New: Public Library of Law

FastCase has just launched their Public Library of Law, a free resource (registration required for caselaw) that brings together all the available online caselaw, statutes, regulations, court rules and constitutions from the federal and state governments.  From the PLOL spiel:

Comprehensive: The Fastcase PLoL brings together all of the free legal resources that exist on the Internet and adds an additional 10 years of case law from all 50 states, eliminating the need to search hundreds of sites or pore through thousands of books to find answers to legal questions.  PLoL users have access to:

o   U.S. Reports: Vol. 1-546, inclusive (1757 to present)
o   F.2d Vol. 178-999, inclusive (1950 to 1995)
o   F.3d Vol. 1-491, inclusive (1995 to present)
o   State cases from 1997 to present
o   Statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions � federal and all 50 states
o   Commonly used legal forms

Easy to Use: The Fastcase PLoL features Fastcase�s patented search technology, an intuitive interface that works like popular Web search engines.  By sorting the most applicable cases first, PLoL puts the needles on top of the haystack, making even first-time legal research as easy as using Google.

Reliable: Fastcase updates the PLoL daily with new cases from court websites.  Additionally, when new law books are released, Fastcase keys them in and adds them to PLoL, adding cases that represent the final, official version of the law.  This makes the Fastcase PLoL more reliable than other destinations that simply aggregate draft decisions from different court Web sites. The library is also backstopped by the comprehensive Fastcase database; where cited cases don�t exist in PLoL, they link to those cases in Fastcase�s comprehensive subscription research service for lawyers.

A bit more competition for our two party system.  Check it out!  [JJ]