Berks Barrister Summer 2018 - 36

w w w.BERKSBAR.org

TECHNOLOGY
FRANKLY SPEAKING

A Bar Benefit -
Free Legal Research
with Casemaker
By Jeffrey A. Franklin, Esquire

M

embership in the Berks County Bar Association
(BCBA) and Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA)
provides the Casemaker online legal research tool and
its suite of premium online legal research services as a free member
benefit. So what is Casemaker and how might it fit your legal
practice?
What is Casemaker?

An online legal research tool.

How do I log-in?

Browse to the PBA web site and log-in to Casemaker from
there, http://www.pabar.org/site/Case-Maker.
How much Does Casemaker Cost?

Normally, a Casemaker subscription is $60 per month ($600 if
paid annually); a CasemakerPRO subscription is $95 per month
($950 if paid annually). However, for PBA/BCBA members,
Casemaker, as well as CasemakerPro which includes CaseCheck+,
CasemakerDigest and CiteCheck, is included free as a member
benefit.
Is Casemaker Easy to Use?

Yes, I have used Lexis, Westlaw, and other online legal research
tools and found Casemaker to be intuitive and easy to use. The
universal search bar lets you perform Google-like searches or
Boolean searches with the standard limiting parameters such
as "and", "or", "not", "w/15" and the use of quotation marks for
specific phrases, etc. It uses Bluebook nomenclature by default.
Once you receive results you can narrow those results and
continue doing so with a "search-within-a-search-capability" to
further narrow your results. If the results get too narrow, you can
remove the last filter rather than starting the entire search over
again.
36 | Berks Barrister

The most common help desk tip is "to select the particular state
jurisdiction if you are looking for a particular state case or state
statute."
What is Included in Casemaker?

Members have access to Casemaker online legal research
content that includes a Pennsylvania library, federal-level materials
and resources from all 50 states. Casemaker's free library for
members includes the following:

Pennsylvania Library

PA Supreme Court opinions since 1754
PA Superior Court opinions since 1895 (includes unpublished
opinions since 2009)
PA Commonwealth Court opinions since 1968 (includes
unpublished opinions since 2008)
PA Court of Common Pleas opinions since 1918
PA Statutes, includes annual archived versions since 2010
Table of Contents for Statutes
PA Legislative Acts since 1975
Pennsylvania Bulletin
PA Code
PA State Constitution
PA Court Rules - Civil and Criminal
PA Attorney General Opinions
PA State Ethics Opinions
Standard Jury Instructions - Civil and Criminal
Disciplinary Board Decisions
Environmental Hearing Board
(No Public Utility Commission decisions, but few other than
your author would miss those!)
http://www.berksbar.org http://www.pabar.org/site/Case-Maker
Berks Barrister Summer 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks Barrister Summer 2018
