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Google Scholar has a "how cited" but it's not as robust as keycite/shepards and there is a lack of secondary sources.

There isn't much that's free, but I have a sheet somewhere that has much lower cost alternatives. But none work as well as Westlaw.

Do they have law libraries you can join in your area? I know up in New England they do. For instance, here is one in Maine:

http://www.cleaves.org/dyk.htm

For $125 a year, you get unlimited westlaw and lexis

http://www.cleaves.org/services.htm

Also, federal agencies have free westlaw/lexis. For instance, if you walk into the Department of Interior building in DC, you can go into the library and get free access to all their law databases (they have everything, westlaw next, heinonline etc.)

http://www.doi.gov/library/index.cfm

Some of these cost money, but not too much, and some have some version of Shepherds:

FastCase
CaseMaker
Lois Law
Versus Law

Consult your local county court's library... at least here there is a way to get a limited-time free Westlaw access... I have never had to try it so I am not sure what the conditions are.

KeyCite/Shepardizing... I do not think it is possible to get anything like this for free. You could consult legal blogs or LR articles that survey caselaw and tell you if something is bad law, but I have never seen free case taxonomy/indexing systems.

Bloomberg is free for a year after graduation.

Quite a few libraries will provide either westlaw or lexis access for free or for an inexpensive membership fee. Call libraries in your area and ask.

Also, Lexis Advance is only about $50 a month for recent grads.

FastCase is free for members of many state bars, including Illinois, Virginia, etc.

I'm sure a lot of state bars have free services included in the membership.

Y-Combinator-backed start-up:

http://m.techcrunch.com/2013/08/12/yc-b ... -research/

Actual website:
https://www.casetext.com/