Nexis

Most people know of Lexis-Nexis as a collector of newspaper and wire service archives. You are probably familiar with it from searching through the past stories of the New York Times or other papers. But its true value for journalists and investigators lies in the many government databases that it allows you to search.

To get started, you need to get a log-in and password through your news organization. Once you have one, go to www.nexis.com.

Nexis is immensely helpful in backgrounding a subject. Be warned, however, that you should not use Nexis as a primary source. Always double-check any information you get on it with human sources before putting it into print. Many of its databases contain peoples’ birthdays. You will find that it often gets the month and year right, but not the date.

When you first enter Nexis, you will see the “Easy Search” page. Click the tab to the left of it that reads “Power Search”. This allows you to choose which Nexis databases you want to search.

On the dialog that says “Select a source”, look to the right of the pull-down menu and click on the link that says “Find More Sources…”.

Under the source menu, click on the “Browse Sources” tab. This will bring you to a directory screen that lists all of the various types of searches you can do. You want to click on the folder that reads “Public Records”. These are the invaluable databases of nationwide and state records.

If, for example, you want to look through New Jersey’s voter registration databases, click on “Voter Registrations”. On the next screen, if you click on the icon of the document next to “NJ Voter Registrations”, it will bring up the information on what the source contains, where the data comes from and how often its updated. Click to check the box next to NJ Voter Registrations, then hit the red “OK-Continue” button.

This will return you to the main search page. You can enter your search term into the box and click “Search”. Once you add a new database to your Power Search, you will be able to find it again from the main page by clicking on the drop-down menu. If it ever disappears from the drop-down, you can always go back to “Find More Sources” and find it again.

For tips on search terms, read this cheat sheet from Columbia University. If you’re searching for “Tom Meagher”, type in “Meagher, T!” to find everyone whose last name is Meagher and first name starts with T. Play with it and look around.

Some of the best databases to use:

  • NJ Deed Transfers, Tax Assessor Records and Mortgage Records - Selected Counties, under Real Property

  • NJ Voter Registrations
  • NJ Professional Licenses
  • NJ Judgment and Lien Filings
  • NJ Tax Liens, Federal and State
  • NJ Uniform Commercial Code Lien Filings, listed under “Judgments and Liens”
  • Bankruptcy filings
  • UCC filings
  • SEC filings (particularly the 10-K records)
  • Social Security death records
  • Person locator
  • NJ Criminal History records (note that these are generally only about 7 years of state felony convictions. If you want to find federal cases, use PACER.)