Commentary: Legal research on the cheap: Google Scholar and GIS mapping

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Back in November, Google unveiled yet another free tool of interest to lawyers, when it added state and federal case law and legal journal articles to Google Scholar.

The new legal content includes U.S. Supreme Court case law back to volume 1 of the U.S. Reports, federal appellate cases back to the 1920s, and state cases back to the 1950s, as well as law journal literature and patents.

Attorney Terrence Dunst of Bakke Norman SC gives an annual presentation on free or affordable legal research tools on the Web for Wisconsin Judicare Inc., as well as at the Solo & Small Firms Conference. He says he was happy to hear about Google Legal Scholar.

Dunst works for a medium-sized firm, and the powers that be decided long ago that Westlaw access was a necessity. Dunst has come to rely upon it heavily, but he says Google Scholar’s legal databases go back far enough for most attorneys’ needs, and it’s user-friendly. And the journal articles are a welcome addition, too.

When I was using Google Scholar to search for articles, I found you often hit a pay wall – you think you’ve found a useful result, but then are routed to a screen asking for a password from HeinOnline.org.

Luckily for Wisconsin’s solo and small-firm lawyers, there’s a free solution, says Dunst. HeinOnline.org is available for free to law firms of 25 or fewer lawyers from the Wisconsin State Law Library.

All you need is a library card, which takes a minute or two to sign up for online, and you can have immediate access, says Dunst. There are even video tutorials on using HeinOnline on the Web site.

Bakke Norman isn’t cancelling its Westlaw service anytime soon, principally because although Google Legal Scholar has a useful “How Cited” feature, designed to approximate Shepardizing or using KeyCite, it’s definitely not the equivalent. If you spend an hour in the blogosphere reading the many Google Legal Scholar critiques, you’ll likely remain a Westlaw or Lexis/Nexis customer, too – like it or not.

But, says Dunst, combining Google Scholar’s free legal research tools with the Fastcase access you get as a State Bar of Wisconsin member, is a “great option” for solos and small firms that otherwise pay the two legal research giants by the transaction.

GIS Mapping

Another lesser-known Web freebie that Dunst finds very helpful in his real estate practice is GIS mapping.

GIS stands for Geographic Information System, and in simple terms, it’s a computer system capable of holding and using data describing places or events on the earth's surface.

As of spring 2009, most county governments in Wisconsin (63 of 72, or 88 percent) had developed publicly accessible, interactive Web mapping sites, and an additional five counties had sites in development.

Some of the existing Web sites are better than others, Dunst says. Ozaukee, Portage and Pepin Counties are among the better ones, due to the interaction they allow between the property tax records and the maps.

“You can get a pretty good aerial photography map of, say, a 40-acre parcel. You can see where the driveways are and other landmarks on it, identify the property owner, whether the taxes are paid, and who the neighbors are,” says Dunst.

I spent a little time on the various county Web sites, and want to add a couple of points.

First, you need to be able to disable the popup blockers on your Web browser to use these. It’s fairly easy to do, and the Pepin County Web site gave me tips on how to accomplish it. Just remember to turn them back on once you’re done.

Second, you’ll need a little technical prowess, patience and perhaps a little elementary knowledge of geography to use these sites quickly and to their fullest extent. Still, the time you spend bringing yourself up to speed is time you won’t spend schlepping to the county treasurer’s office and/or register of deeds.

A final note from Dunst: Sometimes street-level maps are available through Google Maps, to complement whatever information your particular county may be lacking.