Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals

Nov 17th, 2009 | By Laura Bergus | Category: Attorney Gadgets, Courtroom Technology, Featured, Law Office Software, Law School, Lead Article, Practice Management

scholar

The legal research game has just taken a light-year shift, thanks to Google. Last night, Google quietly non-announced that Scholar search now includes U.S. federal and state case law and legal journals.

Recently, the debate on open access to legal information has been raging, with some folks sticking up for the Westlaw/Lexis walled-garden approach that requires steep payments for “value-added” access to court opinions and legal articles and journals. (It’s worth noting that the disagreement focused on “free market” versus public/government-funded approaches, so Google’s “free market” solution of free access will likely derail arguments on both sides of this debate.) For law students and lawyers of the younger generation (and tech-savvy elders as well), the Westlaw/Lexis interface and usability leave a lot to be desired

Now students, attorneys, clients, and – most importantly – average citizens around the world, can freely access an easy-to-use database of opinions and legal scholarship. “Free” really is the operative word, but for many users who have never suffered through terms-and-connecters-based search failures, the additional usefulness of “How cited” and “Related documents” will win the day. I realize that Westlaw and Lexis offer the same kind of content, but for those of us who have a bit of pride in our facility with Google searches and products, the obviousness of how these work and the straightforwardness with which this additional data is delivered is pricesless.

It will take a little while for the legal information experts to dig deep into the functionality and offer comparisons with Westlaw/Lexis on this service, but for now, it’s clear that the scope is pretty darn good. I can’t wait for the new debate, no doubt geared towards finding the chinks in Google’s authenticity armor, to begin.

Thanks especially to @justia for cluing us in (via @rklau).

Tags: case law, google scholar, google search, Lexis, open access, search, West, Westlaw

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Tweets that mention Google Scholar search now includes U.S. case law and legal journals | Social Media Law Student -- Topsy.com November 17th, 2009 10:05 am :
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rex7, jaredcorreia. jaredcorreia said: RT @Rex7: Google Scholar search now includes U.S. case law and legal journals http://ff.im/-bBh5l [...]
Tweets that mention Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals | Social Media Law Student -- Topsy.com November 17th, 2009 12:02 pm :
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rex7, Christopher Hill. Christopher Hill said: RT @Rex7 Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals | Social Media Law Student http://bit.ly/2uCVAe [...]
tayne_gheel November 17th, 2009 5:14 pm :
This is so awesome, I can’t even contain myself.

[Reply]
Rex Gradeless Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
A great day for America.

[Reply]
Caselaw for the Lawerly in Google Scholar | Tech Startups November 24th, 2009 8:13 pm :
[...] what Scholar does (and doesn’t) do with the opinions. Rex Gradeless, a law student, pointed out that while this may be of interest for lawyers and law students, the real winner here is citizens [...]
Google Scholar | JT - Blog November 24th, 2009 10:57 pm :
[...] Three more opinions (One, Two, Three) [...]
ipdotcom November 17th, 2009 10:21 am :
Google Scholar search now includes U.S. case law and legal journals http://ff.im/-bBh5l (via @Rex7)

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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constructionlaw November 17th, 2009 12:24 pm :
New: Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals:
The legal research game has just.. http://bit.ly/1ZCjL7

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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Pete November 17th, 2009 1:03 pm :
Question #2 from this page immediately sprang to mind.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Richard Leiter November 17th, 2009 1:13 pm :
Congratulations, Rick (and Anurag).

My own quick review: http://tinyurl.com/yewqb3l

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Don Cruse November 17th, 2009 1:41 pm :
I’m really excited about this, and especially pleased that you included state cases in the very iteration. The first thing I did this morning was write up a quick walk-through of some Texas caselaw. (That’s at http://www.scotxblog.com/news-and-links/google-wades-into-free-legal-research-for-texas-too/, if you’re curious.)

As a lawyer, I do have some methodological questions that would help me feel better using this as a professional research tool. It would be great if we could access what’s included, how fast it’s updated, etc. Lawyers obsess about details like that. I’m sure Google is doing its typically great job, but being explicit rather than mysterious about this product will help it succeed. (I think that’s true about things like the "Related articles" link, too. As I’m sure you can appreciate, I would be afraid to do much research with an "I feel lucky!" button, even one that was generally reliable.)

Also, as an app developer in my spare time, I would love to see an API. At the least, I’d like to see a good way to construct URLs that would point to your resources without having to already know your case ID numbers. (Ideally, you wouldn’t have to know the West cite, either, since those are not assigned until long after a blogger would want to talk about a newly released case.) I have some ideas about how this might work. if that’s not on your product timeline, I will probably come up with my own solution to use with my products.

Thanks again.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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tysontrux November 17th, 2009 2:11 pm :
Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals http://go.meebo.com/socialmedialawstudent.com/v

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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NerdVittles November 17th, 2009 2:34 pm :
For those of us who have wrestled with this as both lawyers and court administrators, this is one incredible day. Many of us spent long hours educating judges as to why giving West and Lexis a monopoly to the work product of judges being paid with public funds was a very bad idea. Google just proved us all right… 25+ years later. Thanks to all of you that made this happen.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Lahey13 November 17th, 2009 2:52 pm :
Interesting read: The legal research game has just taken a light-year shift, thanks to #Google http://bit.ly/UJgEI

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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Alexander Macgillivray November 17th, 2009 3:03 pm :
Congratulations! Wonderful work and so glad to see it out in the wild.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Carolyn Elefant November 17th, 2009 4:38 pm :
I think this is a great development and I commend Google (disclosure – my husband works there, not on this project though). I was surpised at how robust the service is and appreciate the hyperlinks to other cases within the text. Unfortunately, the law review articles can’t be retrieved without a Hein Online subscription (which can be had for $150/year at Jenkins Law Library). I would also love to see all state bar codes and ethics opinions indexed and made searchable because these are virtually impossible to find in one localized spot online.

Of course, I don’t think that this service will put LEXIS or Westlaw out of business. But where I see it having an impact is on the margins, i.e., on the "second level" providers like VersusLaw or Casemaker, which were true pioneers, providing low cost legal service at a time when no one else would. Even though I am glad to have a free option, I hope that these other companies will still find ways to remain competitive in this arena.

Carolyn Elefant

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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tayne_gheel November 17th, 2009 5:16 pm :
Take that, Westlaw! Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals http://tinyurl.com/ydxy3su

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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Nancecy November 17th, 2009 5:20 pm :
Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals | Social Media Law Student http://bit.ly/2uCVAe (via @Rex7)

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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@wac6 November 17th, 2009 8:53 pm :
This is awesome! Thank you! I am a lawyer, but I agree with what you say about the most important thing being making this information available to all. I especially like the "how cited" tab and how the use of the case cited is previewed there. And presumably there could also be any number of useful tools third parties could build on this database you’ve opened up!

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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dvasella November 18th, 2009 11:21 am :
Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal Journals: http://bit.ly/3QVGw0

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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atsakala November 18th, 2009 12:27 pm :
Google vs. Lexis vs. Westlaw: http://ow.ly/Ds5u , http://tinyurl.com/5nbvkk , http://ow.ly/Ds80 , http://ow.ly/Ds9U , http://ow.ly/Dsbu

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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seo_lawyer November 18th, 2009 12:27 pm :
Google vs. Lexis vs. Westlaw: http://ow.ly/Dsc3 , http://tinyurl.com/5nbvkk , http://ow.ly/Dsc4 , http://ow.ly/Dsc5 , http://ow.ly/Dsc6

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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gyi tsakalakis November 18th, 2009 12:41 pm :
"The people who should worry about this news are lawyers. They are about to be “Web-MD’d.” Clients will begin coming to them with reams of print-outs, thinking they know the law, the same way doctors are always hearing from self-diagnosing patients who think they can spot their disease by reading stuff on the Web."

http://tinyurl.com/yj2msnd

A lot of my clients were already doing this…

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Rex Gradeless Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Then we call on the lawyers within the profession to do due diligence and protect their clients from misinformation. The law is everyone’s, not just those who can pay to read it. There’s no question it should be accessible for free.

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atsakala November 18th, 2009 12:51 pm :
@TechnologyFeed Scholar http://bit.ly/2UUr9o , http://tinyurl.com/5nbvkk , http://bit.ly/3tMBSZ , http://bit.ly/H80Ty , http://bit.ly/2W0lMy

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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atsakala November 18th, 2009 12:52 pm :
@AnthonyBowser Scholar: http://bit.ly/2UUr9o , http://tinyurl.com/5nbvkk , http://bit.ly/3tMBSZ , http://bit.ly/H80Ty , http://bit.ly/2W0lMy

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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@wac6 November 18th, 2009 8:10 pm :
Gyi, I’m a lawyer, and I think clients who do their homework, read, challenge, and ask questions, is a very good thing! Google Scholar will do exactly what you say, I hope!

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Brent November 19th, 2009 5:05 pm :
I love the hanging citation when you scroll down the page, but I wish it were in "blue book" format.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Ravi Kallianpur November 21st, 2009 7:12 am :
This is absolutely wonderful! Yet another feather in Google’s cap in making sure information flows to where it is needed most. Google, not necessarily, the company, but the resources it provides has become a important institution global. I think Google as a company should encourage the creation of courses that will enable folks to utilize the tools that are available more effectively. And it doesn’t have to be a brick and mortar institution – GoogleU – and the degree – MGU (Masters in Google Universe).

I for one would love to have the teaching and presentation information on the cumulation of tools Google provides. It would absolutely be my privilege to conduct it, enable it and foster it.

Thank you;.

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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Margie the Ladybug November 24th, 2009 4:35 pm :
Totally unrelated, but do you know what happened to exit rate reporting in Google Analytics? Was it combined with the Bounce Rate? How do we find out where people are going when they leave our site? I’m befuddled.

Thank you!

This comment was originally posted on tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog

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ChadBooker09 November 27th, 2009 10:50 am :
Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal … http://bit.ly/6bwJDR

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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glennsnews November 27th, 2009 11:00 am :
Google Scholar Search Now Includes U.S. Case Law and Legal … http://bit.ly/6lVh6n

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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