Current Issue

Welcome to Issue #115 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!

Let me re-introduce myself....I'm Tom Mighell, and I'm your host here at the Internet Legal Research Weekly. It's been a while since you've heard from me! Now that the Bar None show is over, I'm back and ready to go. Enjoy the ride!

You'll notice that this week's newsletter comes to you in HTML format. How do you like it? I'll be adding more to the design in future issues, but I want to hear from you now, whether you prefer the e-mail in text or HTML. Drop me a line at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net!

Over the past few weeks I have posted a lot on Inter Alia that will not be posted here. Head over there for more headlines!

More pictures than you can shake a stick at
AltaVista announced last week that it now has the largest index of multimedia on the Web, including image files, audio, and video. Its image search engine contains over 540 million images -- you can search for photos, graphics, or banners/buttons, and you can limit your search to black and white or color, or even the size of the image you seek.

The next generation of Hoover's
The terrific business research site Hoover's Online has a new beta site with a ton of new enhancements. Give it a whirl!

The toolbars...the toolbars!!!!
There's a lot of buzz this week about search engine toolbars, most of it coming from Search Engine Watch. Monday's SearchDay reported on the Dogpile Toolbar, which allows you to easily access the Dogpile metasearch tool from your browser window. On Tuesday, Chris reported on the new HotBot Quick Search Deskbar which, among other things, allows you to translate words, perform currency conversions, and get a weather forecast from the toolbar. On Thursday SearchDay wrapped up with a gaggle of search engine toolbars, including AskJeeves, CNet, GGSearch, and others. Not to be outdone, Google has released Version 2.0 of its popular toolbar, which is still in beta. New features include a pop-up blocker, an autofill feature, and a Blogger tool.

A Full Day Every Week
A new survey by the American Management Association finds that employees spend more than a quarter of their workday dealing with e-mail -- that's a full day a week!

AllTheWeb vs. Google
Microdoc News compares AllTheWeb with Google, and finds that AllTheWeb provides a better search experience. He makes several good points; AllTheWeb has a few advantages over Google, such as a higher limit on the number of search terms as well as the larger display of results. It's a great search alternative to Google. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- don't limit yourself to one search tool. Make use of several search engines, to make sure you're covering as much of the Web as you can.

Blawgs of the Week
Time to recap some of the law-related weblogs I have come across this week. D. Gordon Smith, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, publishes Venturprenueur, a blog on entrepreneurship. American Lawyer in a Japanese Law Office shows how one lawyer adapts to life in a different country. A North Carolina M&A and finance lawyer presents the Business Law Blog, as he "considers the law, his practice, and other things." KCLawyer is a law firm weblog, from the Missouri firm of Herron & Lewis. And from the former Incompetent Attorney is his new weblog, Patent Pending.

Politics junkies should check out WatchBlog, a multiple-editor weblog broken down into the three major political affiliations -- Democrat, Republican, and Third-Party. Franchise Law, claimed to be the Web's first blog on the subject, is maintained by the law firm of Wiggin & Dana. Jason N. Nemes publishes Sixth Circuit Law, a weblog focusing on cases decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Found in my web referrer logs was Debgpi, from a "Chicago librarian/lawyer/bunch of other stuff." Doug Simpson, a Connecticut lawyer, publishes the new Unintended Consequences, with general comments about current legal topics. And yet another candidate for president has started his own blog -- this time it's Dennis Kucinich.

A whole lotta law student blogs this week, too. First there's the appropriately named Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil, from Anthony, a student at Columbia School of Law. Maureen, a "law student and sad, sad punk wannabe (it will never happen) living in our nation's anthrax-and-explosion-ridden capital," serves up Reenhead. And two rising 2L law students at Arizona State University College of Law present ASU Law Devil.

Expert Research on the Internet

How often has this happened to you: you look at your calendar, and notice an expert deadline looming in one of your cases. You dread the thought of having to find an expert (and who doesn't?). Why not try the Web? There are many ways to find an expert online; you can also dig up online dirt about an opposing expert, in order to impeach him or her at deposition or trial. It's just a matter of heading in the right direction. This article will discuss just a few of the places where experts are likely to be found.

Before beginning your search, one of the first questions you should ask is, "where are experts on this subject likely to gather?" For example, if you're looking for an expert on diabetes, focus your search on websites relating to that condition. Another place where potential experts might be found is within the UseNet newsgroups. UseNet features message boards on virtually every subject imaginable, and those knowledgeable in each subject regularly post messages there. Check out Google Groups for access to UseNet and its vast archives of over 700 million messages.

Sometimes a trip to your local library can yield books written by a potential expert. Online, try LibDex to search over 18,000 library card catalogs for publications on the subject matter of your lawsuit. If you're looking for a medical expert, you can't go wrong with the National Library of Medicine, which contains over six million articles on various medical topics.

If you would rather rely on the recommendations of others, give TASA a try. The Technical Advisor Service for Attorneys offers expert referrals in over 9,400 categories. Also competing for your attention in this area are ForensisGroup and medQuest (a site offering medical expert referrals).

Expert directories abound on the Internet, but a word of warning before you try such sites. The experts on this site are there because they paid to be included in the directory, not necessarily because they have the requisite expertise. Just make sure you complete your due diligence on the expert before retaining him/her, because the directories are not always a guarantee of quality.

That said, there are a large number of expert directories on the Web, including Experts.com. This site is not solely devoted to those in the legal profession; anyone who needs an expert can search for one here. Law-related sites that offer expert directories include Findlaw, NLJ Experts at Law.com, and the JurisPro Expert Witness Directory.

Maybe instead of retaining an expert, you want to find instances where an opposing expert has previously testified. The Internet can help you here too, for a price. For the defense bar, you'll want to check out Idex, which provides a testimonial history, copies of documents, disciplinary history, articles by the expert, and much more. The Defense Research Institute also provides an expert witness database for its members. The plaintiff's side of the docket also has its own expert files; the American Trial Lawyers Association has a listing of experts and consultants, and TrialSmith offers over 137,000 deposition transcripts of expert witnesses. Those of you who want to exclude an expert as part of a Daubert challenge will want to visit Daubert on the Web, the definitive Internet spot on the topic.

There are many more sites dealing with experts and how to find them on the Internet. Do you know a site you'd like to suggest? Drop me a line at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net and I'll mention it in an upcoming issue!

Help Desk

In the last issue, I started a discussion on working with Outlook and Outlook Express. This week, let's talk about backing up your e-mail. Outlook has an archive feature, but sometimes you may want to completely back up your e-mail file and save it to disk or away from your PC. Here's how to do it:

If you use Outlook without Microsoft Exchange, all of your data is in a file with a .pst extension, usually Outlook.pst. To find the PST file, use Windows' search function and type in *.pst -- that will find all files with the PST extension. Then save the file to disk as you normally would.

If you just want to back up or save a specific folder in your Inbox, use Outlook's Export feature. Choose File, then Import and Export, then Export to a File. In the Create a File of Type list, choose Personal Folder File (PST), then select the folders you want to back up.

Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!

North Carolina Business Court
Here's an interesting site -- the state of North Carolina takes all of its "complex business cases" and assigns them to the North Carolina Business Court, where a Special Superior Court judge will hear the case. Having these cases assigned to the same limited pool of judges has several advantages: simplification of case management, greater speed and flexibility, consistency, and the knowledge that the judge will have significant experience in presiding over cases with complex business issues. You can look up active cases (there aren't many pending right now), see the current calendar, and even download copies of documents filed in each case. Also available are the opinions of the court dating back to 1996, local rules, practice pointers, and other resources.

Analysis and Information Online
A&I (Analysis and Information) Online is "a web-based tool designed to provide quick and efficient access to descriptive statistics and analyses on commercial vehicle operator safety information." There are four major databases to explore. SafeStat provides data that determines the current relative safety status of individual motor carriers. Crash Profiles Online are summarized crash statistics for large trucks and buses involved in fatal and non-fatal crashes occurring in the United States. Program Measures provides reports on safety programs run by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Finally, Current Analysis Results is a collection of analytical reports on motor carrier safety developed by the FMCSA. There's a lot to explore here.

All Area Codes
This site is pretty much what-you-see-is-what-you-get. Find out the area codes for all 50 states, as well as the Canadian provinces. That's all.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Archives
The word "archives" may be a bit misleading here, but the content is undeniably interesting. At this site the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation provides a selection of radio and television clips from its archives, some dating back over sixty years. You can browse by topic, which include People, Conflict & War, Arts & Entertainment, Politics & Economy, Life & Society, Disasters & Tragedies, Science & Technology, and Sports. You can also browse the index by topic or clip.

CorpTech ($$$)
CorpTech publishes "high-quality public and private business information (executive contacts and company profile information) on one of America's strongest business segments," with information on over 50,000 high technology companies in 18 industries. Gold and Silver Access runs between $2,500 and $6,000, and you can download individual company lists for between $100 and $1,000. You can also use the service on a pay-per-view basis. Of course, there's a free preview available so you can check it out before you shell out the big bucks.

Ever wonder how Google's results are so frighteningly accurate? Wonder no more -- it's all due to Google's patented PigeonRank process.

Still like wearing hippie crap? There's a site just for you -- Hippiecrap.com, with jewelry, hemp bracelets, hats, purses, dresses, and more.

And if those mosquitos are getting to you about this time of the summer, check
out Skeeterbites, your mosquito control headquarters

Well, that’s it for Issue #115 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.

Subscription Information: If you want to keep on receiving issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net, or visit Inter Alia and sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Or, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net and I'll remove you from the list.

Archives: Miss an issue? You can read previous issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly in the Archives.

Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net..