Computer-assisted legal research

Computer-assisted legal research (CALR) or computer-based legal research is a mode of legal research that uses databases of court opinions, statutes, court documents, and secondary material. Electronic databases make large bodies of case law easily available. Databases also have additional benefits, such as Boolean searches, evaluating case authority, organizing cases by topic, and providing links to cited material. Databases are available through paid subscription or for free.

Subscription-based services include Westlaw, LexisNexis, JustCite, HeinOnline, Bloomberg Law and LexEur. As of 2015 the commercial market grossed $8 billion. Free services include OpenJurist, Google Scholar, AltLaw, Ravel Law,WIPO Lex, Law Delta and the databases of the Free Access to Law Movement.

Computer-assisted legal research is undertaken by a variety of actors. It is taught as a topic on many law degrees and is used extensively by undergraduate and postgraduate law students in meeting the work requirements of their degree courses. Professors of Law rely on the digitisation of primary and secondary sources of law when conducting their research and writing the material that they submit for publication. Professional lawyers rely on computer-assisted legal research in order to properly understand the status of the law and so to act effectively in the best interest of their client. They may also consult the text of case judgements and statutes specifically, as well as wider academic comment, in order to form the basis of (or response to) an appeal.

The availability of legal information online differs by type, jurisdiction and subject matter. The types of information available include:

Prior to the advent and popularisation of the World Wide Web, access to digital legal information was largely through the use of CD-ROMs, designed and sold by commercial organisations. Dial-up services were also available from the 1970s. As the use of the Internet spread in the early 1990s, companies such as LexisNexis and Westlaw incorporated Internet connectivity into their software packages. Browser-based legal information started to be published by Legal Information Institutes from 1992.

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