According the McKenzie, surfing the net for relevant information for a client's case is becoming more necessary everyday. Many clients are finding this information on their own and don't take it too kindly if they have to point the information out to their attorney. They seem to think that if they found the information so easily, the attorney should have, too. For example, one request McKenzie received, for an obituary from the early part of this century, was not available online and still required conventional research methods. An attorney who has used the Internet only a little is almost more dangerous than an attorney who has not used it at all.
Some attorneys condemn the Internet before they really know how to use it.
They think that because they surfed the Web once and couldn't find anything that there isn't anything to be found. In fact, McKenzie has had to caution those that use the Internet on a limited basis that a search on the Internet using a single search engine does not find everything that is available on the Web. They think that they have found everything. And then will think there is something wrong if they do not find anything. Another problem she has encountered is attorneys and paralegals not being aware of the latest and best search engines to use.