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Legal research, case law, and citations, explained
Plain-English guides to finding and researching case law, reading and checking citations, understanding stare decisis and precedent, confirming a case is still good law, and avoiding AI hallucinated cases.
AI for Small Law Firms: What to Buy First and What to Skip
Most AI advice for law firms is written for a two hundred lawyer firm with a procurement process. Here is the version for a firm where the managing partner also runs payroll.
Read articleCan Lawyers Use AI for Legal Research? Yes, With Conditions
No US jurisdiction bans AI legal research. What courts punish is a citation that reached a filing without anyone opening the case, and the 2026 record shows exactly what that costs.
Read articleWestlaw Free Trial: 7 Days, No Credit Card, What You Get
Thomson Reuters gives you seven days and takes no payment details. That is long enough to make a good decision only if you know what you are testing before the clock starts.
Read articleTrial Court vs Appellate Court: What Each One Decides
A trial court decides what happened. An appellate court decides whether the law was applied correctly, on the record that already exists. That split determines what you can cite and which research tool you need.
Read articleVincent AI vs Lexis+ AI: Which Legal Research AI to Buy
Neither vendor publishes a per-seat rate, so the feature grids are close to useless. What actually separates them is trial length, citator depth, and whether your bar already pays for one of them.
Read articleLexis Protégé vs CoCounsel: Which Legal AI Should You Buy?
On features these two have converged almost completely. What still separates them is which library the AI reasons over, which citator you retrain on, and which quote you can sanity check.
Read articleCoCounsel vs Westlaw: Is CoCounsel Included in Westlaw?
Thomson Reuters sells a tier that puts Westlaw inside CoCounsel and another that puts CoCounsel inside Westlaw. Which is which, what each costs, and how to tell which one you actually need.
Read articleWestlaw Advantage vs Westlaw Edge: Which Tier Should You Buy?
Thomson Reuters now sells three Westlaw research tiers, and the gap between them is agentic AI, not case law. What each one adds, what the published rates are, and how to pick.
Read articleIs Westlaw Worth It for a Small Firm? An Honest Breakdown
At a published 256 to 400 dollars a seat, Westlaw is a real line item. When it earns that, when it does not, and the unbundled stack that does the same two jobs for less.
Read articleHow to Look Up Federal Court Cases: A Practical Guide
Federal opinions are free if you know where to look. A working guide to govinfo, CourtListener, and PACER, what each covers, what PACER costs, and when to pay for more.
Read articleIs LexisNexis Worth It for a Solo Attorney? An Honest Breakdown
A full LexisNexis contract is often more platform than a solo needs. When Lexis is genuinely worth it, when it is not, and the unbundled stack that does the same two jobs for far less.
Read articleLexisNexis vs Fastcase: Which Legal Research Tool for a Small Firm?
One is a quote-only incumbent, the other is free to many lawyers through their bar. How LexisNexis and Fastcase compare on coverage, citators, and cost, and the stack most small firms should actually run.
Read articleKeyCite vs Shepard's: Which Citator Catches More Bad Law?
The two main US citators disagree with each other more than most researchers expect. What each signal actually means, what the independent accuracy study found, and what to use if you cannot afford either one.
Read articleBloomberg Law Pricing: What a Subscription Costs and What Is Included
The figure every directory repeats for Bloomberg Law traces to a 2010 bar bulletin. Here is where it came from, why the all-inclusive structure matters more than the headline rate, and which practices actually come out ahead on it.
Read articleHarvey AI Pricing: What a Seat Costs and Who Can Actually Buy It
Harvey does not publish a rate, so every figure in circulation is a third-party report. What buyers have disclosed, why the reported range spans a factor of ten, and why the product is probably not available to a small firm at all.
Read articleWhat Is Westlaw Edge? Westlaw AI Features, Pricing, and Alternatives
Westlaw Edge added KeyCite Overruling Risk and Litigation Analytics in 2018, and its generative work now lives in Westlaw Precision and CoCounsel. What each does, the reported pricing, and who should look at a self-serve alternative instead.
Read articleHow to Find Appellate Court Decisions: Free and Paid Ways to Search
Where to find published appellate opinions for free, how to search the thirteen federal circuits, the published-versus-unpublished rule that decides what you can cite, and how to confirm a decision is still good law.
Read articleLegal Research Subscription: What It Costs and What You Actually Need to Pay For
Most US lawyers already have a free research library through their bar and never activate it. What each tier really costs, the contract terms that bite at renewal, and the one question that decides whether you need to pay at all.
Read articleAI Legal Research Tools: What Works, What They Cost, and What Gets You Sanctioned
AI finds the on-point case from a plain-English question and still invents citations when it is not grounded. Which tools do which job, what each actually costs, and the verification workflow that keeps you out of a sanctions order.
Read articleCasetext Shut Down: What Happened and the Best Casetext Replacement
Thomson Reuters retired Casetext on April 1, 2025, eighteen months after buying it for 650 million dollars. What happened, what CoCounsel costs now, refunds, and which replacement fits which former user.
Read articleHow to Switch From Casetext: The 2026 Migration Guide
Casetext retired on April 1, 2025. How to split the two jobs it did, check the free citator your bar may already include, pick a self-serve replacement, and move what you can.
Read articleHow Much Does CoCounsel Cost? CoCounsel Pricing for Solos and Small Firms
CoCounsel has no published price. What Thomson Reuters actually discloses, why the Westlaw bundle doubles your real cost, the reported per-seat ranges, and how to negotiate the quote.
Read articleHow Much Does LexisNexis Cost? LexisNexis Pricing for Solos and Small Firms
LexisNexis is quote-only, so every figure online is an estimate. The reported small-firm ranges, what the AI add-on does to your bill, and how to negotiate against a Westlaw quote.
Read articleWestlaw Pricing: Westlaw Subscription Cost for Solos and Small Firms
What a Westlaw subscription actually costs in 2026, why the price is never published, the reported small-firm ranges, out-of-plan search charges, and the cheaper alternatives worth stacking.
Read articleCan ChatGPT Do Legal Research? What It Gets Right and Where It Fails
Why ChatGPT invents cases, how many lawyers have been sanctioned for filing them, what the tool is genuinely good at in legal work, and how to use AI research without getting sanctioned.
Read articleState vs Federal Case Law: Which One Governs Your Case
The difference between state and federal case law, which court binds yours, how the Erie doctrine makes federal judges apply state law, and when you can cite another state.
Read articleWhat Is Case Law? A Plain-English Guide for Non-Lawyers
What case law is, how published court opinions create binding rules, how it differs from statutes, and how to read and use a case in research.
Read articleWhat Is Stare Decisis? The Doctrine of Precedent Explained
What stare decisis means, why courts follow precedent, the difference between binding and persuasive authority, and when courts overrule earlier decisions.
Read articleHow to Cite a Case: Reading and Writing Legal Citations
How to cite a case in Bluebook form, how to read a case citation (volume, reporter, page, year), and how to add a pin cite so a reader lands on the exact point.
Read articleHow to Find Case Law: Free and Paid Ways to Find Cases
How to find case law by citation, by topic, and in plain English, using free sources like Google Scholar and CourtListener alongside paid research platforms.
Read articleHow to Research Case Law: A Step-by-Step Method
A repeatable method for researching case law: frame the issue, search, read the holding, expand to related authority, then verify it is still good law.
Read articleHow to Shepardize a Case: Checking If a Case Is Still Good Law
How to Shepardize a case with Shepard's on Lexis or KeyCite on Westlaw, how to read negative treatment signals, and confirm a case has not been overruled.
Read articleBinding vs Persuasive Precedent: How to Tell Them Apart
Binding vs persuasive precedent explained: which courts must follow which decisions, how jurisdiction and hierarchy decide authority, and how to weigh persuasive cases.
Read articleAI Hallucination in Legal Cases: What Happened and How to Avoid It
Why AI hallucinates legal cases, what the Mata v. Avianca sanctions and the Stanford study showed, and how to protect yourself by verifying every citation at its source.
Read articleWestlaw vs LexisNexis: An Honest Comparison for 2026
Westlaw vs LexisNexis compared on coverage, KeyCite vs Shepard's, pricing, and AI features, plus where an affordable plain-English alternative fits for solos and students.
Read articleBest Legal Research Software in 2026: A Balanced Roundup
A balanced roundup of the best legal research software in 2026, from Westlaw and LexisNexis to CourtListener, midpage, and Paxton AI, with the prices vendors do and do not publish.
Read articlePut it into practice
Ask your next legal question in plain English and get on-point precedents with summaries, holdings, and citations you can check. Transparent pricing, cancel anytime.