Legal research is one of the most challenging aspects of the legal profession. In the digital era, it is also a task that cannot be adequately performed without a legal search engine of some kind. Although there are numerous commercially-available research platforms, Google Scholar case law continues to be a valuable legal resource available to lawyers, law students, and the general public, free of charge.
The key to effective use of Google Scholar for legal research is knowing its strengths and limitations. Here we delve into how Google Scholar case law works and how best to utilize it.
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Understanding Google Scholar
Google Scholar was launched in 2004 as a freely-accessible search engine for scholarship material on a wide array of subjects. In 2009, Google Scholar added court opinions to its database, searchable through the “case law” option. For the first time, there was a free alternative to the commercial legal research tools provided by Westlaw and LexisNexis.
