Bloomberg Law
Logging in:
How Bloomberg Law compares:
- Similar to Lexis and Westlaw, Bloomberg Law provides access to statutes, cases, secondary sources, and more. It has a citator called BCite (similar to Shepard's and KeyCite).
- Bloomberg Law is a relative newcomer to the field of legal research, and fewer law firms subscribe to it compared to Lexis and Westlaw.
- Bloomberg Law has secondary sources that Lexis and Westlaw don't have. Its resources are particularly strong in business law, health law, and tax law.
- Bloomberg Law has a very useful interface for federal dockets. While federal dockets are also available on Lexis and Westlaw, many researchers prefer the functionality of the Bloomberg Law docket interface because it is similar to the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) interface provided by the federal courts.
Casetext
Logging in:
How Casetext compares:
- Similar to Lexis and Westlaw, Casetext provides access to statutes, cases, and regulations. It has a citator called SmartCite (similar to Shepard's and KeyCite). However, Casetext does not offer secondary sources.
- Casetext is a relative newcomer to the field of legal research, and fewer law firms subscribe to it compared to Lexis and Westlaw.
- Its search features for primary authorities are innovative, but after law school graduation, these premium features can be expensive.
- Parallel Search allows you to type a sentence that needs support, and find related concepts in case law, even if there are no keywords in common.
- Compose allows you to use Parallel Search to find and incorporate legal arguments into a draft without leaving Microsoft Word, but only for certain areas of law.
Fastcase
Logging in:
- Use your UofSC credentials to login to Fastcase via the law library's Law Databases.
- South Carolina Bar members can login to Fastcase via the SC Bar website.
How Fastcase compares:
- Similar to Lexis and Westlaw, Fastcase provides access to statutes, cases, secondary sources, and more. It has a citator called Authority Check (similar to Shepard's and KeyCite).
- Fastcase is a relative newcomer to the field of legal research. It offers group subscriptions to bar associations which then extend free Fastcase subscriptions as a benefit to members of the bar. As of January 5, 2021, Fastcase merged with a competitor that used a similar business model. The combined Fastcase company now supplies every state bar in the United States.
- You have free subscriptions to many resources as a benefit to being a UofSC Law student, and all of them end not long after graduation. While Fastcase isn't necessarily stronger than other resources, it may be equivalent for many purposes, and it remains free for members of the bar. Gaining familiarity with Fastcase may ease the transition if you plan to practice in a small firm, as a solo practitioner, or do public interest or pro bono work.
govinfo.gov
No login is needed to govinfo.gov, a free website provided by the Government Publishing Office (GPO).
Govinfo.gov contains official pdf versions of federal statutes and federal regulations. This is helpful when providing Bluebook-ready citations.
HeinOnline
Use your UofSC credentials to login to HeinOnline via the law library's Law Databases.
HeinOnline's Law Journal Library contains more law journal articles than Lexis or Westlaw. This is helpful when you can't find an article you need on Lexis or Westlaw.
scstatehouse.gov
No login is needed to scstatehouse.gov, a free website provided by the South Carolina Legislative Services Agency.
In the Fall, we used the South Carolina Code of Laws on scstatehouse.gov. In the Spring, we will use the South Carolina Code of Regulations and the State Register, also on scstatehouse.gov.
Fall Resources Continued
Review the Getting Started page of LRAW Research Fall 2021 for information on:
