Conducting legal research is an essential part of every lawyer’s practice. However, paid legal research tools can cut deeply into your budget, especially if you are a small legal practice or a solo attorney just starting a practice. Fortunately, free legal research tools and resources are abundant if you know where to look.
Below, we review the top nine free legal research tools and other free resources you can find online.
The Top 9 Free Legal Research Tools for Lawyers
A variety of universities, law libraries, institutes, and companies offer free legal research tools.
1. Fastcase
Fastcase is one of the most reliable resources an attorney can bookmark. Through their innovative portal, lawyers gain online access to case law, statutes, regulations, constitutions, court rules, and law review articles, making legal research and analysis faster and easier.
Want to track your time, log billable hours, and seamlessly manage cases in one great organizational tool? Fastcase has streamlined integration via a robust case management system.
Keep an accurate tally of your research time – every billable hour matters. If you’re on the go, you can access Fastcase through the mobile app for iOS and Android.
When you visit Fastcase, you may be surprised to see that it appears to be a paid service. However, every state bar association in the US provides sponsored membership. You may also be able to get access through your local bar association, law school, or academic institution.
Log in using your bar association credentials to access the platform for free.
Document Access
- Supreme Court case law
- Statutes
- Regulations
- State court rules
- Constitutions
- Law review articles
Fastcase adds over 5,000 new documents per day and boasts over 100 million citations and connections between documents. You can review your results in an easy-to-navigate HTML format, as well as printing them or downloading them as a PDF.
Citation
Citation is built directly into the law research tool. Fastcase will even add citations to your search results.
Fastcase also includes a citation tool called Authority Check which helps you navigate all cited authorities within a document.
You can also create bookmarks, alerts, and view search history to enhance your research flow.
2. FindLaw for Legal Professionals
Are you looking for the right Supreme Court verdict to support your case? Precision matters when it comes to legal research.
FindLaw was designed with the mission of making the law more accessible. As a result, it’s completely free to use. Browse case law from state and federal courts, peruse case summaries, locate statutes, and scope out the latest legal news.
Users can browse by legal issue to turn general inquiries into focused results. FindLaw’s key feature is its robust database of U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1760. Easily browse by year or U.S. Reports volume number.
You can also filter by party name, case title, citation, full text, and docket number. FindLaw also features an archive of Supreme Court opinion summaries since 2000 for legal reference.
Finally, FindLaw offers an extensive legal directory; you can create an attorney profile and increase your digital presence.
In addition to providing a comprehensive law library and searchable database, FindLaw offers several legal practice management resources. These range from sample contracts to marketing guides.
Document Access
- Federal and state case law
- US Supreme Court opinions
- Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals
- Codes and statutes
- US State constitutions
While FindLaw doesn’t have a built-in citation tool, there are lots of resources online that can help you generate accurate citations.
3. Legal Information Institute
Legal Information Institute (LII) is an international non-profit organization that offers free legal research tools.
Hosted by Cornell Law School, LII has been a pioneer in providing open access to legal materials since 1992. They claim to have been the first law site on the internet.
LII currently operates over forty-five associations internationally.
LII believes that everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them. They provide valuable access to a vast database of legal knowledge from statutes to case law and legal publications.
LII is peer-reviewed and features top academic research on various legal topics and practices. It publishes regulations for all 50 U.S. states. You can also find the latest executive orders and breaking legal news.
LII’s legal collection is expansive; it is used by more than 32 million people in over 240 territories and countries. They’ve collaborated with legal scholars and organizations from four continents.
Document Access
- Supreme Court bulletin
- State statutes by topic
- US Code
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR)
- Federal government rules
- International law
LII has become an invaluable resource for legal professionals and law students alike as a free source of legal information. However, it does not have any special search functions or citations.
4. Casetext
Casetext is a low-cost solution for law firms. While not technically free, the affordable price and time saved on research make this software well worth the investment.
Think of Casetext as your very own digital paralegal. Powered by AI technology, Casetext’s smart search finds cases and authorities for you.
The Casetext developers named their research AI CARA (CAsetext Research Assistant). You upload the legal documents you already have, and CARA compiles a list of related documents and citations. The learning component means that Casetext will save your preferences and deliver custom-tailored recommendations for helpful statutes, case law, and more.
This tool also acts as a backup to popular add-ons like Grammarly by going beyond the grammar to review your pleadings for committed cases.
Casetext comes highly reviewed by attorneys. Compared to ROSS, another popular budget-savvy AI database for legal research, Casetext wins in terms of speed, relevance, and efficiency. You can even take free webinars online at Casetext and continue to bolster your legal knowledge. Casetext offers discounts for former ROSS members who want to switch to a more focused database.
Casetext CoCounsel also offers some experimental generative AI features. It can help you streamline deposition prep, document review, contract revision, and more.
Document Access
- Statutes
- Regulations
- Case law
- Federal courts
- State law from all fifty states
Like Fastcase, Castext is officially a paid law research tool. However, many bar associations provide free access, so you may be able to log in using your bar credentials.
Citation
Casetext also includes an advanced citator or citation tool called SmartCite.
This uses the CARA AI to help find the most relevant cases for your fact pattern. It also deploys a “flag” to indicate if a case is still good law or if it relies on an overruled opinion.
Search features include
- Natural language parsing
- Booleans
- Filters
- Search history
- Research folders
- PDF or Word document downloads of your results
- Suggestions
- Citations
- Flags
You can also request legal research and citation alerts.
5. Justia
Justia is a well-rounded platform with a variety of free legal resources, including
- Lawyer directories
- Lawyer chat
- Law research
- Legal publications and blogs
- Legal news
- Premium legal practice marketing tools
You can browse state law and also find legal resources defining many complex topics and terms in the law.
Justia manages Oyez, a multimedia archive of Supreme Court oral arguments. You can also access cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and U.S. District Courts. Links to many state supreme court and intermediate court of appeal cases are also available.
You can find the following on Justia:
- U.S. Supreme Court Opinions – 1791 to the present
- U.S. Federal Appellate & District Court Opinions – 1924 to the present (may be expanded, based on the court)
- Select U.S. Federal Appellate & District Court dockets and orders – 2004 to the present (may be expanded, based on the court)
- U.S. State Supreme & Appellate Court Opinions – 1992 to the present (may be expanded, based on the court)
Not sure what exactly you’re looking for? Simply type a keyword into the search bar and let Justia give you options.
As an attorney, you can create a profile on Justia as part of your legal marketing.
Document Access
- US and State constitutions
- US and State codes
- Federal government regulations
- Supreme Court rulings
- Circuit courts
- District courts
- Dockets and filings
- State case law
Justia has compiled a vast collection of legal reference documents, including US Supreme Court decisions all the way back to 1791. These court documents contain opinion summaries, briefs, and oral argument audio records.
They also run a legal directory called Find a Lawyer, as well as other premium marketing services.
6. Decisis
Decisis is another legal research tool that may be free through your bar association.
The platform boasts world-class standards for legal document access, law research tools, and its industry-leading citator.
Check with your state bar to see if you can get access to their free online resources.
Document Access
- Federal and state regulations and registrars
- Federal and state statutes and case law
- Federal codes and court rules
- Agency decisions
- State constitutions
- Supreme Court decisions
- Attorney General decisions
- Appeals Court cases
- Administrative hearing decisions
- Full-text bills
In Decisis listings, state documents are unique to each state’s legal structures and operational processes.
Users can also see clear listings of where Decisis sources their legal materials when they’re searching by state.
Citation
Decisis’s renowned citator is InterCite, a best-in-class tool that boasts more relevant case connections than other competitors.
InterCite offers visualizations of
- Historical citation patterns
- How often a case has been cited
- When those citations have occurred
- Which judges or courts have cited it
Decisis has built its reputation on the power of InterCite, and you’ll find that prestige well-deserved.
7. CourtListener
CourtListener is one of the more unique open-source legal resources. This dynamic non-profit website allows users to search millions of opinions by case name, topic, and citation, across more than 400 jurisdictions.
As part of the Free Law Project, CourtListener provides free access to legal materials, research tools, and academic research. They work with volunteers to build an open-source, accessible legal research platform.
Listen to oral arguments and review statistics at a glance for Supreme Court decisions and more.
Document Access
- Case law
- Federal court documents
- Oral arguments
- Judge data
- RECAP archive
In addition to extensive written case law and audio recordings of oral arguments, the RECAP archive makes it possible to search every docket and PDF in full text.
It also includes an extensive database of American judges, magistrates, and justices. They also have the biographies and disclosure records to help you truly prepare for a case.
Citation
CourtListener uses a citation tool called CiteGeist. In addition to being an excellent pun, the tool helps analyze your searches.
CiteGeist applies a score to each citation. A high score indicates often-used citations. A lower score marks a less-cited source or a source that’s only cited for unimportant opinions.
Then it decides how relevant a citation is and generates a combined score. This indicates how important each citation may be to your case.
8. Bloomberg Law
Bloomberg Law offers a legal research tool that goes far beyond a simple document search. Their platform includes a brief analyzer, litigation practical guidance, a Transactional Intelligence Center, and more.
Like some of the other legal research tools we’ve discussed, Bloomberg Law is technically a paid service. However, many bar associations offer complimentary membership, so you may be able to access the database for free.
Document Access
- Federal and state court dockets
- Precedent documents
- Legal briefs
- Treatises
In addition, Bloomberg provides Practical Guidance tools that include sample forms, checklists, and more.
Citation
Bloomberg’s citation tool is called BCITE. It allows users to explore court opinion citations, indicates the status of cases, and provides a view into the case’s direct history.
9. Caselaw Access Project
The Caselaw Access Project (CAP) is an expansive database that includes all published state and federal case law from official reports of U.S. court decisions. CAP houses judicial decisions from all state, federal, and territorial United States courts. It contains a wealth of research for attorneys seeking to understand specific and applicable case law.
CAP is also highly interesting for lifetime students of law. The earliest case record dates back to 1658, and the database is updated annually.
Sourced data is edited and proofread by a team of legal professionals with metadata for docket numbers, names, citations, dates, and other relevant information. Essentially, CAP does the heavy lifting for you. The database provides selectable OCR PDFs for efficient research.
Other Free Legal Research Tools for Lawyers
In addition to the legal research tools we’ve discussed, lawyers can also find the case support they need from a variety of other free resources.
Primary Resources
Every court in the nation is now capable of running its own website and posting its own statutes.
Not all states choose to post their statutes on their court websites, however. But you never know when a state court or even small local legal office might have an avid webmaster who uploads every public document that passes through.
These resources can get you access to bankruptcy court documents, official federal government publications, federal appellate documents, federal law case summaries, lower court opinions, Congressional records, and more.
It is always worth checking whether state, county, city, and even local organization websites have the legal information you need for a case.
Legal Blogs
Law blogs can be extremely helpful, as some cover details of similar cases and have already compiled the legal research you need. You may find references to useful federal and state case law and even links to hard-to-find secondary sources that will help you build the right citations.
The American Bar Association (ABA) maintains the Web 100, an annual list of favorite law blogs, podcasts, and web tools.
LexBlog is also a valuable hub of over 22K legal bloggers that you can sort by channel.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a search engine that helps users find scholarly literature, including court opinions, patents, legal journal articles, and legal publications.
Only valid and vetted sources will appear in your Google Scholar search results. And you can use all Google’s innovative search features, including
- Boolean search terms
- Natural language search
- Key phrases
You can even find a “Case Law” button on the main Google Scholar page that allows you to filter by jurisdiction.
US Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The US Office of the Law Revision Counsel is a division of the House of Representatives. Their website hosts a vast collection of US legal codes. Listings include a popular name table, a citation checker, and more.
Public laws are organized by subject matter and include sections, notes, and appendices.
SupremeCourt.gov
The Supreme Court website can be another fantastic resource for federal case law.
The top navigation bar gives you direct access to legal opinions, oral arguments, case documents, legal news, and more. In addition to those categories, you can also find a case citation finder, a list of granted or noted cases, and a docket search.
Find More Time for Free Legal Research
When you’re running a law firm, time management is essential, and case research can be incredibly time-consuming. These best free legal research databases can help you streamline the process without breaking your budget.
Before you head down to the law library, you should also check the other public legal research tools available from federal and state governments.
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