Google now recommends retrieving blog results by conducting your search and then clicking "News" (above the results)> "Search Tools" (to the right, also above the results)> "All News" (that subsequently appears in the row beneath "News" and "Search Tools", et al)> "Blogs" (from the resulting drop-down menu). However, the list of blogs from which these results are drawn is not as extensive or diverse as those retrieved by the previous BlogSearch.

But are They Really Blogs?

Retrieving the Blog-only results from a Google NewsSearch for the keyword "Obama" returned results drawn primarily from the blogs of mainstream media news sites (e.g., South Florida Reporter, Tampa Bay.com, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Fox News). Previously, many smaller, individual, and personal-type blogs were also included in results.  

The current results list covers a date range of approximately five months.

Filters Can't Be 'Mixed and Matched'

While it would be logical to believe that you could extend the date range of your Blog-only NewsSearch results by creating a "Custom Date Range" (using the "Anytime" drop-down menu), this Custom Date Range does not actually work as expected.

When we entered a date range of "01/01/2015-12/31/2015" we did receive a new list of results that fit into that date range - but one that had reverted to "All News" sources. Also note that when we used the "Sorted by Date" feature (found at the top of the results list) the reordered list of "All News" results was in no discernable order at all, with dates jumping from:

• June 3, 2015
• February 6, 2015
• February 11, 2015
• October 22, 2015
• December 24, 2015
• May 8, 2015
• June 30, 2015

While you can filter the list back to Blog-only results, by clicking "All News" (in the row beneath "News" and Search Tools", et al)> "Blogs" (from the resulting drop-down menu) - again - unfortunately, the resulting list reverts to "Recent" results, "Sorted by Relevance."

So, you can either have a longer, more-specific date range of "All News" sources or a list of five months worth of "Blog-only results. Take your pick.

The post Google Kills Blogsearch (Again) – But This Time They REALLY Mean It appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Google Blogsearch is no more. It appears that Google has killed the blog only search database.

Requests for the blog-only search interface that used to live at https://google.com/blogsearch and https://blogsearch.google.com now return a "page not found" error or redirect to Google's "regular" Web Search interface.

It is, however, possible to force Google to display the Blogsearch interface and search the Blogsearch database by manually adding the application for the Blogsearch to your the URL in your browser's address bar (or omnibox) - like this https://www.google.com/search?tbm=blg. (tbm instructs the the browser to retrieve a specific application from the Google server and blg is the designation for the Blogsearch. A complete list of Google application designations can be found at http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/58550/what-does-tbm-mean-in-google-search.)

Blog results can also still be displayed by clicking the "Search Tools" button above Google News Search results, then clicking the "All News" drop-down menu and selecting "Blogs." However, this list of blog results is not as extensive as those retrieved by searching the above-referenced URL.

For example, retrieving the Blog-only results from a Google News search for the keyword Obama returned results drawn primarily from the blogs of mainstream media news sites (e.g., Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox News) and covers only a date range back about 23 days.

The same search using this interface https://www.google.com/search?tbm=blg returned results from a wider range of blogs (including smaller news outlets and personal blogs), as well as covering a broader date range.

While it would be logical to believe that you could extend the date range of your Blog-only News Search results by creating a "Custom Date Range" (using the "Anytime" drop-down menu), this Custom Date Range does not actually work in the News Search for any dates beyond the News Search's 30 day coverage range. (It is a remnant of the old News Archive Search.)

The post Google Kills Blogsearch – But Here’s How You Can Force Google to Display it appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

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With cost-conscious clients scrutinizing legal bills, lawyers cannot afford to depend on fee-based resources the way they used to, especially if reliable free resources are available. That said, sometimes it makes sense to pay for data—especially if the pay databases have something the free ones are lacking (content or functionality) or when using the pay databases can save you time and money.

This article will highlight some of the most reliable free (or low-cost) online resources and give you some tips on how to use them. However, we don’t have the space to go into as great as detail as we’d like, so you’ll need to attend ABA TECHSHOW 2014 to hear us speak and ask us your questions or read our upcoming ABA LP book, Internet Legal Research On a Budget.

To begin with, every legal researcher should bookmark a few free legal portals. A good portal includes links arranged by topics and jurisdictions so you can quickly get to a useful site. But, a good portal should go a step further and provide “added value,” such as a full-text keyword searchable database of court cases or subject-specific articles about an area of law.

The most useful general legal portals are: Justia and FindLaw. [Note: FindLaw is undergoing some database changes and is not functioning as it should. We presume proper functioning will resume.]

For government portals, we’d choose a newer site that you might not be familiar with: the Government Printing Office’s Federal Digital System (FDsys), which provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the federal government. Another choice would be USA.gov, not only useful for retrieving federal governmental agency documents, but also state, local, territorial, and tribal government documents.

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII) is a portal that has some unique databases such as Wex, a free legal dictionary/encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the LII, and its version of the U.S. Code, which provides links to the rules and regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that relate to the U.S. Code section being viewed. This feature, which saves you from having to run a separate search at the CFR, is activated by clicking on the “Authorities (CFR)” tab.

The last legal portal you should bookmark is one that will assist you with your state and local research needs. Look at each of your state’s law school law library’s portals and decide which one suits that need.

Case law research is probably what most legal researchers do more than any other kind of research. One of the most overlooked “free” places for conducting case law research is your state bar association. Forty-seven state bar associations (plus some local bars and other legal professional associations) subscribe to legal research databases on behalf of their members. In turn, they provide their members with free access as a “member benefit.” These “member benefit to lawyers” legal research databases offer more sophisticated search options and broader date coverage than most other free case law databases, including Google Scholar. Typically, these “member benefit to lawyers” legal research databases include all federal and state (and D.C.) cases, codes and regulations. And, for some jurisdictions, you might find law reviews, attorney general opinions, and more. The state bar associations of California, Delaware, and Montana do not yet offer this member benefit.  Of the 47 state bar associations that do offer this member benefit, 46 subscribe either to Casemaker or Fastcase. The other state bar association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), offers access to InCite, a customized LexisNexis database created for the PBA. Be sure to visit your bar association’s website and look for a link to one of these databases.

Turning away from “traditional” websites, let’s take a look at other places where lawyers are finding useful legal research, such as blogs/blawgs, Twitter accounts, and apps.

Following the “right” blawgger or tweeter can help you keep up with your area of law without expending much of your own research time. To find a blawgger in your practice area, you can visit Justia’s BlawgSearch site, scan the list of categories, and choose one that fits your practice area or enter keywords into the search box at the top. After you review the list of blawgger results, subscribe to a few and then take some time to decide which ones are worthwhile. Another source for locating useful blawgs is The ABA Journal’s Blawg Directory, arranged by topic, author type (e.g., consultant, judge…), region (by court, state, or country), and law school.

To figure out the best people to follow on Twitter who write about your practice area, visit http://twitter.com/#!/search-home. You can conduct searches there even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Enter keywords describing your practice area (e.g., ski accidents) into the search box to locate millions of individual tweets—from (roughly) the last two weeks. You can also use Twitter’s Advanced Search page to create more sophisticated searches.

Useful legal apps range in price from free (e.g., Nolo's Plain English Law Dictionary for iOS is free but the Droid version is $16.19) to $54.99 (e.g., Black's Law Dictionary). To locate legal apps, review ones recommended in:

• UCLA Law Library’s free Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers: This is an alphabetical-by-title, annotated list of law apps. You can scan the list or better yet, keyword search the list with your Find function (control F for P.C.s or command F for Apple devices) and enter your keywords (e.g., court rules) into the Find search box.
• Tom Mighell’s book, iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers (ABA LPD, 2012). Visit http://linkon.in/ipadappslaw for the print version and http://linkon.in/ipadappslawebook for the e-book.
• Daniel J. Siegel’s book, Android Apps in One Hour for Lawyers (ABA LPD, 2013). ). Visit http://linkon.in/androidappdan  for the print version and http://linkon.in/androidappebook for the e-book.

By taking the time to read this article, you have made a great start at learning about some of the best free and low-cost legal research sources available on the Internet. To learn about many other sites and how to become a sophisticated researcher of those sites, look for our upcoming book, Internet Legal Research on a Budget. Our book will provide you with a high level of control over your searching and lead to better and quicker results.

This article was adapted from the book, “Internet Legal Research on a Budget” by Carole Levitt and Judy Davis (ABA LPD 2014). Reprinted with permission of the American Bar Association. All rights reserved. It also originally appeared on the ABA LP Division Law Practice Today Webzine.

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