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Research Hack: Google Skills for Litigators

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This post is based on the excellent article Eight Google Skills All Litigators Should Master written by Don MacLeod  and found on the ABA Website here. Below is my take-away from the article. In brief, I actually picked up 12 distinct messages:

Use Domain Restrictors to restrict a search to a particular type of domain (.com, .gov, .edu, etc.): Search term site:[domain] => Lipitor site:.gov

Use Google to Search Within Websites to dig up information faster that the site’s internal search: Search term: URL (skip http://www.) => judges site:wicourts.gov

Find Deleted Information From a site taken down in the last 90 days use Google Cache feature. Obviously this process will not only lead you to information but tell you whether someone has changed or attempted to change their website. To find information on webpages as they existed years ago, run your search on the Wayback Machine – an Internet archive going back to 2006. Also review the Wayback’s FAQs for Lawyers.

Advanced Search Syntax Google does not use classic Boolean search logic but it does have its own rules:

Use “-“ to exclude terms. For instance newt –Gingrich => excludes “Newt Gingrich” from your Google search results briefs –underwear => ensures that you are searching for legal briefs, not underwear websites

Use quotation marks to find only what you want instead of concepts incorporating the root of the word   (i.e. search for “fall” and you’ll find it – search for fall and you will receive answers about “falling” and “falls”)

Use “OR” to search similar terms simultaneously: recipe lasagna OR souvlaki OR hamburgers “class action” suit OR litigation OR lawsuit

Search Specific Parts of a Page Web designers and SEO specialist often put the most valuable information about a site in the meta-data on the title page. Use Advanced Search by clicking on the gear icon and selecting “in the title of the page” from the box labeled “terms appearing.”

Set Up Google Alerts relating to clients, cases, judges, companies, or whatever. Specify subjects at www.google.com/alerts. Use all the syntax controls from Google Search for precision in defining the alerts you want to receive, and then select news, websites, blogs, or all of the above.

Use Date Restrictions – whether setting the date range yourself or using one of the pre-set time periods on the left side of the results page (i.e. today, this week, this month, this year, etc.).

Find Out Who Owns a Website by searching whois [domain name]. For example, to see who owns the domain name www.microsoft.com, simply Google whois www.microsoft.com to retrieve the record.

Define a Word or lookup correct spelling by typing define: [word], as in define: barratry, to pull up the correct spelling and definitions from a range of online dictionaries.


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