Introduction
Basic Terminology
Preparing Legal Documents
Bridging the Gap to Conduct Research Electronically
Choosing Web Researches for Legal Research
Developments and Advice in Preparing Criminal Cases
Searching for Quick References
In-Depth Legal Research
Document Assembly
Brief of the Future

The online 1998 Automated Research and Writing for Criminal Defense Attorneys Project is sponsored in joint by the Michigan Justice Training Commission and the Michigan State Bar Foundation.

This on-line training module closely models this year's 45 training events which took place throughout the State of Michigan. Each seminar consisted of a small group attorneys from the local area. This allowed all participants the opportunity to interact with the instructor and each other to maximize their experience.

This training material should be used in the order presented for novices to the Internet. Advanced users may wish to proceed to a more in-depth discussion on legal research using the SADO Databases.

This document contains many hypertext links to explanations, examples and databases. Each section of the outline contains a brief description of the topic, with a link to a fuller explanation.

The focus of this presentation is using the Internet to conduct legal research with the available computer technology of today. While the technology is critical in achieving this goal, it is not the focus of this presentation. The technology is a tool which enables us to take advantage of this information. However, there are a few terms which all users should understand.

While legal documents (briefs) have not undergone dramatic changes during the past decade, their preparation has radically changed. This section looks at the history of brief preparation using traditional research methods, today's use of the computerized resources, and what is to come in the future.

It is taken for granted that attorneys have a basic knowledge of conducting research from their education and experience. Much of that knowledge was acquired using traditional resources, such as indexes and card catalogs. Internet research relies upon traditional skills applied in a new manner, as well as an entirely new set of skills which are not paper-based.

There are hundreds of web resources available for legal research. The Internet can save you time and money by offering resources for free, where you might typically expect to pay Westlaw or Lexis to acquire the same information.

The SADO web site and listserv offers attorneys many ways to be kept abreast of the latest developments in criminal defense.

This section presents strategies for searching for cases and statutes.

This section focuses on developing search strategies to maximize use of SADO's Criminal Defense Database.

After successfully locating research documents, it is relatively easy to capture those documents and incorporate them into a research file or a document you are preparing.

A presentation of SADO's view of the future for electronic briefs.