Work For You:

PRACTICE POINTERS-MINNESOTA’S BEST LEGAL WEB SITES

By T. Joseph Kane Crumley
Winter 2002

Since the World Wide Web exploded onto the national consciousness in the mid-90s, it has been an increasingly important resource for trial lawyers.  There are uncountable legal information resources available on the Web.  Some of these are traditional information databases, like motor vehicle and licensing records, which had only been previously accessible by mail or in person.  Others are completely new resources.

Today, more than ever, if you are practicing law without a Web browser open in front of you, you are a dinosaur.

This edition of Practice Pointer takes a sharp left turn into the realm of the techies.  We will attempt to list and organize some of the best web sites available to trial lawyers in this area.  Unless indicated otherwise, the websites provide most or all of their content free of charge.

Web-savvy lawyers will immediately put down this magazine (if, indeed, they even read the old-fashioned paper version) and read the article online at the MAJ website, where they can simply click on the links in the article to view the sites:

www.mntla.com/mntlamembers2000/index.htm.

Don’t forget to bookmark your favorite sites as you read through the article!^[1]

GENERAL LEGAL WEBSITES

Even us dinosaurs had commercial legal databases such as Westlaw and LEXIS available before the World Wide Web.  These providers maintain websites

(www.westlaw.com and www.lexis.com) and are still major players.  They maintain large databases, and provide reliability-- sort of like the comfort of buying IBM computers.  However, like IBM computers, they are expensive. 

The number and variety of inexpensive and free alternatives has grown dramatically.  Attorneys should compare the older subscription services with some of the less expensive and free websites.

MAJ member Cameron Parkhurst touts www.findlaw.com  “for everything from looking up statutes, cases, etc... to locating a bed and breakfast in another state.  Your editor agrees that this was one of the most useful and comprehensive free sites available.

In January 2001, the West Group purchased Findlaw.  So far, West has allowed Findlaw to operate as an independent division, with surprisingly few references to West’s more expensive services.  For example, if you use Findlaw’s State Court links, and “drill down”^[2] to search Minnesota Appellate cases, there are links to the official Minnesota appellate court website (as well as Findlaw’s compilation, noting their limited scope from only 1995 to the present.^[3]  They resist the temptation to sell the user Westlaw, whose Minnesota databases are complete back to 1851.

Findlaw, using the popular Google search engine, allows you to search specific court databases, across all states and federal courts, across other legal websites, or across the entire World Wide Web.  You are generally restricted to the materials that are available on the individual states’ websites, but it’s nice having it all organized in one place.

VersusLaw (www.versuslaw.com, and LoisLaw (www.loislaw.com) are lower-cost subscription that attempt to compete with WestLaw and Lexis.  Each will provide a limited free trial period if you provide them contact information, including an e-mail address.^[4]

The Law.net www.thelaw.net charges $345 for a solo license and apparently does not provide a free trial period.

PRIMARY LEGAL SOURCES

Some folks want to go straight to the source.  Rules, statutes and appellate cases are almost all posted on websites maintained by the originating body.  While Westlaw, Lexis or Findlaw might be more convenient by gathering multiple sources in one place, these primary sources are often more complete, timely and up-to-date.  They are also almost always free.

Minnesota Law

Minnesota Appellate Cases are available at the Minnesota Court System Website, www.courts.state.mn.us.

New Supreme Court Opinions are posted every Thursday at about 1:05 pm at www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/sc/current/sccur.html.  You can read the individual cases, or download^[5] the entire set of cases in a variety of compressed formats.

New Court of Appeals Opinions are posted every Tuesday, also just after 1:00 pm. www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/coa/current/coacur.html.  There you can download all the cases in a variety of compressed formats.  The published cases can be viewed individually at www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/coa/current/coapub.html.

The courts also maintain an archive of cases decided since 1996, www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/archive/, updated by 4:00 p.m. on release days.  The cases can be listed by release date, docket number and by the name of the first party.  You can read individual cases, published and unpublished.^[6] 

The Courts maintain a combined search engine at http://search.state.mn.us/courts/.  All Minnesota appellate cases since 1996 can be searched.  Clicking on the “Advanced” link allows searching with more advanced criteria.

The Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure (including committee comments, but not the forms appendix) are now available on the Supreme Court’s website at www.courts.state.mn.us/rules/civil/RCP.htm.

You might want to ‘sync’ them onto your laptop or PDA (or at least tell your secretary, so he doesn’t have to re-type from the rules book into your briefs).  They also have the Criminal, Appellate and Juvenile Rules, www.courts.state.mn.us/rules/crt_rules.html.  Rules for Admission to the Bar, and for Guardians ad Litem are at www.courts.state.mn.us/rules/oth_rules.html.

Ethics Board.  The Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board & Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility maintain a website, www.courts.state.mn.us/lprb.  The Rules www.courts.state.mn.us/lprb/conduct.html and opinions are there, www.courts.state.mn.us/lprb/opinions.html, as well as Bench and Bar articles www.courts.state.mn.us/lprb/benchbar.html, the current list of disbarred and suspended lawyers, www.courts.state.mn.us/lprb/dbintro.html, and many other resources.

Municipal Ordinances

Minneapolis Member Matt Brenengen directs us to this site:

http://livepublish.municode.com/13/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-j.htm&vid=11490, which publishes the Minneapolis ordinances in an easy-to navigate and search tree structure.

The site also advertises online minutes of city council meetings.  So far, the only Minnesota minutes available are of the International Falls City Council.

One curiosity at the Municode site: scanned full text Minneapolis City Attorney Opinions from 1913 to the present!  http://imaging.municode.com/

St. Paul Ordinances and City Charter are at the city’s site: www.ci.saint-paul.mn.us/code/.

Federal Law

“Thomas” is the U.S. Congress’s website, and includes an online version of The Congressional Record, the text and status of all pending legislation, laws enacted since 1973 and even treaties back to 1968.  http://thomas.loc.gov/.

The U.S. Supreme Court maintains its own limited website, www.supremecourtus.gov, with a wide variety of information about the court itself.  It may be the quickest way to find this week’s cases, but the case archive only goes back to 2000.  More valuable though, the site has transcripts of the oral arguments made to the court, www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.html.  Find out what the justices are asking, and read the arguments made by the nation’s top appellate attorneys.

Findlaw has one of the best free sites for Supreme Court Cases, with all cases back to 1893.  The site indicates it will remain free of charge. 
www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html.  Findlaw.com also maintains electronic copies of briefs submitted by parties: http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/index.html

However, a newer site claims it has all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1892, plus 80 older cases back to 1792!  Read Marbury v. Madison and Plessy v. Ferguson.  www.usscplus.com/online/. 

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals cases since 1995 can be accessed at www.ca8.uscourts.gov/case/case.htm.

Federal District Court Selected Minnesota cases federal district court decisions can be viewed and searched at www.mnd.uscourts.gov

Other Federal District Courts

Findlaw has links to each of the Federal districts, most of which list their own cases.

Wisconsin Law

Wisconsin Statutes, Constitution and Attorney General Opinions are all available at the Revisor of Statutes’ website, www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/.

Government Sites

The “top page” for the federal government is at www.firstgov.gov.  From here, you can navigate to most branches of the government.  Particularly valuable is the alphabetical list of links to all federal agencies www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml.

Minnesota has a similar page called “Northstar” at www.state.mn.us^[7].

Secretary of State Filings - Minnesota

As reported in this column last quarter, the Minnesota Secretary of State filings have now been placed online.  http://da.sos.state.mn.us/minnesota/home/dahome.asp takes you to the home page, but http://da.sos.state.mn.us/minnesota/corp_inquiry/corp_inquiry-find.asp?:Norder_item_type_id=10 will take you right to the database search form.  Remember to search all forms of the name.  For example, Mr. Lutz’ company is listed under ‘F” for “F.M. Lutz, Inc”.

The free online information is strangely limited.  Although Minnesota was one of the first states to provide Resident Agent information free by telephone, only basic information is free online.  Inexplicably, you need to pay a $50 yearly subscription fee, plus $3 per inquiry to get resident agent information online.  Apparently, they would rather pay someone to answer the telephone at the Secretary of State’s office, since the resident agent information is still free by phone.

Resident Agents –nationwide.  Denise Fullerton also points us to a list of Resident Agent resources for all states: www.residentagentinfo.com

Dram Shops/Liquor Licensing.  Member Brian Wojtalewicz directs us to the web site for liquor license information in the state, www.dps.state.mn.us/alcgamb/alcgamb.html.    The liquor license database itself is directly accessible, and provides everything you previously secured by telephone^[8].  www.dps.state.mn.us/alcgamb/New_Folder/search1.asp. 

Hennepin County Property Tax Records.  http://www2.co.hennepin.mn.us/pins.  Here you can get loads of valuable information on property and the owners.  Your editor looked up a defendant’s address recently, and determined the assessed property value, lot size and taxes.  Clicking “View Map” then allowed me to determine the defendant’s neighbors, and the layout of the neighborhood.  It is a clickable map that lets you zoom in and zoom out and view the identity and property information of the all the neighbors. 

Minneapolis Property owners.   Member Steve Fields submitted this website for looking up owners of property in Minneapolis.  He says it works great for premises liability cases.  www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/propertyinfo/index.asp.

Wisconsin Criminal and Civil Court Records

Members Chuck Slane and Thomas Yang each pointed out Wisconsin’s valuable site where you can check criminal and civil court records for most of the state.  I even found my nephews’ traffic tickets!  http://ccap.courts.state.wi.us/internetcourtaccess/.

Lawyer Information

MAJ maintains one of the most complete websites of any state Trial Lawyers Associations.  At www.mntla.com, members can access almost every member service available, including member directories, information bank indexes, and CLE schedules.  If you’re not familiar with this site, you’re missing out.

On a national scale, www.atla.org provides similar information.

Martindale-Hubbell www.martindale.com can help you locate lawyers, law firms and their Martindale-Hubbell ratings.

List Serves and Message Boards

Obviously, the most important list server to MAJ members is our own, www.mntla.com/mntlamembers2000/list_serv.htm.  There are twenty lists covering every area of practice.

PrairieLaw.  What used to be PrairieLaw.com appears to be part of Martindale-Hubbell’s website.  www.lawyers.com/community/index.php.

Here you can find onsite message boards and list servers (AKA “E-mail Forums”) on a variety of legal subjects, including automobile law, class actions, personal injury, family law, medical malpractice, workers' compensation immigration and employment law.  The message boards do get some traffic from potential legal consumers, but there are also plenty of people looking for free legal advice.

Be advised, joining every list serv that looks interesting can lead to a landslide of e-mail messages!  Just as on the MAJ lists, you can fine-tune your options to receive messages packaged in a once-a-day digest or one at a time.

Medical Information

Good and Bad Doctor Information.  Member David Kocuruses www.questionabledoctors.org (run by Public Citizen) to look up discipline records of bad doctors.  Subscriptions are $10 for six months.  Unfortunately, only 26 states are available online at press time, including neither Minnesota nor Wisconsin.

The Association of State Medical Board Executive Directors operates a database of minimal licensing information tied into most states medical boards.  www.docboard.org

Member Karen Kingsley likes the Minnesota Board of Medical Examiners site, which provides minimal licensing information, along with only the most recent public disciplinary information.  www.bmp.state.mn.us.

The American Board of Medical Specialties requires you to register with at least an e-mail address.  They provide a directory of doctors searchable by name or specialty.  www.abms.org.

Medical Knowledge Resources

Member Louis Bass recommends www.doereport.com for medical illustrations you can use at trial for a fairly reasonable price.

Member Wil Fluegel suggests www.images.google.com with “All kinds of images you can download from medical illustrations to cut-away views.”  Just be careful what your kids type in to the search box!  Wil also suggests:

www.online-dictionary.net/medical/ has a list of medical dictionaries available online.

MISCELLANEOUS SITES

Directories.  Denise Fullerton suggests www.whitepages.com.  In addition to the typical name search, you can do reverse searches by phone number or address.

Skip Tracing/ Contact information.  Member Jason Kohlmeyer submits www.accurint.com, a commercial site.  He has secured “an enormous amount of info at about a 25 cents a pop,” including contact information, employment history, vehicles owned, etc.

Life Expectancy.  Don’t let defense attorneys steer you to the long-obsolete charts in the Minnesota Statutes.  The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, www.cdc.gov/nchs/, maintains comprehensive and up-to-date life expectancy tables at www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/lftbls/life/1966.htm.  The most recent tables at press time are www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr50/nvsr50_06.pdf.

The US Postal Service provides valuable mailing information, including a Zip Code Finder: www.usps.org.

Interpreters.   The State Court Administrator maintains a searchable statewide roster of interpreters at www.courts.state.mn.us/cinterp/interpreter_roster_info.htm.

Another type of interpreting is available at www.TranslatingPeterRiley.com, a nonprofit site Supported By Viewers Like You , dedicated to interpreting unique Riley acronyms, pseudonyms and ‘humor’.  The site bravely attempts, with limited success, to explain Riley’s jokes^[9].

Driver’s Manuals.  Member Karen Kingsley likes to read the Minnesota Driver’s Manual, online www.dps.state.mn.us/dvs/DLTraining/DLManual/ManualLangChoice.htm.  You can also view the motorcycle and bus driver manuals.

Links Pages.

This article can’t begin to scratch the surface of all the law links available.  Here are a few more pages of links.

MAJ maintains a rich links-only page at www.mntla.com/mntlamembers2000/just_links.htm.

Member Robert Randall learned about www.macattorney.com/tools.html from his assistant.  It’s packed with numerous legal links.

Member Matt Brenengen has his own “LawLinks” page: www.brenengen.net/LawLinks.htm, loaded with valuable sites.

Things change quickly on the Internet.  If one of the links listed above doesn’t work, or you have new suggestions, please contact Derek Lamparty at MAJ.  He will update the online version of the list.