Title: PreCYdent

Source/Sponsoring Agency: PreCYdent, Inc.

URL: http://www.precydent.com

Date Checked: 8/18/2010      Status: Inactive

Date Annotated: 5/6/2008

Topics: Legal Education; Legal Profession

Other keywords: Court decisions; Indexes; Legal Research

Contents: Update 8/18/2010 This site is no longer active. Currently available as a beta offering, PreCYDent advertises itself as "the open law source" and holds as its mission two principles: first, "that all lawyers, law librarians, law students, and the general public should have access to state-of-the-art search technology to help them navigate through the large and complex body of legal authority;" and second, "[that] judicial opinions and statutes must be in the public domain, in practice as well as in theory." Created by a group of independent attorneys and computer specialists, the site makes basic legal research completely free and as easy as (or rather, easier than) using Google. The site has a simple design that mimics Google's front page, with a single entry field and multiple possible search areas including "Opinions," "Statutes," "GPO" (government publications), "Uploaded Documents," "Find Lawyers," and "Legal Questions." It also offers a search for "Links" for such items as news coverage. Once a search term is input, these options remain visible in a sidebar to enable "lateral" movement through possible hits in each category without having to return to the front page. The site also offers a more advanced search function ("Jurisdictions and Options") that allows limits to be set and thus improve the accuracy of searches. The site uses more sophisticated algorithms than Google or similar search engines and thus claims to be able to find relevant documents even when the given search term is not present. Each hit also presents its keywords and tags visibly to enable users to use a "social search" of other related items. Finally, PreCYdent offers a login function whereby users can upload legal opinions for inclusion in future searches. The login comes in both "Basic" and "Professional" levels, the latter of which allows for the creation of a personal page.

Author of Annotation: J. P. Cusker