Thanks to all for the thoughtful responses I received, I really
appreciate your insight. Below is a summary of the replies. I love
this list!!!
don't like and don't recommend it. Few of them realize they can use it.
IMHO, it definitely is not a replacement for Wexis. I've seen no change
in usage.
We've had it for quite awhile. The search engine is not as good as
Wexis, but more to the point, they are not as prompt in getting
documents on the system. Occasionally we have found errors, i.e.,
typos.
Still, it is free to Bar members, and is a good place to start. In our
case (Connecticut) certain documents, like the bar journal, are only
available on Casemaker, so it is a valuable tool
I tell researchers to use it as a first step in primary law research,
but always back it up with a second source.
Our firm has encouraged usage of Casemaker in our Indiana and Ohio
offices as a place to begin your search. Especially for new associates
who may run up high client charges on Lexis. We hope in the near future
Tennessee and Kentucky will be added. There has been some decrease in
Lexis usage in those offices. It is a great starting point for
statutes, regulations, attorney general opinions, and case law. We use
it as an alternative not the standard. Lexis is still our primary
service.
Allyssen, We use it here in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. It's
free with our Ohio State Bar membership. It has not replaced LexisNexis
or Westlaw, but gets some regular use from our team for pro-bono work
and other non-billable matters.
Well, we try to get our attorneys to use it instead of Westlaw or Lexis.
It has been something of a disappointment. You have to search each
state library individually, only a few state libraries include Federal
District Court Cases, there are cases missing. Here in Vermont
CaseMaker did not include our Memorandum decisions and in a state with
limited case law, they are important. They are supposed to be adding
them..... Recently I searched for a long list of Federal Circuit
Court cases cited in an opposing brief. There were several missing
which were within the range listed in Contents. I have checked with
several of our newer associates who use it. The consensus seems to be
that it takes almost twice as long to do searches in CaseMaker as Lexis
or Westlaw.
On to the positives. You can muck around without worrying about time or
search charges. Often this is very valuable. The greatest hurdle here
is to get attorneys to look at all the possible resources and choose the
most cost and time efficient. Most attorneys seem to go immediately to
the preferred media instead. Sigh.
It is a worthwhile resource, not yet a competitor for Wexis.
Casemaker came to NH a few months before I left Concord, NH for
beautiful downtown Boston. I found it extremely useful, not so much for
research, as for obtaining copies of cases and documents. When what you
need is a copy of something, there's no need to go to Lexis or Westlaw
and pay online charges. Casemaker also has, in many states, a great deal
more in the way of state agency and administrative materials. And in
addition to your own state, you also have access to the materials that
each of the other member states has chosen to have loaded.
I really liked it, and found it fairly easy to train the lawyers to use
it. The more computer-wary, in particular, found it reassuring that they
_could_ _not_ run up excess charges (or any charges at all) while
finding what they needed.
I was rather disappointed, when I moved to a much larger firm in Boston,
to find that no one's really interested in Casemaker. We have Loislaw
for when we "just need a copy", and I haven't persuaded anyone yet of
the advantages of the greater and more diverse selection of state
agency/administrative materials. (There are many advantages to being in
a bigger firm, but sometimes you also wind up being a solitary squeaky
cog in a big machine.:))
I discourage attorneys from using it. Casemaker has Ohio cases broken
into three different databases. To cover the same content as one search
in westlaw / lexis you need to do three separate searches. The big
problem is the lack of a citator. Yes, casemaker does provide links to
all cases that cite the case you are reading, but there are no handy
color coded flags, much less depth of treatment stars, headnotes or
links to secondary sources. I do use the verdict reporter occasionally.
Free is good, but not always better.
Allyssen Watkins
Fabian & Clendenin
215 South State Street
12th Floor
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Phone: (801) 531-8900
Email: awatkins@fabianlaw.com
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