The Stay Home Work Safe order in Harris County remains in effect until April 30. As we all do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19, access to digital legal research resources remains critical. That’s why we are pleased to report that Thomson Reuters is providing free access to Westlaw Edge for Harris County Law Library patrons!
Free Access to Westlaw Edge
To help you keep researching while you stay home and work safe, you can sign up for a free Westlaw Edge account that extends the typical 7-day trial to give you 20 hours of research through June 30, 2020. Edge is the latest research platform from Westlaw that integrates artificial-intelligence search capabilities with Thomson Reuter’s catalog of must-have titles and tools for legal researchers. Access Keycite, headnotes, annotations, and more legal research necessities for free while you work remotely. To get started, download the instructions:
Please note: if you’ve subscribed to Westlaw in the past or signed up for a trial account, the email address you used may not be eligible for this offer.
Keep Researching with free access to Lexis, HeinOnline, Fastcase, and more!
Westlaw joins a growing number of legal research database providers who are extending free access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, we shared news about an offer from LexisNexis to make Lexis Advance database subscriptions available to all Harris County Law Library patrons. Additional options include:
The Texas State Law Library offers access to several databases to all Texans through its website. If you are in Texas, you can sign up for a free account and learn more about accessing Lexis eBooks, Fastcase, HeinOnline, and more at https://guides.sll.texas.gov/electronic-databases/remote.
Update! Casetext is offering free access to its AI-powered legal research platform through May 31 for attorneys who are unable to access their usual research resources. More details at https://casetext.com/covid-access/.
Texas Bar Books is offering free access to the Texas Guardianship Manual Online through May 31. The Manual includes a wide range of power of attorney and advance directive documents that many attorneys will find useful while assisting clients during the current public health concerns.
New Emergency Procedure Forms from the Texas Family Law Practice Manual are now available for free online. The new forms help attorneys and litigants request modification of deadlines, leave to appear remotely, and other procedures in family courts during times of public emergency.
Document Delivery from the Law Library’s Legal Research Databases
Even with free access to standard tools from Lexis at your disposal, not every copyrighted practice guide, form book, and treatise is available to you. Under normal circumstances, everyone has access to robust subscriptions from Lexis eBooks, Westlaw, Lexis Advance, HeinOnline, State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals, and more within steps of the courthouse on the Law Library’s research computers. To help maintain access while we’re all working remotely, our law librarians can make many of these materials available to you via email through our Virtual Reference Desk. If you need a document, let us know and one of our law librarians will provide it to you via email (subject to limitations set by the vendor) as soon as possible.