The Internet
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. An Introduction to NATIONS' LAW LINKS
As the 21st Century proceeds at top operating speed and civilization now finds itself on the other side of the new millennium, trial lawyers confront the option to either embrace the telecommunication advances which pervade our profession or fail to make the turn on the technological curve and plunge headlong into the chasm of obsolescence. We can elect to live in the "Dark Ages", or thrust ourselves forward in an advance toward a more unified society. It is never too late to catch the wave of information technology, soaking up the rays of a rapidly evolving cyber world.
This presentation represents an effort to acquaint trial lawyers, and others interested in internet research, with the massive resources available on the World Wide Web, which may lead to the useful discovery of valuable information with a nominal expenditure of time and money.
As the shift from quality to quantity forces our culture into an even deeper need for vast amounts of information, we have created a rich source from which the researcher can gather. From an investigative viewpoint, an attorney and staff may explore a multitude of instructive avenues, from such mundane matters as locating missing witnesses, checking product recalls by NHTSA, researching OSHA violations, and locating expert witnesses, to the more bizarre matters of law, including checking moon phases on the evening of the event in question, creating a detailed turn-by-turn map from one's office to the accident scene, or running a real-time check on the current speed of vehicles on the freeway the attorney plans to travel. While sitting at a computer, an attorney who is Internet literate can search for an infinite variety of useful data including such legal matters as locating case law, biographies of judges, pending legislation, administrative rules, law review articles, and continuing legal education programs, without ever having to leave the Howard L Nations Law Links sites.
For example, in the area of medical research, The National Library of Medicine (Medline) leads to more information than one would ever need across the entire spectrum of medicine, from locating doctors to performing extensive pharmacological research. And with a few extra clicks, the writings of the doctor you plan to cross-examine may also be available on Medline.
An attorney having an interest in a corporation can obtain easy access to its quarterly filings of 10Q's, the annual filings of 10K's, or the 8K's which record significant events. These documents give a complete financial picture of the corporation and can be relied on as relatively accurate since they are the documents officially filed with the SEC. Corporate officers and the Board of Directors are also identified in these official filings. Additionally, literally thousands of corporations have their own websites online which provide a substantial basis for obtaining in-depth corporate information.
The Texas Secretary of State is now online so we have direct admission to Texas State information, which lists valuable links, such as the registered agent for service, Texas corporate filings, and whether a corporation is in good standing. This is just one valuable link on our Texas Resources pages which contains a comprehensive list of legal and general resource links.
Our new and ever-growing State pages provide access to valuable links in each of the fifty states as well as US Territories and Provinces covering topics from legal resources and public libraries, to census bureau data, airports, museums and media. Secretary of State links are currently being added to each of the remaining forty-nine states.
Virtually every federal agency is online providing immense amounts of information. In addition to NHTSA and OSHA which can be invaluable in a product liability case, the Consumer Product Safety Commission provides extensive recall information on every consumer product recalled in the past few years.
One of the most useful federal sites on the Internet for investigative research is the National Transportation Safety Board. At this site you can search for aviation, highway, marine, pipeline, and railroad accidents on a database which dates back to 1983. Federal/agencies
Industry standards are also available on the Internet through such agencies as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In addition, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gives access to crash test results, regulations, and traffic laws. industry-standards
In aviation research, the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Registration database provides the registration of all privately owned aircraft in the United States. Additionally, the FAA web page includes airworthiness standards, flight standards, Federal Aviation Regulations, aircraft certification information and accident investigations. airplane_links
For the use of neophytes who have not yet ventured onto the World Wide Web, we have included tutorial sites to help you learn to efficiently surf the Web. Trial lawyers, who believe the best way to learn how to try a lawsuit is at the Courthouse, will particularly enjoy the Internet Tutorials which provide interactive lessons -- learn as you go. You'll also find a list of Web sites that rate other Web sites.
One of the most valuable hints concerning research on the Internet is the use of the multi-engine search tools. There are numerous search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and AlltheWeb. Now, each of those engines has a more broad-based search realm. Included in the sites are multi-engine search tools. Inktomi, containing Hotbot, MSN Search, IWon, AOL Search, as well as Teoma, can access multiple search engines for your topic rather than your having to sift through each of the search engines and web crawlers individually. Our search tools take you through the best search engines, merge the results, and remove the redundancies. Before creating our web pages, our computer always defaulted to Northern Light, since that had been one of the most efficient starting points for Internet research. We now begin with Google, which actually uses the most sophisticated and up-to-the-minute search engine capabilities. technology
Since many members of our profession are prolific travelers, we have also included websites which allow you to make your airline reservations, rent a car, reserve a hotel room, obtain maps to your destination, locate the best restaurants in any city, and convert currency in the event you are traveling abroad. travel
Through the Ticketmaster website you can make online reservations for shows or events, either locally or in your town of destination. The Wine Spectator Magazine site links to a hotel and resort database with recommendations for excellent dining. The best starting point for travel reservations is the Travelocity website.
The Nations' Law Links is a comprehensive collection of resources that may be used as a hard copy reference while making independent searches.
Within Nations' Law Links are over seven hundred and fifty point-and-click links (and over 1,600 site-wide links). From these links you can connect to thousands of useful websites containing matters relevant to the legal profession. For example, clicking on http://www.law.cornell.edu/, leads into one of the most comprehensive legal links on the Internet with literally hundreds of useful legal information sites.
Our Method Of Rating
Within each category in Nations' Law Links we have rated the most valuable sites, with "Scales of Justice" ( 
). Two scales indicate an Excellent Starting Point which contains hundreds of links to other legal sites on the Internet thereby creating the largest "webs." One scale indicates a Good Starting Point which also leads to many valuable sites.
We are operating our web page as a service to the trial bar and greatly appreciate any suggestions which may serve to make the site more useful to the members of our profession. Nations' Law Links will continue to grow as excellent new sites come online. If you have knowledge of any exceptional links which you feel are very useful to trial lawyers but which are not included in the Nations' Law Links lists, please notify us by utilizing the "Suggest a Link" feature which appears at the top of every page on the site.
We upgrade the website on a regular basis and greatly appreciate your input. If you encounter a link which is inoperable, please notify us by utilize the "Report a Dead Link" feature which appears at the top of every page.
Enjoy surfing on the Web where the surf's always up!
II. Nations' Law Links:
You will find that Nations' Law Links are broken down into six major categories:
· General Legal Resources
· State Links
· Federal Links
· Injury and Causation
· Medical Research
· Resources by Practice Area
General Legal Resources This is one of the most extensive legal resources, which includes academics, states, federal courts, government, organizations, legal forms and continuing legal education. Below are listed only a few of the many topics that are covered extensively within our site, such as Finding Tools, a collection of sites to assist in locating attorney directories and lists, lay and expert witnesses, including experts who have registered on the Internet or subscribe to a fee-based directory of experts.
We have created a more specialized Service Companies section, that explores a variety of legal services on the Internet including Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, Bluesheets, and automobile blue book values.
Our expansive Travel and Entertainment page will aid you in making airline reservations, renting a car, reserving a hotel room, acquiring maps, locating restaurants, converting currency, obtaining theater and sporting event tickets, or even rating your favorite wine.
Under Writing Aids you will discover a variety of online writing tools including law dictionaries, famous quotes, Shakespeare's works, and reference materials.
Access full text newspaper articles, reach publishers of legal materials and locate television and radio stations with our updated Publishers, News, Media, and Magazines while receiving up to the minute news, weather and sports, or search a magazine directory containing links to hundreds of Web sites throughout the Internet..
The Financial section includes investment information, currency exchange rates, the Securities and Exchange Commission's database, ability to search for a business, access to the A. M. Best Companies' rating system, consumer information about insurance companies, and a look at who gave what to which candidate in last year's elections.
Some of the most extensive legal websites are listed under "Academic" and include sites maintained by law schools at Cornell, Indiana, and Emory University.
Please link to www.howardnations.com/lawlinks for the complete coverage of researching tools available.
State Links provide links for each of the fifty states covering a variety of interests and information for both the legal professional and laypersons. We are adding new research links to each of these pages regularly, so do check in often for the latest updates.
Federal Links begin with the premier site FirstGov.gov, followed by pages of links for Government Agencies and Departments, Census Bureaus, Federal Law, the three branches of Government and the Library of Congress. You will find even more categories within these pages that can take the researcher to concise information within their chosen topic. We keep constant vigil to ensure the user the quickest way to gather Federal and Government information.
The Injury and Causation section currently contains seven Injury and thirteen Causation topics. The Injury section contains hundreds of links related to Amputation, Blindness, Burns, Birth Trauma, Paralysis/Spinal Cord Injuries, and Traumatic Brain Injury. Any person, from the patient, to the doctor, to the curious surfer, can find information that pertains to their situation. Although there are many specific sites on the web that will provide specific topic data, we have combined our resources into this one essential area. We strive to address the concerns of the user who may be injured or have a loved one who needs medical advice and information.
Within the Causation pages there are links to sites that cover topics such as airplane disaster, car-crash dummy reports, nursing home malpractice, and boating safety. With all the tragedies in our lives, we wanted to provide our seekers with the best that the Internet has to offer.
Medical Research The Internet gives the researcher access to Medline, the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database covering all fields of medicine and contains over 11 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine from 1966 to the present. It is the most comprehensive medical resource available on the Internet. A doctor may be located using the American Medical Association's Physician Select Online Doctor Finder.
One of the newest additions to the site is our Research by Practice Area which currently contains links to four practice area and will be expanded to cover thirty-six practice areas as outlined by the State Bar of Texas. At present, we offer links on Admiralty Law; CyberSpace and Internet Law; Family Law which canvasses the crucial topics of divorce and children; and our newest addition, the Criminal Law section. As our research teams seek out the cream of the Web, we will add pages in Entertainment Law, Immigration and Naturalization Law, and Taxation Law, which will keep us glued to our screens.
The easiest way to use Nations' Law Links is to add our website to your "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" list. In order to add Nations' Legal Links to your computer, simply pull up the page www.howardnations.com, then click on "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" and point and click on "add to Bookmarks." This will give immediate access to all of these legal links by returning to "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" on your computer. Click on howardnations.com and the research capabilities of the website will be at your fingertips.
Additionally, you may have or wish to create your own website, simply create a link from your website to www.howardnations.com in order to have full access to all of our legal links.
III. Glossary of Internet Terms
I would like to thank Bill Earles for allowing me to utilize his Internet Dictionary: Words Common to the Internet. This is one of the more comprehensive dictionaries of its kind on the 'Net. It defines words common to the Internet and contains links to similar online publications. It is therefore a dictionary of dictionaries, as well as a simple list of terms and definitions.
http://www.whaddup.com/dictionary/index.htm
IV. Bibliography
1. Michael Dertouzos, The Unfinished Revolution, Harper Collins (2001)
2. E. Garrison Walters, The Essential Guide to Computing, Prentiss Hall PTR (2001)
3. Richard Saul Wurman, Information Anxiety 2, Que (2001)
4. Thomas Pack, 10 Minute Guide to Business Research on the Net, Que Corporation, a Division of MacMillan Computer Publishing (1997)
5. Luckman's, Best of the Web, Barnes & Noble (1996)
6. Diana Botluk, The Legal Lists: Research on the Internet, Lawyers Cooperative Publishing (1996)
7. G. Burgess Allison, The Lawyers Guide to the Internet, American Bar Association, Section of Law Practice Management (1995)
