Purpose of Assignment: The purpose of this assignment is for students to explore and examine various search engines available and identify the appropriate use for each.

Course Competency: Demonstrate the use of legal research services and databases

Instructions:

Content:

• You were recently hired into a law firm. The firm’s attorneys had recently split off from their previous large law firms, and formed this small new law firm. None of the attorneys had dealt with the business aspects of the firm. As such, they have asked you to review the various paid legal search engines available, and write a report providing a comparison of each engine, with pros and cons for each. As the firm is new, they are also interested in whether they could forgo the purchase of a membership to a pay-for website (such as Lexis or Westlaw), and instead utilize free internet sources for their research. Prepare a report for the partners providing (1) the search capabilities, price, services, pros and cons of each paid legal search engine (including at a minimum Lexis, Westlaw, FastCase, and Casemaker), (2) the search capabilities, price, services, pros and cons of free internet search engines (including at a minimum Google Scholar, Justia and FindLaw), and (3) provide a recommendation for the best course of action for the firm regarding its research needs, and address any ethical or reliability concerns with using various search engines or websites (including pay-for engines, free engines, and sites like Wikipedia).

Format:

• Your assignment should be formatted as a memorandum to the firm’s attorneys in the law firm. Your memorandum should be 1-2 pages in length, with proper formatting, spelling and grammar. You should use at least 3 primary legal sources in your memorandum
• Your memo should contain the following sections:
  • Heading or Caption
  • Facts
  • Issue(s) Presented
  • Answer to Issue
  • Reasoning or Discussion
  • Conclusion