Subject Specific Case Databases – Costs and When to Use

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | June 26, 2009 – 13:52

Lexis and Westlaw have topic specific case databases. For example, you can search a database for Ohio criminal justices cases instead of a broader all Ohio state cases database. Using a topical database can make your search results more precise. Subject specific databases help when your search terms can apply to different areas of law. For example, “warrant” may be a search term in a criminal law research question, or a consumer law or securities law question.

There is a slight possibility that a case is not included in the subject specific case database, but should be. Both services use computer algorithms to select cases to include, although there is some human tweaking. The algorithms err on the side of inclusion. Note that the state subject case databases only include state court cases, and you may want to search state courts and federal courts in the state.

If cost is an issue, be aware that subject specific case databases on Westlaw (e.g. Ohio Family Law Cases) usually cost slightly more than the general case law databases (e.g.Ohio Cases). Lexis charges the same price for a search in a subject specific and a general case database.

In summary, if cost and/or getting every possible case is important, you may want to stick with a general case database.

To access subject specific case databases:

On Westlaw:

Go to the directory, click on U.S. State Materials and pick a state. Click on Cases, and click on Case Law Organized by Practice Area or Topic. For topical cases from multiple jurisdictions, go to the directory, pick U.S. State Materials, select Case Law, and then pick Multistate Cases Organized by Area of Practice.
On Lexis:

From the Legal tab, select the state desired. Under “Find Cases” there is a link that says “By Area of Law”. To find subject specific cases for multiple jurisdictions, from the Legal tab, select Area of Law by Topic, and look under the case section Also try:

Legal>Cases U.S.>Find Cases>By Area of Law

Legal>Cases U.S.>Combined State Court Cases>By Area of Law