The legal research sources discussed so far are some of those available in book form. All together, the print volumes containing the law fill entire libraries. In fact, most law schools around the country contain all of the primary law of each state and the federal system, virtually all of the available treatises, restatements, digests, and annotations applicable to each jurisdiction, and many other legal resources for specialty practices such as international or patent law. These libraries are extensive, and it only takes one look to realize that it is impossible to master all of the law contained in such a library. It is quickly apparent that legal research by hand can easily be a massive undertaking.

Over the last several years, the burden of conducting legal research has eased somewhat. The presence of the personal computer in law offices led to the development of systems for electronic legal research. Today, computers can search all primary law, and an increasing number of secondary sources are available in electronic versions as well.

There are two kinds of electronic legal research sites. The first, proprietary legal research sites, or pay sites, have been available for a number of years. The two most popular — Westlaw and Lexis — are commonly used in law firms and legal libraries. These sites contain nearly all the legal research material these publishing giants have available in print. For a fee, the legal researcher can ask the electronic database to locate all cases that use a specific phrase or refer to a specific statute. A carefully phrased search request can quickly identify all cases that address a specific concept. The search request can be limited to the databases covering a specific state or extended to search all databases maintained by the publisher. The quality and ease of such searches has led smaller law firms to abandon any library of print media except for those publications not yet available in electronic form. Each publisher has its advantages and most legal researchers prefer one database to the other. In most respects, however, the databases maintained by Westlaw contain essentially the same information contained in a Lexis database. These days, the primary distinction between the two giants is pricing.

The second form of electronic research involves the use of free electronic databases. There are a number of specialized databases that a legal researcher can access. For example, most states and the federal government maintain electronic databases of the primary law in that jurisdiction. The information in these databases is often word searchable, making these sites a frequent starting point for a legal researcher who does not wish to use a pay site until the target of the search can be properly identified.

In addition to governmental sites, several law sites maintain specialty sites for specific kinds of legal research. Cornell University maintains a Web site devoted to the Uniform Commercial Code mentioned in Chapter 14. The University of Washington in St. Louis also maintains a Web site with specific, topical databases that allow free searching.