The University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law
Fastcase is a comprehensive, nationwide law library. Every state bar association in America and many of the metro, county, and specialty bar associations offer Fastcase as a free bar member benefit. So, if you belong to one of the bar associations on the list, you will be able to use Fastcase for free legal research. One way to access Fastcase would be to go to their home page and selecting the "Bar Association Partners" tab. Users will be redirected to a list of associations and libraries who provide access to Fastcase. Simply select your jurisdiction and you'll be redirected to your bar association. Another way is to just go straight to your bar association website to find Fastcase.
Once on the Fastcase page, users can use the search bar to do a general search using case name, keywords, citation, etc. However, note that this will do a search of all available jurisdictions.
If users want to search a single jurisdiction, they can select "Browse," located on the left hand side of the page. This will pull up options, such as Case Law, Statutes, Constitutions, and more. Users can also see a Browse by Jurisdiction option.
If you select Browse by Jurisdiction, you will find a list of all 50 states, Federal, and the U.S. Territories. By selecting one of the jurisdictions, users will then be able to narrow their search further within that specific jurisdiction. In the examples below, I selected Browse by Jurisdiction, which pulled up the list of jurisdictions, and then Alabama, to see what is available from Alabama.
If users want to search multiple jurisdictions, they can select the Advanced Search tab to the left side of the screen. This will pull up a list of all available jurisdictions, as well as filters users can use, such as Content type, a Word search, and then further options such as Date and Title.
If users look to the top left of the screen, they will find an icon that looks like a clock with an arrow going counter clockwise around it. This is the users library, which keeps track of the users search history, document history, as well as bookmarks, saved searches, and caselaw alerts.
