Goggle Scholar improvements

The quest for low-cost – or better yet – free – legal research options is right up there on every attorney and researcher's list. Last Tuesday Law.com’s "Legal Blog Watch" noted improvements that had been made to Google's "Scholar"

"When Google Scholar was introduced back in late 2009," Blog Watch said, "we noted that 'there's no ignoring a 1,000-pound gorilla. Google's entry into the area of legal research is definitely a game changer for the entire legal industry.' Google Scholar's impact on Westlaw and LexisNexis, however, was no doubt limited by the fact that its search functionality was nowhere near as sophisticated… But last week Google Scholar announced (via WisBlawg) that it has taken another step forward, enhancing its 'Advanced Search' capability to allow users to select a specific federal jurisdiction or state for their search."

From Scholar's homepage, click on the "Advanced Search" option just to the right of the search bar; then scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Legal Opinions and Journals" under the "Collection" heading. Search criteria selections can now be made according to “federal” or “state” opinions, or via "all legal opinions & journals." Click on the "Select specific courts to search" link for your court.