Introduction to Online Legal Research  (Westlaw and Lexis)
Professor Callister


Session: Fall - Spring
Working with databases with tables of contents.Using clip and alert services to stay current.Keeping track of your searches.Practice problems for the Fall Session of Westlaw and Lexis instruction.
Segment and restricted field searching.Natural language search on both Lexis and Westlaw.How to find similar documents using Lexis More Like This searching.How to searcher for similar cases using West Key Numbers.How to check status with Shepards and KeyCite.
Lexis: Shepard's Citation Service
Introduction		  
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Laws phase of research cycle--citation analysisYou have now entered the last phase of the research cycle--citation analysis.  Citation analysis consists of tools for checking how often and in what way something is cited.  In the legal profession, Shepard's has become synonymous with citation analysis.  Lexis has acquired the rights to use Shepard's citation services with its online product.

Whenever any case is viewed, there may be various icon signs or flags indicating the case's status with respect to subsequent case law:
 

 
Negative treatment.  The case could be overruled or reversed.  The negative treatment may only be to a part of the decision.
Caution.  The precedent has been limited or criticized.
Positive subsequent treatment.
Neutral treatment.
Case not Shepardized.

For example, suppose you retrieve the 1889 U.S. Supreme Court case, Davis v. Beason.  The case deals with the constitutionality of voting registration oaths forbidding the right to vote or run for office to persons who either practiced polygamy or bigamy or who belonged to an organization that had advocated such practice.  In Davis v. Beason, an Idaho statute criminalizing the violation of such an oath was held to be constitutional. 

Immediately, the stop sign warns that there is a problem with the case.  Either click the stop sign or the "Shepardize" link near the top of the case.

© 2002, Paul D. Callister