We often recommend our legal research database Fastcase to patrons looking to conduct case law research from their homes or office. Fastcase is a great choice for case law research (check out our guide to case law research if you need a crash course!), but there are a lot of other resources available in Fastcase that our patrons may not be familiar with. In particular, there's a great selection of treatises and books on a range of legal topics. We've highlighted a selection of some of the treatises available remotely from James Publishing through Fastcase.

Navigating to Fastcase

To get to these titles, you can either click on the "Available in Fastcase" button in the catalog record for each specific title or navigate to Fastcase directly from the Databases page of our Digital Collection to look at the full list of the James titles. You'll be prompted to enter your username and password with both options. If logging in via the Databases page, click the "browse libraries" button. You can find the James Publishing titles listed under Secondary Material — it's the first option under Treatises and Books in the Commentaries box.

Once you're in, check out these titles: 

Everyday Legal Issues

Texas Small-Firm Practice Tools

Although this title is written with the solo practitioner in mind, we've also found this title to be helpful for non-lawyers seeking guidance and sample forms on matters of everyday law. This title mostly covers civil legal issues like landlord-tenant law and estate planning but also includes a chapter on misdemeanor defense.

Texas Employment Law

Both the 2018 and 2016 editions of this title are available in Fastcase. This book is helpful for understanding how both Texas and federal employment law applies to issues like wages, hiring, workplace safety, and discrimination. 

Estate & Probate Issues

Texas Estate Planning

This title covers basic requirements and notes on creating wills and trusts according to Texas law and includes chapters on community property, non-probate assets, and Medicaid-oriented estate planning. Sample forms for wills and trusts for a variety of scenarios are included.

Texas Probate Forms and Procedures

For anyone handling probate administration, Texas Probate Forms and Procedures is an extremely helpful guide. Check out the chapters on probate options and considerations when getting started (in Chapter 2) and the thorough explanations of temporary, independent, and dependent administration (Chapters 6, 7, and 8, respectively).

Criminal Procedure Titles

Texas Criminal Forms

This title has downloadable forms for various tasks in Texas criminal procedure from pre-trial motions up through post-trial proceedings. Each chapter contains notes on relevant statutory law and general points on the issue alongside the sample forms. Topics covered include bail and bond motions, motions for DWI cases, child abuse cases, expunctions and orders of nondisclosure, and more. 

 Texas Criminal Lawyer's Handbook

This title works well as a companion handbook with Texas Criminal Forms and includes chapters on various aspects of criminal proceedings. Some sample forms are also available throughout this title as well. Readers may appreciate the handbook's section on constitutional rights with excerpts from the U.S. and Texas Constitutions and relevant sections of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. 

Texas Criminal Jury Charges

The best resource for sample pattern jury charges in all types of Texas criminal cases. This title is organized to follow the titles in the Texas Penal Code, and a chart with the Penal Code Titles, Provisions, and Chapter Titles and Numbers is included. Particularly helpful is a chart of penalty ranges available in Chapter 4: Punishments.