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2009 News Articles › Exclusive Casemaker 2.1 Launch Feb. 1
Exclusive Casemaker 2.1 Launch Feb. 1
Article Date: Sunday, February 01, 2009
Written By: Russell Rawlings
The future of online legal research for members of the North Carolina Bar Association has arrived. Beta testing for Casemaker 2.1, the next generation of the ever-popular NCBA member benefit, has concluded.
Effective Feb. 1, 2009, Casemaker 2.1 will stand alone as the source for unlimited access to legal research for NCBA members via the NCBA Web site. Casemaker 2.0, which remained accessible during the beta phase, will no longer be available.
What will be available for NCBA members, in continuation of a tradition that began in 2001 when the NCBA became the third member of the Casemaker Consortium, is an online legal research tool that promises to be more user-friendly, faster and comprehensive than its predecessor.
Users can expect to see improvements to the interface, search tools, search format and content.
Members who have questions regarding the implementation of Casemaker 2.1 or any of their NCBA member benefits should contact Whitney von Haam, director of membership, via whitney@ncbar.org.
Advanced Search Box
Several changes have been made to the advanced search box that will improve ease of use and search options. The North Carolina Cite, Case Name and Southeastern Cite radio buttons have been removed within Case Law. You will now place either citation within the designated Cite field box and/or a case name within the designated Case Name field box.
Proximity and Word Form dropdown boxes have been removed from the advanced search box in all books (Case Law, General Statutes, Administrative Code, etc.). Using shortcuts, you may now utilize both of these functions in ALL search fields.
Search Tips
Within Casemaker 2.1, you will have access to a detailed search tips form. Located below each search box (in all libraries and books), is a listing of the various search functions that are available on Casemaker. These search functions are listed with descriptions and examples so that you can quickly and easily learn how to run relevant, high-level searches.
Casecheck
The Casecheck citator tool now features future cases from not only the state from which the case originated, but also any federal court and/or other states that have cited the case.
Parallel Citations
You may enter either the North Carolina cite or the Southeastern cite into the Cite field box. Both citations will produce your case. Regardless of which citation is searched, the case will be given as a result using the North Carolina citation.
New! Bread-Crumb Trail Navigation
An exploration trail is located under the dark blue navigation bar. This bread-crumb trail navigation indicates which state library you are searching, which book, whether you are searching or browsing, results and which particular document. The bread-crumb trail navigation lets you know where you are within Casemaker and where you have been, as well as easily navigate back for search modifications.
New! CaseKnowledge
CaseKnowledge is a brand-new tool to Casemaker 2.1. CaseKnowledge provides downloadable secondary publications for your case law searches. To utilize CaseKnowledge, first run a search. Once your results are displayed, you will see CaseKnowledge on the right side of your screen.
This search engine provides North Carolina state publications, ABA publications and ALI-ABA publications. All of the publications are available for purchase.
Once purchased, you download the document and it is yours to keep. In addition to having access to secondary material and the exact point in time that it is needed, you will also have access to our CiteLink. CiteLink hyperlinks all state and federal case law citations within a publication back to Casemaker. By simply clicking on the link within your purchased document, you are taken to the exact location in Casemaker where the case is located. In the future, statutes will also be added to CiteLink.
New! Print Functions
Casemaker 2.1 provides various print formats. Currently, you may print in either .PDF or HTML. By using the Print link on the webpage, all hyperlinking and highlighting of search terms will be removed for a clean copy of the document. The final version of 2.1 will also provide Word print and the ability to email a document. In addition, dual-column printing will be possible.
Additional Federal Library Books
Casemaker has added eight (8) new books to the Federal Library, including: Court of International Trade, National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) Decisions, Court of Appeals Armed Forces, Court of Appeals Veterans Claims, Board of Immigration Appeals, Tax Court, Court of Claims, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Rule Filings. Within the next several weeks, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Federal Mine Safety will also be loaded into the library.
Coming Soon! Multi-Book Search
One of the most exciting new tools to arrive to Casemaker is multi-book search. The multi-book search tool will provide you with the option of searching more than one book simultaneously. For example, if you want to search the North Carolina Case Law and the North Carolina General Statutes for bankruptcy, you can run your search across both books and receive results. Each set of results will be placed in separate windows so that you may easily peruse case law results and statute results separately.
Coming Soon! Live Chat
Soon you will be able to connect to a live Casemaker Customer Support Representative via live chat. Available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. EST, you will be able to ask questions and receive assistance from trained representatives in real-time.