This guide will briefly tell you how to locate various items residing on or linked to the Mississippi Lawyers World Wide Web Domain (http://www.mslawyer.com) and how to use the resources available. There are many other links on the lawyers site not covered by this guide. Some of the major icons on the lawyers site are as follows:

1. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Opinions: The Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are found by clicking on the "Mississippi Supreme Court" icon and then the "Cases" icon. You will find the opinions in handdown lists. To view opinions click on the handdown list and then the desired opinion. A link to a search engine is also located on that page that will search the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals opinions. The search engine used is Searchlaw, explained later.

Other information available on the site include Docket of cases to be argued, Court directories, Court Rules and General Information. The Court Rules link on our Supreme Court site will now take you to our "Mississippi Court Rules" site located at http://www.mslegalforms.com/CourtRules/. The rules are updated when amendments are adopted by the Court.  References within rules to other rules are linked for easy access. Annotations are being added but the annotations are only available to subscribers.

The Supreme Court also has a new frames based Web Site which provides access to the opinions and other information. The link can be found at the bottom of the page after you click on the Supreme Court icon. Most of the information available on the new frames site is linked on our no frames site for those of you that would rather use no frames.

2. Mississippi Bar Website and Ethics Opinions: To locate the Mississippi Bar website, click on MsBar.  The Bar site offers a multitude of information, including valuable information for the public.  To locate the ethics opinions of the Mississippi Bar click on the "Mississippi Bar" icon, then the "Ethics and Professionalism" icon and then the "Ethics Opinions" link. This will take you to a subject matter table of contents. You click on the opinion number located to the right of the subject to view the desired opinion.

3. Locating Attorneys: To locate attorneys click on the "Mississippi Law Firms" icon. Once there you can locate attorneys in any of the following ways: (a) Use the alphabetical index to select attorneys and firms that list on the page. (b) Select an area of practice of your choice by highlighting it with your mouse pointer and then click search to see attorneys and firms that have listed on the page. (c) Use the Mississippi Bar Directory on line to search for attorneys by last name, city, and/or areas of practice if they listed their areas of practice on the page. All attorneys that are members of the bar can be located by last name or city. The bar directory also contains e-mail addresses and home page links for listing attorneys and firms.

4. Mississippi Code: To access the Mississippi Code click on the "Mississippi Code" icon. You have the following options once there: (a) Be sure to read the Information page by clicking on the "Information" link before you begin to be kept up-to-date with new instructions.  (b) To select a code section by a known section number go the "table of contents" link. Then enter the code section number in the blank at the top of the page and search. i.e. 1-3-7. You could also locate the section by using the table of contents and clicking on the title, chapter and then section number. (c) The table of contents can be used to view the code titles, chapters under the titles and then all sections under a title and chapter. To do so click on the title number, chapter number and then section number. (d)  To search the Code, select the "combined search" link.  This search also uses the Searchlaw search engine, explained later.  You may also search all Supreme Court Opinions and Court of Appeals Opinions, available on the Internet for citations to a Code section. The Code is only available by subscription and subscription information can be obtained on the Mississippi Code page.

5. Bill Status and 1997 Bills:  The Bill status and 1997 bills are found by clicking on the Mississippi Code link and then the "Bill Status/1997 Bills" link. Once there you can select the 1997 bills by clicking on the "1997 bills" link and then following the links to the bill you wish to view. The bill status is found by clicking on "Bill Status". You will see two blanks or fields to search on the bill status page. Be sure to read the Help file found on that same page to learn how to use the bill status and to keep up-to-date with new instructions and additions. The bill status search is very diverse and allows a multitude of searches.  The 1997 Bills and bill status is included with a subscription to the code.

6. Legal Forms: Legal forms can be found under the "Legal Forms" icon. Once there you can view the table of contents to select categories and the desired form. There are also links to authorities available on the Web concerning many form categories. For example, the category Lis Pendens has a link to the chapter of the code dealing with lis pendens. The legal forms database contains over 1500 business and litigation forms and is by the far the most extensive and complete forms site available on the Internet.   The forms available are in two file formats. The first is linked to the name of the form and is a text file for you to review on the Web to see if the form is one you desire.  The second format is Word Perfect 5.1 and is linked to the WP at the end of the form. The WP file is the one you will want to download so you will have all the word processor codes, such as center and bold, when you open the file in your word processor. The WP files can be opened in WordPerfect for DOS or Windows or Microsoft Word.  The form links will appear like this under the applicable category: Petition to Change Name - WP. You may go to the legal forms site and view the categories available and even the list of forms under each category but you will not be able to view or download a file without a subscription.  To do so, click on "Legal Forms Index" and then the desired category.  Forms listed on the index were obtained from law firms, judges and court files and have all been used in Mississippi unless otherwise noted on the form.     

7. Court Rules: Court Rules can be located under the "Rules" link on the Mississippi Supreme Court page and under the "Court Rules" icon on the main page. The Court rules are linked and cross-linked to each other and cites to other rules within a rule are also linked for quick reference. Annotations are being added but the annotations are only available to subscribers. The rules can be accessed by anyone from the table of contents. A search engine is available to search all rules to subscribers only. The rules available include the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, Mississippi Rules of Evidence, Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure, Uniform Circuit Court Rules, Mississippi Chancery Court Rules, Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct, Local Bankruptcy Rules, U.S. District Court Rules, the Uniform Civil Expense Reduction Plan and local rules.

8.    Attorney General Opinions:  Attorney General Opinions are available from 1978 to 1997.  The opinions can be selected from yearly indexes by date or from search engines.  The search engine for the AG Opinions is Searchlaw, explained later.  The cites to the Mississippi Code in the opinions are linked to the code so you can quickly move to an applicable code section if you subscribe to the code.  The Supreme Court cites are also linked but do not function at this time because the opinions before 1995 are not yet available on the Web. You may also encounter some cites to code sections that result in a "File Not Found" message. This is usually because the code section has been repealed and no longer exists.  You can locate the opinions by clicking on the "Attorney General" link on the front page.  The Opinions will soon only be searchable by subscribers.

9.    Ethics Commission Opinions:  Ethics Commission Opinions and Summaries are available and can be found by clicking the "Mississippi Ethics Commission" link located below the "major" icons.  See the following list:

        The Ethics Commission Opinions are all in HTML format for easy viewing and  printing from the Web.  You may select opinions by either going to the Summary for your year and subject and then clicking on the opinion if it is underlined, or the Index of Opinions by Docket Number.  If the Opinion Docket number is not underlined in the summary lists, then the opinion is not yet available on-line.

10. Searchlaw Search Engine:  The new search engine used to search all of our legal resources, including Supreme Court Opinions, Court of Appeals Opinions, Mississippi Code, Attorney General Opinions and Mississippi Ethics Commission Opinions is Searchlaw.

11. State Department Regulations: A list of State Departments with links to homepages where available can be found by clicking on the "Directories and Indexes" icon and then the "Mississippi State Departments" link or the "Mississippi State Departments" link on the front page under the major icons. The state departments pages contain information about the state agency such as phone and fax numbers and links to home pages. The State Department Regulations on line are linked at the top of the State Department page.

12. Public Service Commission: The PSC site link is located on the front page and publishes the rules and hearings docket.

13. Bankruptcy Information: Links to various bankruptcy links including the code, rules and decisions can be located on the front page under "Mississippi Federal Bankruptcy". The Mississippi Bankruptcy Courts have not published their opinions on the Net as of this date.

14. Internet Search Engines and Phone/Address Directories: Internet Search Engines and telephone directories can be found at the top right of the main page and is entitled "MSLawyers Internet Search Engines".

15. Legal Resource Indexes: Legal Resource Indexes can be found by clicking on the "Directories and Indexes" icon and then "Lawyers Resources I", "Lawyers Resources II", or "Other Resources".

16. Court Directories: A directory for the Supreme Court, Circuit Court, Chancery Court and clerks can be found by clicking on the "Directories and Indexes" icon and then your desired selection under Courts/Judges/Clerks.

17. Internet Guide: The Internet Guide can be located at the bottom of the main page. The guide is a 40 page document explaining the Internet, Netscape and Mississippi Legal Resources.

18. Mailing Lists: Mailing Lists are where people join a list and then can send messages to and receive a copy of all messages sent to the list. There are two Mississippi lists available. One is the msbar list that is limited to members of the Mississippi Bar and the other is the Mslawyers list that is for attorneys and the public. The msbar list can be used for any purpose related to the practice of law. The mslawyers list is for discussions of use of the Internet and the legal resources available and for general questions as well as updates about the Mslawyers Domain.  You may join the list by clicking on "Mississippi Lawyers Mailing Lists" and then completing the form.

19. A "How to Subscribe to Subscription Services" file is located directly under the main icons.

20. Other Resources
 

a. United States Code: The entire United States Code is available on the Internet at several locations. One of the best locations is at Cornell University. To locate the link go to the Directories and Indexes icon and then select United States Code.

b. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has a Web Site and in addition to opinions you can also check the docket of cases on appeal by entering the docket number or party name. To locate the link go to the Directories and Indexes page and then select Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

c. District Court Opinions: The University of Mississippi Law Library publishes the opinions of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. The site allows you to search opinions or select them by docket number or party name.

d. U.S. Supreme Court Opinions: The U.S. Supreme Court opinions are also located at several sites. One of the best and most complete sites is published by Stanford University. To locate the link, go to the Directories and Indexes page and then select U.S. Supreme Court Opinions. The site allows full text search of opinions.  You may also retrieve opinions by the United States Reports Cite.
 

          a.    Mississippi Code - Offered as separate subscription. http://www.mscode.com.
          b.    Legal Forms - Over 1500 legal forms. Includes access to search court rules,
           annotations to court rules and access to Internet Guide. http://www.mslegalforms.com.
          c.    1997 Bill Status and 1997 Bills - Included with Code Access.
          d.    1998 Bill Status - Offered as separate subscription.
          e.    AG Opinions 1978-1997.
          f.    MEC opinions and summaries.

    22. Summary of Law Firm Listings Services:  Listing your law firm is available as follows:

            a.    Law Firms Homepage - Alpha and areas of practice listings. $120.00 per year.
            b.    Mississippi Bar Directory
                        i.    Area of Practice Listing - Included with Law Firms Homepage listing.
                        ii.    E-Mail Listing - $5.00 setup charge.
                        iii.    Link to homepages are included with i. and ii.
            c.    Homepage construction and hosting. - Construction @ $50.00 per hour. Cost
                    range $500.00 up.  Hosting @ $45.00 per month. Updates available.
            d.    mslawyer.com E-Mail addresses. - $5.00 per month.