Fastcase is now offering a free research service on the iPad. While most of you are probably familiar with Lexis and Westlaw, Fastcase is a service those of us in Virginia are familiar with because it has a contract with our Bar to allow us free legal research. It’s a solid service which provides every basic need that a courtroom attorney would need.

The app on the iPad is free with an option to pay money to get some additional services. However, the free services are pretty much everything you’d need for quick, off the cuff research of caselaw or statutes while you are in a courtroom.

(note: click on the images in order to view them full size)

When you first log in you are given a choice between searching caselaw, searching statutes, or browsing statutes. Note that the interface has large enough, simply laid out options so that you don’t have to zoom in or tap the screen several times in order to hit the button you are trying to hit.

The search page gives you a number of fairly standard options to select from. Among other things, these allow you to choose the jurisdiction you are searching, the dates for the search, and how you want the results sorted. When you tap on one of the selections it will give you a menu which allows you to scroll through and further hone your choices. After that, you tap in the spot for the entry of the search terms and the on-screen keyboard pops up to let you enter your search terms.

Once you’ve entered your search term, you have get a screen which is a list of possible cases to view (or statute if you are searching statutes). Each has a brief quote from the case including the search term you enter in order to help you decide which case you want to view. Once you tap on a case, it pulls that case up on the screen and your search terms are highlighted.