Google Tips: Great Infographic from Hack College

Why I Use Google Scholar In My Blog Posts

The more I use Google Scholar, the more I like it.  I think you will, too.  I always use Google Scholar, for example, to hyperlink cases or statutes or law review articles in blog posts because:

1.  it's free;
2.  it's easy for readers to access (no subscription hurdle);
3.  it's reliable;
4.  (best of all) within the document, Google Scholar hyperlinks citations for ready reference; and
5.  there's a Shepardizing of sorts provided, too.

For example, click here to check out New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) on Google Scholar.  Nice, huh?

Google Scholar Keeps Getting Better as a Free Legal Research Tool

Google Scholar has been around for several years now, and I've been monitoring it as a free, online legal research tool.  As you'd expect from Google, they keep building upon this product and their latest tweak involves allowing you to perform searches within specific jurisdictional databases.  Search their entire federal database, or search within one appellate circuit.  Limit your search to a particular state.  You get the idea.

How good is Google Scholar -- and how up to date? 

Well, today I was working on a blog post with Terry Lenamon on the Texas case where a state district judge wanted to hold an evidentiary pretrial hearing on the constitutionality of Texas' system of capital punishment, and how the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals slapped him down (at least for now).

I found the opinion (actually there are two) on the court's official web site.  However, on a whim, I just checked the Google Scholar Advanced Search and yep.  There they were.  Both opinions.   

So, Google Scholar is good, and getting better, but not great.  Yet.  But if I were Lexis or Westlaw, I'd be worried.