Zotero

Zotero, the cross-platform Firefox note-taking and biblio plugin, now “does” legal research. That is, there’s a format for logging cases and statutes; and the site works “automatically” with CanLII and Lexis/Nexis. So, for example, if I go to the CanLII report of the Johnson v. Johnson case from the Alberta Court of Appeal –

Johnson

– I’ll see a note icon appear in the right side of my location bar –

note_icon.png

Clicking on that will cause Zotero to record the case name etc. into the pane that appears at the bottom of your browser window, the right side of which you see in the next graphic:

zotero_citation.png

It’s not yet possible to output a bibliography in the proper (U.S. Blue Book) format yet, though they’re working on it.

There is a great deal more to this fine program, not the least of which is the fact that it’s a product of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, meaning it’s a serious research tool by people who are responsive to researchers’ needs. What other foreign program can you think of that would recognize CanLII, let alone provide for it?

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