Rich Leiter has done pioneering research into citation analysis tools – indeed some of his ideas can be seen in legal research services like Fastcase and Fastcase 50 honoree Jake Heller’s service Casetext. In particular, Rich wondered: is there a superset of cases that have been cited frequently by law review articles, and could you use those citation relationships to give special weight to certain opinions in legal research? (Now you can filter for law review authoritativeness in both services.) For years, he was the co-host of the podcast Law Librarian Conversations. Rich has deep experience in law and authority – he’s been a law librarian for almost 30 years, and his book, National Survey of State Laws, is like a Rosetta Stone for 50-state surveys, comparing state laws across many different topics.
Richard Leiter
Director and Professor of Law at the Schmid Law Library, University of Nebraska College of Law