Google opens Google Scholar

This is very exciting! Google has opened Google Scholar. We can now search by topic, case law, you can add date and author info to your search. A great tool for the Real Estate Industry with a huge source of information for the title industry. Pluses:

• Search by State is available
• It doesn’t just link to FindLaw or Cornell, but is much broader
• it has complete original text.

Don’t think this product is going to hamper the incredible resources of Lexis or Westlaw in the near future, because they are excellent at organizing, commenting, and providing information beyond simple access to courts and government.:  Weaknesses Google needs to overcome:

• There is no verification whether or not an opinion has been overruled, vacated, distinguished, etc.
• No hyperlinks exist to statutes, codes, regulations, etc., referred to in the opinions, although there are hyperlinks within cases to other opinions.
• Case law goes back only about 80 years for federal cases and somewhat more than 50 years for state cases.

But stay tuned, Google has a reputation of figuring out what the consumer wants, and my bet is they will be working to fix current weaknesses