What is Fastcase?

Fastcase, a Washington D.C. based company, is the premiere American provider of online legal research.

Fastcase includes:

• Cases from all 50 states – most starting in 1950
• Federal circuit court cases - 1924 to present
• Federal district court cases – 1922 to most recent F. Supp. advance sheet
• U.S. Supreme – 1754 to present
• Federal Bankruptcy Courts -1 B.R. to present
• Board of Tax Appeals – Volumes 1 - 47
• Tax Court Memorandum Decisions – Volumes 1 - 59
• Board of Immigration Appeals – 1996 to present
• U.S. Code and CFR
• State Statutes and Regulations
• Federal and State Court Rules

Key features:

• An easy-to-use search engine that allows both Boolean and natural-language searching;
• Ability to search all jurisdictions at once
• Star pagination and double-column printing.

Who can access Fastcase?

Jenkins Law Library attorney members in firms with less than 50 attorneys have unlimited 24/7 access to all Fastcase products.

How will I access Fastcase?

You can access Fastcase from the Member Online Services page of Jenkins’ website. You will be asked to sign in using your last name and membership number. Your membership number will be a 1-5 digit number located under your name on your Jenkins Membership Card. After being validated, you will be taken to the Fastcase Quick Case Law Search Page.

Will I need training to use Fastcase?

Navigation of Fastcase is easy and intuitive. Once you’re logged in, Fastcase’s tutorials are a great place to start.

How current is the legal research database?

Fastcase updates its libraries daily, and they add most appellate cases in slip form to the system between 24 and 48 hours from their release by the court.

Can I Shepardize cases on Fastcase?

Fastcase's authority check feature displays a list of latter citing cases, as well as the text in which the citation occurs. Use Authority Check as a “first run” for finding out if a case is still good law, and then double-check using Shepards or Keycite. Links to both services can be found underneath Authority Check, which will direct you away from Fastcase to Lexis or West respectively, where there is a charge of about $5 per case.

Reminder: Attorney members of Jenkins who are sole practitioners or in firms with less than 10 attorneys can use search Shepards through the Lexis Thru Jenkins program.

What is Authority Check?

Authority Check searches for other cases that cite your case and displays the results as a list of hyperlinked case names. This is a great research tool for finding related precedents, or to help determine the continuing value of a case as a precedent. In addition, you can use Authority Check on the Results page to sort search results in order of authority – with the most often-cited cases at the top of the list. Note that Authority Check only lists citing precedents in the Fastcase database.

Fastcase does not hold Authority Check out as a replacement for services such as Shepards or KeyCite. These services are available at Jenkins Law Library on our public Lexis and Westlaw terminals. Attorney members of Jenkins who are sole practitioners or in firms with less than 10 attorneys can use Shepards through the Lexis Thru Jenkins program. Shepards or KeyCite are available on a transactional basis. It is also recommended to search for a few words in the heading of the case to find related precedent. Setting the results display to show the most relevant paragraph will show you some of what each court said about your case.

What are Boolean searches, Natural language searches and Citation searches?

"Boolean" (or "keyword") searches allow searchers to use terms such as AND, OR, NOT, ( ), " ", to find cases relevant to a research question. Using "w/n" between two search terms (where n is a number) will find cases in which the two terms appear within n words of each other. Fastcase uses the "implied AND" search protocol, which means if there is no connector between search terms, it is treated as if the "AND" connector was used.

Natural language searches are much less precise, but are a good place to start if you don't have exact search terms. Natural Language searches return the best 100 results for your search, even if some of your terms don't appear in the results, or even if more than 100 cases contain your search terms. This search works well if you want to include certain words in your keyword search that might or might not appear in the result. For example, if you wanted to search for the phrase "Rule 11 sanctions for frivolous filing", a Boolean search, the search would only list cases using the word "frivolous", whereas a Natural Language search would return the most relevant 100 results, even if the word "frivolous" did not appear.

Citation searches should be used when you know the exact citation of the case you are looking for. Be sure to put in the volume number, the reporter identifier, and the first page of the case only (e.g., 700 F.2d 1). For more information, see the search tips, located underneath the search box, for a list of correct citation formats.

How do I search public records through Fastcase?

Fastcase has recently partnered with Choicepoint, the nation’s leading database of public records, to integrate public records searches into its site. You must be accredited to access the materials on Choicepoint; to do so, select “search public records” on Fastcase, fill out the accreditation documents, and then sign in! For more information about Choicepoint and how to conduct a search of public records, please contact Fastcase Customer Outreach at 1-866-773-2782.

What if I need help?

You will be able to contact the Fastcase Customer Service Group by e-mail or by a toll free support number. The customer service desk is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. Please note that Fastcase customer service representatives cannot answer legal questions or provide legal advice.

Who do I contact if I have additional questions about the Fastcase service?

You will be able to contact the Fastcase Customer Service Group at 1-866-773-2782 or support@fastcase.com.

Please note: Fastcase customer service representatives cannot answer legal questions or provide legal advice.