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11 J. App. Prac. & Process 191 (2010)
How Courts Use Wikipedia

handle is hein.journals/jappp11 and id is 193 raw text is: THE JOURNAL OF APPELLATE PRACTICE AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS HOW COURTS USE WIKIPEDIA Joseph L. Gerken* I. INTRODUCTION The research for the present article began innocently enough when a law student approached the reference desk and asked, Can I cite Wikipedia in my moot court brieff This author replied, confidently and authoritatively, Of course not. Anybody can edit Wikipedia. Then, in an exercise of caution, the author did a search in the ALLSTATES and ALLFEDS databases of Westlaw.' To his surprise, he retrieved almost 200 opinions in which courts referred to Wikipedia. Since that reference encounter several years ago, the number of cases citing Wikipedia has doubled. * Joseph L. Gerken is a reference librarian at the University at Buffalo Law Library. He practiced law for over twenty years as an advocate for physically and mentally disabled individuals and state prisoners. Mr. Gerken also clerked for Judge William M. Skretny of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He has written a number of articles on issues related to legal research as well as the book What Good is Legislative History? Justice Scalia in the Federal Courts of Appeals (William S. Hein & Co. 2007). 1. The query was simply: Wikipedia! 2. As of May 4, 2010, the opinions in at least 117 state and 326 federal cases include citations to Wikipedia. THE JOURNAL OF APPELLATE PRACTICE AND PROCESS Vol. 11, No. 1 (Spring 2010)

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