In the last few years, almost every state has posted most of their primary legal resources on line. As you head into your summer job you should keep in mind two sites that compile links to these individual state primary law resources. These make great places to start your preliminary search for free access to primary authority.
Cornell LII. This site is probably the best known and easiest to navigate. The Cornell Legal Information Institute does a thorough job of linking to individual state primary source materials. The state resource page is here. Simply find the state you want and click through the hypertext links to be taken to the individual state websites. Cornell LII has also posted the equivalent of 50 state surveys for many common legal practice areas in their Topical Index of State Statutes. If you want to find the divorce laws in all 50 states simply follow the hyperlinks.
FindLaw. This is a commercial site run by Thomsen Reuters. The links to the individual state primary source materials is free. Like the links from the Cornell LII site the material is only as good as whatever is posted on the state site itself.
Caveats: Not all states are created equal in what they provide. Some states will allow a search of statutes but not cases. Others will provide links to administrative regulations, some will not. These two sites are only compilations. You can always shortcut the process and go to the state-run site itself. But when FindLaw and Cornell LII have done the search for you, why bother to try to find the correct state site?
Finally, you should keep in mind that many states started posting these materials on their sites in the mid-1990s or even earlier. At that time the search engines available were not as good as those available now. Thus, depending on which state the hyperlinks will take you to, some materials are readily searchable, some are not. You pays your money (or not), and you takes your chances.
