Subject Index Finding Illinois Law

Battle of the AI Bots

By Jesse Bowman
July
2023
Column
, Page 48
Pitting versions of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard against one another yields interesting results.

More on ChatGPT

By Jesse Bowman
May
2023
Column
, Page 42
The author finds some helpful but also some inaccurate results from Open AI’s ChatGPT 3.0.

Cracking the Local Code

By Jesse Bowman
March
2023
Column
, Page 44
Tracing local ordinances and laws using free online resources.

How the People Have Spoken

By Jesse Bowman
January
2023
Column
, Page 42
Tracing statewide ballot initiatives and the intentions behind them.

So Many Federal Regulations

By Jesse Bowman
November
2022
Column
, Page 44
Exploring the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ content-rich website.

It’s Election Season

By Jesse Bowman
September
2022
Column
, Page 48
The Illinois General Assembly’s website provides abundant information for gauging the productivity of legislators seeking reelection.

The Search Is On

By Jesse Bowman
July
2022
Column
, Page 42
Artificial intelligence-driven products provide a boost to your search for relevant authorities.

Proclamations, Celebrations, and Disasters

By Jesse Bowman
May
2022
Column
, Page 42
Online resources for finding the full text of executive orders and proclamations issued by Illinois governors.

A Supreme Site

By Jesse Bowman
March
2022
Column
, Page 48
A quick cheat sheet for accessing some of the U.S. Supreme Court website’s more helpful resources.

Don’t Out-PACER Yourself

By Jesse Bowman
January
2022
Column
, Page 48
The Free Law Project’s crowdsourced tools rival PACER.

My Treaty or Yours?

By Jesse Bowman
November
2021
Column
, Page 42
Resources, strategies, and tips for locating bilateral and multilateral treaties.

Using Google Scholar in a Pinch

By Jesse Bowman
September
2021
Column
, Page 42
While not perfect, Google Scholar’s free caselaw database is pretty robust.

When You Need to Know How the Sausage Is Made

By Jesse Bowman
July
2021
Column
, Page 48
Online tools for tracking legislation as it passes through the Illinois General Assembly.

Because, Science!

By Jesse Bowman
May
2021
Column
, Page 42
The usefulness of PubMed and its access to more than 32 million research records. 

Traveling the Legal World Online

By Jesse Bowman
March
2021
Column
, Page 46
Free online resources provide lots of information about legal systems throughout the world.

All the Presidents’ Documents

By Jesse Bowman
January
2021
Column
, Page 46
Online resources offer treasure troves of presidential records.

Wayback When

By Jesse Bowman
November
2020
Column
, Page 42
Using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to resurrect ancient websites.

Public Records Shortcuts

By Jesse Bowman
September
2020
Column
, Page 46
Two free websites guide the way to thousands of public-records databases.

Corpus Linguistics

By Jesse Bowman
July
2020
Column
, Page 52
An online tool for homing in on a word’s evolving definition depending on the context.

A Deep Dive Into Congress.gov

By Jesse Bowman
May
2020
Column
, Page 44
Congress.gov may be the best site out there for researching legislation and related materials dating back decades.

Looking for Purpose in Illinois Legislative History

By Jesse Bowman
January
2020
Column
, Page 50
The Illinois General Assembly’s website is a great free resource for legislative research.
1 comment (Most recent January 13, 2020)

Make Like a Senator and Lean on the Congressional Research Service

By Jesse Bowman
November
2019
Column
, Page 52
The Congressional Research Service’s “authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan” analysis of congressional issues.

Legal Research on the Go

By Jesse Bowman
September
2019
Column
, Page 48
Great mobile apps for Illinois practitioners.

The CaseLaw Access Project: 360 Years in the Making

By Jesse Bowman
July
2019
Column
, Page 50
A free database developed by the Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab provides access to American and territorial caselaw dating back to 1658.

The Federal Register Website Is Worth Your Time

By Jesse Bowman
May
2019
Column
, Page 46
The Federal Register is superior to pay sites when it comes to researching regulatory history. And, it's free.

Get the Tax Facts

By Jesse Bowman
March
2019
Column
, Page 48
The Illinois Department of Revenue's website makes researching taxes less daunting.

Keeping Tabs

By Jesse Bowman
January
2019
Column
, Page 50
Visiting ilga.gov and congress.gov, which are updated regularly, is a free and convenient way to keep current and hold our elected officials accountable.

Supreme Resources

By Jesse Bowman
November
2018
Column
, Page 46
Interested in our nation's highest court? These three sites are worth your time.

Cornell Law’s Legal Information Institute

By Jesse Bowman
September
2018
Column
, Page 42
Cornell Law's Legal Information Institute is a free online resource that offers convenient search tools and tons of materials.

The Algorithm Behind the Curtain

By Jesse Bowman
July
2018
Column
, Page 52
A new feature in Fastcase reveals how its search engine responds to your queries.

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