The Key Word is Thinking: Google-Generation Law Students Get Search Logic Lecture from CJ Roberts

Chief Justice John Roberts has issued a warning to law students -- do not rely unthinkingly on Internet sources for legal research. To illustrate his point, CJ Roberts criticized  the use of simple word searches to find "precedents" that have little or no doctrinal connection to the issues at hand.

"There is, I believe, a lot of value in thinking outside the box, but the key word is thinking. ... You cannot think effectively outside the box if you don't know where the box is." -- Chief Justice John Roberts.

In other words, don't "cut and paste analyses right into your briefs." Quoting Westlaw ad copy for one on it's practice library products.

An audio file of Roberts’ speech is available here. You might want to bookmark it for your next legal research lecture. Hat tip to Slaw's Simon Fodden! [JH]