Selecting Jurisdictions

Need to search all the documents in a state? How about all the documents in more than one state? You can select a jurisdiction or any combination of jurisdictions to search by clicking the Jurisdiction menu. This is located in the box located between the search box and the blue search button. There is a blue downward pointing arrow in the right side of this box. Clicking on this arrow will pull up the pop-up menu and from here you can check as many or as few boxes as you need. Special boxes are located at the top of each column. Related Federal will pull documents from any states you selected as well as the related Federal District and Circuit courts. All States will pull documents from all the state libraries. All Federal will pull documents from all Federal libraries.
 
Accessing Casemaker - A Valued Member Benefit!

Casemaker is provided to you as a benefit of your bar association membership. You get case law, statutes, rules, regulations and more for all fifty state and federal jurisdictions. To access Casemaker, simply log in to the bar website and click on the Casemaker link in the member’s area. You will be automatically transferred into Casemaker from the bar. Remember to access Casemaker you must go through the bar's website every time. To save time, bookmark the bar’s website! Once you are Casemaker you can register for free webinar training by clicking the Webinar link in the upper right of the Casemaker screen.
 
How does Casemaker stay Current?
 
Our headquarters in Charlottesville, VA has ten editors with over 275 years of experience in legal publishing. Data for State and Federal acts are obtained daily. The Acts are analyzed by a state editor, classified and effective dates determined.  Then they are processed into the code which includes amendments, enactments, repeals, and re-numberings.  The code is then published.  Data is converted and delivered to the editorial team within 24 hours of receipt and the Acts are published in Casemaker within 24 hours of receipt.  Statutes are updated and published within 7 business days of receipt of the Acts.  This means statutes are kept up-to-date throughout sessions; statutes have added editorial value such as linked history lines, effective dates for all states, sections set out twice for postponed amendments, and retention of repeals in most states for historical reference; and materials are quality checked for completeness and accuracy.

Downloading Documents
 
Of course, you can access Casemaker from anywhere in the world with internet access – but sometimes you may find you need to download a copy of a case. Casemaker allows you to do just that.
While reading a case in Casemaker you will notice a set of icons on the far right in the gray toolbar area – a printer, an envelope, a folder and a floppy disk. Click on the floppy disk icon. After you click on the floppy disk icon you will see a pop up offering you a number of options. You can select various formats for the document such as Word or PDF and how many columns per a page. You can also attach any notes you have made and including treatment, citing references and highlighting. Once you have selected the options you want – just click download. The document will save on your computer or laptop. Now you can access the case – no internet required.
 
Tracking Client Research
 
Need to keep track of time spent doing online research for a client?  Utilizing the Client and Session Summary features of Casemaker can help.  Simply create a Client and select that client each time you begin to conduct research for them.  Once you have finished, click the Sign Out link to sign out of Casemaker and view the Session Summary.  The Session Summary contains the date, time and client for each search, which can be used to keep track of billable hours for the client.  Please remember to print this information as it cannot be retrieved after closing the Session Summary.
 
Sorting Results
 
Did you know you can sort your results by more than just relevance? Once you have completed a search, click on the View All link to see all the results in the document category you prefer. Once you do this you can sort these results by selecting a sort method from the dark gray bar above the results list. You can sort by Relevance, Most Cited, Date Decided or State (Ascending or Descending).

Become a Casemaker Expert
 
Using a new tool can sometimes be overwhelming. Casemaker is here to help. We offer regular free webinars for our users. Simply click on the Webinar link in the upper right-hand corner of Casemaker or visit http://casemakerlegal.com/registerwebinar.aspx to register for the next available training session. You can attend as often as you like and it is always free. Don't have time to sign up for a Casemaker webinar? You can watch a short training session hosted by Samantha anytime day or night by clicking on the Videos link in the upper right of Casemaker. Here you will find our Introductory Training Video as well as other informative presentations available 24 hours a day. 
 
Archived Data
 
The blue navigation bar on the homepage provides you with an Archive. Clicking Archive will allow you to select Administrative Code, Session Laws, or Statutes then the jurisdiction you wish to see the archives for. This is a great way to see previous versions of code and statutes or older session laws. It also helps you see statutes that may have been repealed.
 
Citation Format and Autocorrect
 
Casemaker uses the Bluebook citation format. Casemaker also will auto-correct your citations for you. For example, if you enter 567 f3d 1120 in the search bar, Casemaker will correct your entry to 567 F.3d 1120. If you need to disable this for any reason, simply check the Turn off Autocorrect box before performing your search.