I've typed into Google a font name & the words free, font, and or download... and sometimes found what I needed. I guess it's possible that I ended up with an illegal copy though, but other times it may be a similar but different name that has become legally free because of renaming?
The other night I spent half an hour looking for a font to typeset 4 words for an important client... when I finally realized $24 for the right font was cheaper then half an hour of my time, so I just bought it & swore to remember next time that for a client like that... I should just buy it before I waste the half hour.