Casemaker FAQ

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Casemaker is a web-based legal research library and search engine that allows you to search and browse a variety of legal information such as codes, rules and case law through the Internet. It is an easily searchable, continually updated database of case law, statutes and regulations.

DOES IT COST ANYTHING TO ACCESS CASEMAKER ONLINE?

Use of the Casemaker Web Library is free to all State Bar of Georgia members.

WHAT WILL THE CASEMAKER LIBRARY CONTAIN?

View Georgia Casemaker's library contents.

WILL CASEMAKER REPLACE THE COMMERCIAL VENDOR I USE FOR ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH?

This is an individual choice that depends on the needs of your legal practice. Casemaker will provide a comprehensive, online legal research library. There will be no monthly, hourly or per-minute charges.

HOW DO I GAIN ACCESS TO CASEMAKER?

Each State Bar of Georgia member my login to Casemaker by going to the State Bar's website at www.gabar.org. Your username is your bar member ID number and your initial password is your last name. You will be asked to enter a new password upon your initial login.

WHAT IF I FORGET MY PASSWORD?

The initial password will be the member's last name. If you forgot your password, contact the CASEMAKER Help Line during normal working hours, Monday thru Friday, 8:30 - 5:00 Eastern Std Time at (877) 227-3509 or (877) CASE-509

WHO CAN HELP ME IF I GET FRUSTRATED?

You can call the Casemaker help line during normal working hours, Monday thru Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. locally at (404) 527-8777 or toll free at (877) CASE-509 or (877) 227-3509. Send email to: casemaker@gabar.org. All email received will receive a response with 24 hours.

CAN I USE THE CASEMAKER WEB LIBRARY AS A CITATOR?

By entering the case or statute, all the cases or statutes requested will be pulled up.  You want to first check in the Supreme Court Library to see if it is mentioned and modified in any way.  If it has been, you do not have to look further because the decision is binding in all lower courts. Regardless, you can read the decision yourself to find out if it would be pertinent to your case. Casemaker includes a citator feature, CaseCheck. By entering the case name or citation, all the cases that reference that case or citation will be pulled up for your review. In addition, CaseCheck, allows you to find out where your case has been cited. CaseCheck automatically locates all cases that cite the case you are viewing and allows you to link directly to those cases. CaseCheck results are displayed to the right of the case you are viewing.

HOW CAN I CREATE MY OWN ANNOTATIONS?

With the full text searching capability of the Casemaker Web Library you no longer have to rely on annotations to find out which cases are cited because when you insert a statute into the basic search screen and hit search, you will retrieve the full text of all cases that discuss the code in question.  Then you can make your own decision of relevance.

WHAT IS THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF CHARACTERS THAT CAN BE ENTERED AS A SEARCH TERM?

You must enter at least 2 characters for every search term. The search engine will return an error if you enter one character by itself.

HOW DOES THE SEARCH ENGINE DECIDE THE RANK OF A DOCUMENT?

The ranking algorithm (formula) takes into consideration relative word ordering, word proximity, database frequency, document frequency, and position in text.

HOW CAN I NARROW DOWN MY SEARCH?

If you are getting too many search results, try:
  • Adding some more words to your query.
  • Using the exclusion operator (-) to ensure documents returned don't include unwanted terms.
  • If you are searching for a phrase enter it as such (i.e. "bill of sale").
  • Changing the Word Forms control to Exact.
  • Decreasing the range of the Proximity control (i.e. within 500 characters).

    • I'M HAVING TROUBLE GETTING TOO FEW RESULTS FROM MY SEARCHES.

    If you are getting too few search results, try:
  • Reducing the number of words in your query.
  • Checking your spelling.
  • Increasing the scope of the proximity control.
  • Are you searching the correct book?

    • I WOULD LIKE TO READ OTHER CASES THAT CITE MY ORIGINAL SEARCH.

    The right hand margin will display these cases for you in CaseCheck.

    I'M AN ATTORNEY IN ANOTHER STATE. HOW DO I GET ACCESS TO THE STATE BAR OF GEORGIA'S CASEMAKER PROGRAM?

    You must be a member of the State Bar of Georgia in good standing to access Casemaker. To obtain admission to the State Bar of Georgia, you must contact:
    The Office of Bar Admissions
    P O BOX 38466
    ATLANTA, GA 30334
    www.gabaradmissions.org

    MAY I PURCHASE A CD TO ACCESS CASEMAKER?

    No, CASEMAKER is accessible only through accessing the State Bar of Georgia's website.

    WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS?

    1. We highly suggest running the most recent browser version of your choice. The minimums would be at least:
  • Windows: Internet Explorer 6.0 (IE), Any Mozilla/Firefox version, AOL 7.0
  • MAC: Any browser that can run in OS X is acceptable.
    2. Personal firewall, cookie blockers, pop-up blockers programs can cause the authentication or certain features of the service to be blocked if the settings are such that they do not allow third-party cookies or new windows to be opened. If this is the case, specify www.lawriter.net as an "allowed" site.

    • CAN SOMEONE RESEARCH THE INFORMATION I NEED, THEN SEND IT TO ME?

    No, Tips on how you can conduct your search can be provided. Actual research must be done on your own.

    DO I HAVE TO PUT IN THE DASHES WHEN TYPING CODE SECTIONS?

    When searching the code sections, please use single dashes within the section numbers. (Ex: 5-319,43-904,28-10-101, etc.)

    WHO CAN HELP ME IF I GET FRUSTRATED?

    You can call the Casemaker help line during normal working hours, Monday thru Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. locally at (404) 527-8777 or toll free at (877) CASE-509 or (877) 227-3509. Send email to: casemaker@gabar.org. All email received will receive a response with 24 hours.