Legal Research

Posted by Leslie Street: "The ABA Journal recently featured an article discussing recent problems with some Maryland juries using Wikipedia and Facebook while deliberating in trials.  The comments to the article also feature some commentary about other dangers of citation to Wikipedia in legal research and writing, citing examples of Wikipedia entries being rewritten during cases.  The heightened fears of citation to and reliance on Wikipedia contrasts with at least one co-authored piece, co-written by a student and law clerk, (Murray, Hannah B. and Miller, Jason C., Wikipedia in Court: When and How Citing Wikipedia and Other Consensus Websites is Appropriate (November 10, 2009). St. John's Law Review , Vol. 84, No. 2, (2010) available on SSRN) who believe that citing to Wikipedia is appropriate when relying on "the wisdom of the crowds". However, another student written comment (Amber L. Wagner, Comment: Wikipedia Made Law? The Federal Judicial Citation to Wikipedia, 26 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info L. 229 (2008)) took the opposite view, that Wikipedia should never be cited and goes so far as to propose a rule to ban citation to Wikipedia in judicial opinions because of the ability to manipulate information.

Clearly, the debate about citation to Wikipedia and the use of Wikipedia in courts by judges, clerks, attorneys and jurors is ongoing and many law students are now weighing in on the subject.  What do you think about the future of Wikipedia in the legal research and practice?"