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Category Archives: Google Scholar

The Common Flaw With Legal Database Providers.

29 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Bloomberg Law, Casemaker, FastCase, Google Scholar, LexisNexis, Research, Westlaw

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Algorithms, Headnotes, Joe Hodnicki, Law Librarian Blog, Legal Research, Lexis, Westlaw

The Algorithm as a Human Artifact: Implications for Legal {Re}Search, by Joe Hodnicki, Law Librarian Blog

https://bit.ly/2GVxQzz

Susan Nevelow Mart is a law professor at the University of Colorado’s Law School. Her article has earned significant attention and recognition, and for good reason.

Most lawyers and paralegals learn legal research using Westlaw and Lexis, with an emphasis on using headnotes to research relevant law. Because humans write the headnotes and the search algorithms, there is a considerable variation in the results in our legal research.

[W]hen comparing the top ten results for the same search entered into the same jurisdictional case database in Casetext, Fastcase, Google Scholar, Lexis Advance, Ravel, and Westlaw, the results are a remarkable testament to the variability of human problem solving. There is hardly any overlap in the cases that appear in the top ten results returned by each database.

Hardly any overlap? Imagine how this affects cases argued by the parties and decided by the courts. But, there’s more. The percentage of relevant sources differs for all providers.

One of the most surprising results was the clustering among the databases in terms of the percentage of relevant results. The oldest database providers, Westlaw and Lexis, had the highest percentages of relevant results, at 67% and 57%, respectively. The newer legal database providers, Fastcase, Google Scholar, Casetext, and Ravel, were also clustered together at a lower relevance rate, returning approximately 40% relevant results.

Professor Mart reminds us that thorough legal research has always involved redundancy. We already know that different search terms give us new results to investigate. She recommends using multiple resources with multiple searches, and calls for more accountability by legal database providers.

We cannot change what the legal database providers have already done. We do have control over the thoroughness of our research and our search strategies. -CCE

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Free Legal Research With Google Scholar – Part II.

12 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Google Scholar, Internet, Research

≈ Comments Off on Free Legal Research With Google Scholar – Part II.

Tags

Google Scholar, Legal Research, LLRX.com, Nicole L. Black

How To Conduct Free Legal Research Using Google Scholar In 2015 (Part 2), by Nicole L. Black, LLRX.com

http://www.bespacific.com/new-on-llrx-how-to-conduct-free-legal-research-using-google-scholar-in-2015-part-2/

Legal research is something lawyers do nearly every day. That’s why convenient, affordable access to legal research materials is so important. The advent of computer-based legal research was the first step toward leveling the playing field and providing solos and small firms with access to the incredible depth of materials once only available in academic or government law libraries or in the law libraries of large law firms. But it was web-based legal research that truly gave solos and small firms the tools they needed to compete-and at a price they could afford. Google Scholar is a prime example of this-it provides free access to a wide range of legal materials, all of which are accessible and searchable via a user-friendly interface. The trick is to set aside time to learn the ins and outs of conducting legal research on Google Scholar. . . .

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