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Free and Low Cost Legal Research: Fastcase - For Lawyers and Law Students

Fastcase, Casemaker, Pacer, Casenet, Free Internet Resources. Federal and Missouri materials / Last updated by Annaleigh Hobbs, JD '25

What is in this database?

Fastcase offers access to federal and state:

  • statutes
  • regulations
  • constitutions
  • cases
  • court rules

This database is available for free to Missouri attorneys through their Missouri Bar Association membership and MU Law students with a password from the library. However, not included in this package are desk books and the newspaper archive .

Fastcase: Pros and Cons

Cons

    •  No true citator (necessary to confirm that your law is still good).

Pros

 

  • Free through Missouri Bar Membership and enrollment at MU Law.
  • Free printing/downloading (as opposed to West or Lexis).
  • Authority check (see below)
  • Also, Fastcase provides links from within the case to Keycite so the user can use it transactionally.  Cost varies by document.

Scope of Coverage in Fastcase

N­a­t­i­o­n­a­l­ ­C­a­s­e­ ­L­a­w 

 

U.S. Supreme Court 1754 - Current
All Federal Circuit Courts 1 F.2d - Current
Federal District Courts 1912 - Current
Federal Bankruptcy Courts 1979 - Current
Board of Immigration Appeals 1996 - Current
U.S. Court of Claims 1929 - 1971
U.S. Customs Court 1938 - 1980
Tax Court 1924 - Current
Special Court, Reg. Rail Reorg. Act 1974 - 2001
U.S. Court of Int'l Trade 1980 - 2001
Court of Customs & Patent Appeals 1929 - 1971
All 50 States 1950 (or older) - Current

Paid $ubscriptions: Missouri Deskbooks and Federal Court Filings

Deskbooks

$795 one-time payment for annual subscription to all Missouri deskbooks - Complete access to all Missouri deskbooks for one year, for a one-time payment of $795.

$160 one-time payment for annual subscription to one deskbook - Complete access to a single deskbook or deskbooks for one year, for a one-time payment of $160 each.

$79 per month, 12 months: All Deskbooks - Annual subscription to all deskbooks paid monthly: Complete access to all Missouri deskbooks for one year, for 12 monthly payments of $79.

$16 per month, 12 months: Single Deskbook -Annual subscription to individual deskbooks paid monthly: Complete access to a single deskbook for one year, for 12 monthly payments of $16 per deskbook.

Federal Court Filings

$175 per year, special rate for Missouri Bar Association members - Annual subscription to federal and bankruptcy court filings.

Forecite

Fastcase is beta testing Forecite, a search feature akin to Westlaw's ResultsPlus. 

After running a search, you'll see a message like this, with the option to view those results.

Forecite (beta): Fastcase has identified 3 additional decisions that may be relevant to your research topic, but do not contain one or more of your search terms.

Fastcase 2018 User Guide

Fastcase: What is Authority Check?

What is Authority Check?

 

Authority check searches for other cases that cite your case and displays the results as a list of hyperlinked case names. This is a great research tool for finding related precedents, or to help determine the continuing value of a case as a precedent. In addition, you can use Authority Check on the Results page to sort search results in order of authority – with the most often-cited cases at the top of the list. Note that authority check only lists citing precedents in the Fastcase database.