The Internet is littered with lists of legal links, and as impressive as some of them are, virtually all of them are geared towards attorneys. This site, however, is a compilation of links, tips, and forms by and for legal-support professionals.

Welcome to the legal-support toolbox.

We're always looking for anything new, so if you have any suggestions or resources that you have found useful and would like to share, please email them to Law Vendors.

Court Directories

Courthouse Direct - links to courthouse records.

Texas Courts Online - the portal to Texas Judicial pages.

Texas Judicial System Directory - find the names of judges, clerks, and coordinators, as well as court addresses and telephone numbers. To find names, select "Personnel" from the first drop-down menu labeled "Search Type," then give it a few seconds for the site to reset itself to the correct database.

Courts

Texas Supreme Court

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court Western District of Texas

U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Texas

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Texas

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western District of Texas

Criminal Records

Federal Bureau of Prisons - information on federal inmates.

Public Data - a source for criminal records.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Offender Information - information on Texas inmates.

Education

ABA Approved Paralegal Education Programs - a directory of paralegal programs approved by the American Bar Association.

e-Filing: Federal Courts

Some e-filing tips: e-filing in the Federal courts is easy, which is good because it's mandatory. Unless you're pro se, you MUST file electronically. The downside is that each attorney must enroll separately in each Federal court in which they practice, so you'll have a different login and password for each attorney and each court. You must use the login and password of whichever attorney signed the document you are e-filing. You will also need a separate password and login with PACER in order to view documents. Federal e-filing is free but there is a charge for each document you view, except for the first view of documents for which you receive email notice of filing.

Here are links to the registration forms for Texas federal district courts:

Eastern District registration form

Northern District registration form (print)

Northern District registration form (online)

Southern District registration form

Southern District registration form (bankruptcy)

Western District registration form

Documents must be in PDF format to be e-filed. The updated versions of Microsoft Word can convert documents to PDF, but if your word processing program does not convert to PDF, download the free CutePDF Writer, a simple program that will convert your documents to PDF format. Once it is installed, simply select CutePDF from your print menu and instead of printing the document, it will convert it to PDF.

But if it's not printed and scanned, then how can an attorney sign it? They don't. On the signature line, type in /s/ followed by the name of the signing atttorney. This is recognized by the courts as an electronic signature.

One of the advantages of Federal e-filing is you do not need transmittal letters (nor do the Federal courts want Rule 11 or vacation letters). E-filed documents are automatically copied to all attorneys in the case by the e-filing system. If you have any questions, call the specific court. In all of my dealings with court personnel, they have been very nice and very helpful.

PACER

Eastern District of Texas Document Filing System

Northern District of Texas Document Filing System

Southern District of Texas Document Filing System

Western District of Texas Document Filing System

For more e-filing tips, visit Law Vendors' All About e-Filing page.

e-Filing: State Courts

Electronic filing in Texas state district and county courts is growing - but slowly. TexasOnline provides a single e-filing system that is serviced by outside providers who handle the actual e-filing. Check with your court to see if they accept e-filing.

TexasOnline eFiling for Courts

e-Filing Service Providers:

American LegalNet, Inc.

CaseFile XPress

CourtFile America

eLawServices

MyFileRunner

OneLegal

ProDoc eFiling

Forms

Federation of Tax Administrators - state tax forms.

Forms.gov - The Forms Catalog provides citizens and businesses with a common access point to federal-agency forms.

Internal Revenue Service - forms free for downloading.

Social Security Administration forms

General Research

Kelly Blue Book - values and information on new and used vehicles.

Lexis Nexis

Universal Currency Converter

Westlaw

Language Tools

Merriam-Webster Online - dictionary and thesaurus.

Yahoo! Babel Fish - text translation.

Locating People

Anywho - an online phone book, which includes reverse lookup.

National Address Server - provides addresses in the proper format, with the ZIP+4 code.

Reverse Address Directory - search by name, address, or telephone number.

Zip Code Lookup - from the United States Post Office. Look up a location, get the zip code.

Medical Summary Tools

Law Vendors' Comprehensive, Chronological Medical Summary Form - a medical-summary form that allows you to construct a complete chronological summary of all bills and records, putting each set of records in context with other sets, while keeping track of the origin of each summary entry.

Mayo Clinic - a great resource for looking up terminology while you're plowing through medical records. Especially helpful finding information on medications.

Texas Medical Board - inevitably, medical records will reveal the names of new treating physicians, and too often all you get is a last name. This site can help fully identify physicians, physician assistants, and acupuncturists licensed by the State of Texas, as well as providing background information and disciplinary information.

TexasOnline Professional Profiling System - for researching chiropractors, dentists, psychologists, optometrists, occupational and physical therapists, and podiatrists.

Software

Adobe Reader - for viewing PDF documents.

RealLegal E-Transcript Viewer - for viewing deposition e-transcripts. Download it free.

CutePDF Writer - newer versions of word processing software can automatically convert a document to PDF. But if you have an older version, you can use this free downloadable software to convert your word documents into PDF format.

OpenOffice - an alternative to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is open-source software, and it's free.

State of Texas

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Texas Bar Association

Texas Department of Insurance

Texas Department of Public Safety

Texas Department of Transportation

Texas Department of Public Safety - Texas Highway Patrol's website.

Texas Online - official portal of the State of Texas.

Texas Real Estate Commission

Texas Secretary of State

Texas Secretary of State SOSDirect - look up corporate information, including registered agent for service.

Texas Rules and Statutes

Code of Judicial Conduct

Texas Administrative Code

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code

Texas Constitution and Statutes

Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure

Texas Rules of Civil Procedure

Texas Rules of Evidence

Time, Date, Weather

Official U.S. Time

Sun and Moon Data - the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, transits of the Sun and Moon, and the beginning and end of civil twilight, along with information on the Moon's phase.

Sunrise and Sunset

Time and Date

Weather Underground - current and past weather conditions for any location.