web Sites:

California State Bar Association
L.A. Superior Court
L.A. Superior Court Locations
L.A. Superior Court Locator (Search for proper court by zip code)
L.A. Superior Court Local Forms
L.A. Municipal Court
Links to other L.A. County Municipal Courts
Calif. Courts on the Internet
California State Courts
Orange County Superior Court
Orange County Superior Court Judicial Officers with links to Judicial Profiles
Orange County Superior Court Local Court Forms (Civil)
Orange County Superior Court Local Court Forms (Family Law)
Orange County Superior Court Local Court Forms (Probate)
Orange County Superior Court Family Law and Probate Filing and Fee Information
Orange County Superior Court Family Law and Probate Telephone Numbers
Orange County Superior Court Family Law and Probate Fees
Orange County Superior Court Civil Fees
California Judicial Council Forms
South Orange County Municipal Court
North Orange County Municipal Court
California Franchise Tax Board
EDD Home Page
CA Board of Equalization
Official California Legislative Information
California State Government Web & Gopher Servers & Bulletin Boards
California Cases (Fee required)

Research-Business:

The Nasdaq Stock Market Home Page
Dow Jones Homepage
The American Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange Home Page
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Orange County Business Council
Stock Quotes from Quote.com (a commercial service)

Investment Research (Note: Proceed with CAUTION. The author makes no recommendation nor does he vouch for the accuracy of any of the information provided by the sites listed below):

Investorama(Commercial Service)
Thomson Investors Network(provides real-time quotes with registration)
National Association of Investors Corp.
Research Magazine Stock Screening
Yahoo! Finance
Morningstar
American Savings Education Council
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Find Individuals:

Four11 E-Mail Address Locator
The Switchboard Telephone Number Look-Up

Find Attorneys/Law Firms:

Martindale-Hubbell Lawyer Locator

West Legal Directory

Fee-Based Legal Research:

Westlaw
Lexis-Nexis
JuriSearch
Counsel Connect

News:

Law Journal Extra!
Lawyers Weekly
Orange County Register
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
Newsday
MSNBC
CNN

 

Search Engines:

Law Office Information Systems (fee required)
Yahoo Search
VersusLaw (fee required)
LawCrawler
FindLaw