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Legal research guides and case-law tips
Plain-English guides for lawyers, paralegals, and small firms: finding cases, reading citations, checking good law, and writing a memo.
Spellbook Pricing and Spellbook Cost for Contract Lawyers
Spellbook pricing is quote only, set by team members, with a 7 day trial. The published prices that bracket the quote, and what Spellbook does not check.
Read articleLexis Create+ Pricing and Plans That Include It
Lexis Create+ pricing: $217 a month on 3 years or $289 on 1 year, only inside Lexis+ Deluxe Transactional. What it does in Word and what the plan leaves out.
Read articleWestlaw Drafting Assistant Pricing and Cost
Westlaw Drafting Assistant pricing is contact sales only and tied to Westlaw. What the litigation version does, and brief tools that publish a price.
Read articleBlue J Pricing and Blue J Tax Research Cost
Blue J pricing is $1,498 per user a year on the Individual plan, with a 7 day trial and quote-only Team plans. What it includes and how it compares.
Read articleBest Case Bankruptcy Software Cost and Pricing
Best Case bankruptcy software costs $99 a user a month on Cloud or $1,500 to $2,500 a year on Desktop, plus maintenance. Both price grids and the 2 year math.
Read articleWealthCounsel Pricing and Membership Cost
WealthCounsel pricing is quote only, set by user count and membership tier. The five memberships, the one published figure, what to ask and cheaper routes.
Read articleVisalaw.ai Pricing and What Core and Pro Cost per User
Visalaw.ai costs $220 a user a month on Core and $480 on Pro, billed annually. When Pro pays for itself, what to get in writing and cheaper routes per job.
Read articleJusticeText Pricing and What Defenders Pay Per Year
JusticeText publishes no price list, but county contracts do: $100 a user a month for small offices, $8,000 to $150,000 a year site-wide. What drives the quote.
Read articleParalegal AI and AI Tools for Paralegals Priced
Paralegal AI priced by task: summaries $25 a file, drafting from $83 a month, cite checking from $60 a seat, case law research from $24. What to buy first.
Read articleEve Legal Pricing and What Eve Costs per Case
Eve Legal publishes no price list, only about $350 per med-mal chronology case. What the platform quote covers, what to negotiate, and cheaper routes per job.
Read articlePre/Dicta Pricing and Cost per Case
Pre/Dicta publishes one price, $1,800 per case on a 50 case annual plan. What that means for your docket, what it includes and what judge analytics cost instead.
Read articleDaubert Tracker Pricing and Cost per Year
Daubert Tracker costs $295 a year for one user, $25 for a two-hour session, and from $450 a year for firms. When it beats Lexis and Westlaw expert reports.
Read articleLexis Practical Guidance Pricing by Plan
Lexis Practical Guidance comes inside Lexis+ plans from $217 a month per attorney. Which plans include it, the $95 out-of-plan rate, and how Practical Law compares.
Read articleBriefCatch Pricing and Cost per Seat in 2026
BriefCatch costs $60 per seat a month on Individual and $75 on Pro, billed annually. What RealityCheck credits buy, briefs per month, the trial, and cheaper options.
Read articleLegora Review for US Law Firms Before You Buy
A buyer's Legora review: what it does well, where it falls short for US research, what it costs, what to test in the demo, and the cheaper route for case law.
Read articleCallidus AI Pricing and StrongSuit Cost
Callidus AI is now StrongSuit: $249 a month for the Individual plan, a custom quote for firms, and a five day free trial. What the plan includes and how it compares.
Read articleCoCounsel Free Trial and Demo Routes Plus Cost
How to get a CoCounsel free trial or demo from Thomson Reuters, what the Westlaw 7 day trial covers, and what CoCounsel costs once the trial ends.
Read articleLexisNexis Cost Sole Practitioner and Solo Pricing
What LexisNexis costs a solo: Lexis+ at 114 to 324 dollars a month on three years, the 25 dollar admin charge and out-of-plan rates on the Small Law schedule.
Read articleClio Work Review and Whether It Is Worth $199 a Month
Clio Work review for small firms: what the Vincent AI workspace does, the $199 launch price, the missing research benchmark, and who should buy it.
Read articleTrellis Law Cost and Trellis Law Pricing Plans
Trellis costs 69.95 to 199.95 dollars a month for one state, but every search uses a content view. What each plan costs per view, and how to size it.
Read articleIs Law360 Worth It? What a Subscription Buys a Small Firm
Law360 is a newsroom, not a research platform. Which of the three tiers fits a small firm, why your Lexis seat probably does not include it, and how to size the quote.
Read articleWestCheck Alternatives to Westlaw Quick Check Cite Checks
WestCheck now redirects into Drafting Assistant and Quick Check is now listed only in the Westlaw Edge plans. What replaced both, and what cite checking costs in 2026.
Read articleCancel Westlaw Subscription by 30 Day Notice and What to Buy
Westlaw and LexisNexis are fixed term contracts. What the order form says about notice periods, the retail rate on expiry, and where firms go next.
Read articleLexisNexis Free Trial and Lexis+ Free Trial
LexisNexis runs several free trials, not one: 2, 7, 14 and 30 day offers are documented. What each covers, who the terms exclude, and what Lexis+ costs after.
Read articleOutsourced Legal Research Cost vs a Research Subscription
Outsourced legal research costs 190 to 285 dollars an hour at published US rates. Here is the break-even against a research subscription, with the math.
Read articlePractical Law Alternatives for Litigators
The cheapest Practical Law plan excludes every litigation practice area, and Practical Law has no case law at all. What litigators should buy instead.
Read articleHarvey AI Competitors and Alternatives Compared
Harvey AI competitors and alternatives priced side by side: Legora, CoCounsel Legal, Lexis+ with Protege, Westlaw Advantage and research tools from $24 a month.
Read articleWestlaw Free Trial of 7 Days, What You Get and Pricing After
The Westlaw free trial is 7 days of full access with no credit card. How to request it, what to test, and what Westlaw costs after, from $107.25 a month.
Read articleWestlaw Edge Pricing and Alternatives in 2026
Westlaw Edge is still sold online, from 107.25 dollars a month for one state on a three year term, next to Edge with AI-Assisted Research and Advantage. What each costs, and the alternatives.
Read articleLexis+ AI vs Westlaw Advantage Pricing and Accuracy
Lexis+ AI is now Lexis+ with Protege and Westlaw Precision is now Advantage. What Stanford measured, what each costs, and which one a small firm should buy.
Read articleLegal Research Software for Solo Attorneys
Legal research software for solo attorneys: what vLex Fastcase, Westlaw, Lexis and self-serve AI tools really cost, and how to choose without a contract.
Read articleWestlaw Precision Is Now Westlaw Advantage AI
Westlaw Precision was replaced by Westlaw Advantage on August 13, 2025. What Deep Research does, what Thomson Reuters charges, and whether to upgrade.
Read articleHow to Switch Legal Research Providers
Switching legal research providers is a calendar problem. Auto-renewal notice windows, what your saved research loses, how to test a replacement, and what it saves.
Read articleCite Checking a Legal Brief Table of Authorities
Cite checking a legal brief in five passes: verify existence, format, quotations, support, and good law, then build the table of authorities and reconcile it.
Read articleWestlaw KeyCite Flags vs Shepard's Citator Signals
Westlaw KeyCite flags and Shepard's Signals compared side by side: what each color claims, where the two citators disagree, and what neither one tells you.
Read articleLexis Advance vs Lexis+ and What Replaced It
Lexis Advance was superseded by Lexis+ in July 2020, and Lexis+ AI was replaced by Lexis+ with Protege on February 24, 2026. What each tier costs and includes.
Read articleCasetext Migration Guide to Replace Every Feature
Casetext migration guide: what replaced SmartCite, Parallel Search and CARA after the shutdown, what your data did not carry over, and what it costs now.
Read articleDoes Westlaw Charge Per Search? Cost Per Search
Does Westlaw charge per search? On a flat-rate plan, no. What you really pay for: out-of-plan documents, delivery fees, and the 99 dollar cost-recovery charge.
Read articleLexisNexis Cost Per Search and Out-of-Plan Charges
LexisNexis cost per search from its own price schedule: $2 per out-of-plan case, $53 to $95 for secondary sources, $99 system access, $99 per AI answer.
Read articleLexisNexis Subscription to Buy Lexis+ Online for 1 to 3 Lawyers
LexisNexis subscription: buy Lexis+ online for firms of one to three attorneys, including single seats, from 114 dollars per attorney per month.
Read articleHow Much Does vLex Cost? Why There Is No Price Page, and What Firms Actually Pay
How much does vLex cost: vLex publishes no rate card at all, and vlex.com has no pricing page. What is actually verifiable in 2026, why your state bar may already include Fastcase, and what to pin down in a quote.
Read articleChatGPT for Legal Research and What It Can and Cannot Do With Safe Use Tips
ChatGPT for legal research works for explaining doctrine, outlining, and drafting, but not for finding cases. It has no case law database and no citator, so it generates citations that look right instead of retrieving citations that are right.
Read articleHow to Find Federal Court Opinions With Free Sources, PACER and What Each Misses
How to find federal court opinions: govinfo for authenticated official PDFs, CourtListener for the broadest archive, the circuit websites for the newest filings, and supremecourt.gov for slip opinions. What none of them give you is a citator.
Read articleHow Much Does PACER Cost? The 2026 Fee Schedule, the $30 Waiver, and What Is Free
How much does PACER cost: 10 cents per page, capped at 3 dollars per document, and nothing at all if you accrue 30 dollars or less in a quarter. Written opinions are always free. What the fee schedule really charges, and how to cut the bill.
Read articleCan You Trust AI for Legal Research? Accuracy, Hallucinations, and How to Verify
Can you trust AI for legal research? Only as a starting point. The best legal AI tools are right about 80 percent of the time, so verify every case, confirm the citation exists, and run a citator before you rely on it.
Read articleBloomberg Law Free Trial Length, Access and Cost
Bloomberg Law trials now run through a demo request, and the old trial page no longer resolves. How to get one, what to test, and what it costs after.
Read articleCoCounsel Legal Pricing and Cost per User
CoCounsel Legal pricing is published online behind a four-question configurator, for new customers at firms of 1 to 10 attorneys. What drives the number.
Read articleWestlaw CoCounsel Review for Small Firms
A buyer review of Westlaw with CoCounsel: what the bundle includes, what independent tests found, and why the AI is only $71.50 to $126.75 of the price.
Read articleWestlaw AI-Assisted Research Pricing and Cost
Westlaw AI-Assisted Research costs $170.95 a month for one attorney on a single circuit 3 year plan, $210.40 on 1 year. What the AI adds over plain Edge.
Read articleLegal Citator and What a Case Citator Does
A legal citator tells you whether a case is still good law by tracking every decision that cited, followed, distinguished, or overruled it. How citators work.
Read articleHow to Find Case Law in a Step-by-Step Guide
How to find case law that controls your issue: where opinions live, how to search by issue and jurisdiction, and how to confirm a case is still good law before you cite it.
Read articleHow to Write a Legal Research Memo (With a Template)
How to write a legal research memo using the IRAC structure: question presented, short answer, facts, analysis, and conclusion, with a fill-in template you can reuse.
Read articleHow to Read a Legal Citation With Parts Explained
How to read a legal citation: what the case name, volume, reporter, page, court, and year each mean, with worked examples for cases, statutes, and parallel cites.
Read articleWhat Is a Legal Precedent? Binding, Persuasive, Stare Decisis
What a legal precedent is, how binding and persuasive precedent differ, the meaning of holding vs dicta, examples, and how stare decisis decides which cases you must follow.
Read articleIs a Case Still Good Law? How to Check It
How to tell if a case is still good law: read the treatment signals, spot a decision that was overruled, reversed, or questioned, and verify before you cite it.
Read articleBoolean vs Natural Language Legal Search Compared
Boolean vs natural language legal search compared: how each works, when terms-and-connectors beats plain English, when it does not, and how to combine both for better results.
Read articleAI Hallucinations in Legal Research and Avoiding Fake Citations
AI hallucinations in legal research can invent cases that do not exist. Here is why it happens, the sanctions lawyers have faced, and a checklist to verify every citation.
Read articleBest Legal Research Tips for Solo Lawyers and Small Firms
The best legal research tips for solo lawyers: research faster without an enterprise seat, build a citation routine, reuse your own work, and keep costs predictable.
Read articleLegal Research Tools for Small Firms, Compared
Legal research tools for small law firms compared honestly on price, search style, accuracy, and fit, from free databases to enterprise seats. Updated 2026.
Read articleLegal Research Software Cost for Westlaw, Lexis and AI
How much legal research software costs in 2026: free databases, self-serve tools from 24 dollars a month, and enterprise Westlaw and LexisNexis seats, compared.
Read articleWhat Happened to Casetext? The Shutdown and Your Alternatives
What happened to Casetext: Thomson Reuters bought it in 2023, shut down the standalone product on March 31, 2025, and moved its technology into CoCounsel, plus what solos and small firms should use instead.
Read articleBinding vs Persuasive Authority and Which Cases You Must Follow
Binding vs persuasive authority explained: what binding precedent means, when a case is only persuasive, how jurisdiction and court hierarchy decide, and how to distinguish an unfavorable precedent.
Read articleWhat Is Stare Decisis? Meaning, Examples, and How It Works
What stare decisis means: the doctrine that courts stand by decided cases, how horizontal and vertical stare decisis differ, real US examples, and when courts overturn their own precedent.
Read articleHolding vs Dicta and Telling the Rule From the Aside
Holding vs dicta explained: what a case holding is, what obiter dicta means, why only the holding binds under stare decisis, and how to find the holding of a case fast.
Read articleHow to Distinguish a Case and Beat Adverse Precedent
How to distinguish a case: what distinguishing a precedent means, the material-facts test, when following precedent is required, and a step-by-step way to argue a case does not control.
Read articleHow Much Does CoCounsel Cost in 2026? Real Pricing
How much does CoCounsel cost in 2026? Bundled with Westlaw Advantage it starts at $415.35 a month for one attorney on a 3 year term. What is verified, what former Casetext users pay, and cheaper options.
Read articleHow Much Does Westlaw Cost in 2026? Real Pricing
How much does Westlaw cost in 2026: what Thomson Reuters actually charges online, from 107.25 dollars a month for Westlaw Edge on one state to 447.85 for Westlaw Advantage on all states plus federal on a three year term, and cheaper options.
Read articlePaxton AI Pricing and Paxton Legal AI Cost per User
Paxton AI pricing: $499 per user a month or $2,999 a year, a 7 day trial and custom enterprise quotes. Why comparison sites still quote $199, and what costs less.
Read articleRatio Decidendi Explained as a Case's Binding Part
Ratio decidendi is the rule essential to a court's decision, the binding part of a precedent. What it means, how it differs from obiter dicta, how to find it, and why it binds later courts.
Read articleHow Much Does CaseMap Cost in 2026? Real Pricing
How much CaseMap costs in 2026: the reported 50 to 75 dollar per user tiers, what changed when it became CaseMap+ AI, what drives the quote, and why fact management is a separate budget from research.
Read articleDo You Need Westlaw to Practice Law? An Honest Answer
No US jurisdiction requires Westlaw. What the competence rules actually demand, what the platform is genuinely hard to replace for, the cheaper stack that covers the daily work, and when to keep a seat.
Read articleHow to Search Case Law With AI (Without Getting Burned)
How to search case law with AI: frame the question with facts and jurisdiction, triage the holdings, check the treatment signal, and open every opinion you cite. Plus where AI search fails.
Read articleCan You Cite an Unpublished Opinion? Federal and State Rules
Can you cite an unpublished opinion? Federal courts allow it under FRAP 32.1 for decisions issued since 2007. California bars it outright. What the rules say state by state, and what weight an unpublished case carries.
Read articleHow Much Does Fastcase Cost? vLex Fastcase Pricing in 2026
How much does Fastcase cost? Free through more than eighty bar associations, about 995 to 1,140 dollars per year direct, and no published price for the vLex plans that add Vincent AI.
Read articleShepardize a Case and Check It Without Lexis
Shepardize a case step by step: run the cite through a citator, read the signal, filter to negative treatment in your jurisdiction, and open the citing decisions.
Read articlePublished vs Unpublished Opinions You Can Cite
Published vs unpublished opinions: what the difference means, when an unpublished decision may be cited under the federal and state rules, and how to tell whether an opinion is precedent before you rely on it.
Read articleHow to Find a Case by Citation Step by Step
How to find a case by citation: read the reporter cite, pull the opinion from a free or paid source, handle parallel and public-domain cites, and confirm you have the right case before you rely on it.
Read articleWhat Court Decisions Are Binding in My State?
What court decisions are binding in your state: how to tell binding precedent from persuasive authority, why the answer depends on your court and jurisdiction, and a state-by-state guide to which opinions you must follow.
Read articleIs Google Scholar Good for Legal Research? An Honest Look
Is Google Scholar good enough for legal research? What its free case law database does well, the citator and coverage gaps that create malpractice risk, and when a paid research tool is worth it.
Read articleFastcase vs Westlaw Cost, Coverage and Who Each Fits
Fastcase vs Westlaw compared for solo and small-firm lawyers: what each costs, how coverage and citators differ, where the bar-association free tier fits, and how to pick without overpaying.
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Put the guides into practice
Ask a legal question in plain English and get cited cases, plain-language holdings, and a still-good-law signal in seconds. A research tool, not legal advice.