using shepard’s & keycite effectively
DESCRIPTION
Using Shepard’s & KeyCite effectively. Melissa Sievers Librarian RFK Main Library [email protected] 202-305-8780. Goals. Review legal research concepts, including Headnotes Why we update cases How to use KeyCite and Shepard’s How to use citators to find additional cases - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
USING SHEPARD’S & KEYCITE EFFECTIVELY
Melissa SieversLibrarianRFK Main [email protected]
• Review legal research concepts, including Headnotes
• Why we update cases• How to use KeyCite and Shepard’s• How to use citators to find additional cases• Conclusion
Goals
Legal Research Review
Legal Research Review
Structure of the court systems
There are generally three court levels: Trial court Intermediate appellate court Final appellate court (court of last resort)
Legal Research Review
Precedent/Stare Decisis
Stare Decisis - the doctrine under which courts adhere to precedent on questions of law in order to ensure certainty, consistency, and stability in the administration of justice
After a case has been decided, it can be applied to subsequent cases
Mandatory/Binding Authority – Opinions issued by higher courts in a jurisdiction
Persuasive/Nonbinding Authority – Opinions issued by another jurisdiction or a lower court
Legal Research Review
Headnotes
Headnotes identify areas of law raised in a case Headnotes are compiled by human editors Composed of Topics and Key Numbers
Topic – Highest level heading Key Number – Lower level headings
Digests are indexes of all issues in American law
Legal Research Review
Headnote searching
A more inclusive way to find relevant cases than keyword searching
Find the Key Number that represents the point of law you are researching, then click on that link to get a list of related cases
Questions?
Why Use Citators?
Why Use Citators?
KeyCiting and Shepardizing will give you two important pieces of information:
Is the case still good law or was it overruled? How have other courts treated the case?
Distinguished? (Court decided the legal reasoning did not apply due to materially different facts)
Extensively discussed? Criticized?
Why Use Citators?
KeyCite and Shepard’s are similar tools, but different databases
You should always check both because: Flags may be assigned by editors differently The headnotes assigned to each case may be different,
so searching for more cases may give you different results
The databases use different algorithms, so keyword searches may yield different results
Why Use Citators?
What do they cover? Case law Statutes Federal and state
regulations Agency decisions Constitutional provisions Court rules U.S. patents
Administrative decisions Law review articles Treatises, including
Restatements Some foreign cases and
secondary sources
Why Use Citators?
Our example throughout will be: PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661
United States Supreme Court case in which disabled golfer Casey Martin asserted that the PGA Tour could not lawfully deny him the option to ride in a golf cart between shots. Prior to this case, the PGA Tour required all golfers to walk between shots, and argued that this policy constituted an important aspect of the game of golf. The Supreme Court found for Martin in a 7–2 decision.
KeyCite
KeyCite
KeyCite symbols give you a quick indication of whether a case is still good law.
KeyCite
To KeyCite a case, type keycite or kc in the search box and enter the citation
KeyCite
How the citing case treats Martin.
The depth of treatment, indicating the extent to which the case discusses Martin.
The legal issues for which the case cites Martin, represented by these headnotes.
KeyCite provides various information about the citing references. Negative history and negative citing references
appear first.
KeyCite
Quotation marks mean the citing case quotes Martin.
KeyCite indicates which case is the most negative, although it might not be the most negative for your purposes.
KeyCite
Click “History” to see a graphic of the case’s history.
KeyCite
Click “Citing References” to see all cases and other documents that cite Martin.
Questions?
Shepard’s
Shepard’s
Shepard’s has more detailed symbols
Shepard’s
To Shepardize a case, type shep: and then
enter the case citation.
Shepard’s
Here is the Shepard’s report for the Martin case.
Appellate history is listed first.
Shepard’s
You can click on “Map” to view a graphic of the
case’s history.
Shepard’s
Click on “Citing Decisions” to see a list of cases that
have cited Martin and how those cases treated Martin.
272 cases have cited Martin.
The list of cases is initially
organized by court.
Attorney-editors have
identified possible negative
treatment in other
subsequent cases. Click
“Distinguished by” to view
these 15 cases.
Shepard’sHere is one case that distinguishes Martin.
Carpenter v. Potter cites Martin for the issue
represented by headnote 15, which deals with the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Click the
pincite to see how Carpenter distinguished
Martin.
Shepard’s
Here is some of the text in Carpenter v. Potter discussing
Martin.
Shepard’s
If you want to see other documents that have cited Martin, such as law review articles, click “Other Citing Sources.”
Questions?
Finding More Cases
Finding More Cases
Usually one case cites an earlier case because the later case is trying to resolve an issue similar to one addressed in an earlier case
When searching this way, limit the citing references displayed by headnote You will see cases for your specific legal issue only Use “view text” to see which is the correct headnote
Finding More Cases
In Westlaw Next, go to “Citing
References” and click on “Cases.”
Finding More Cases
Narrow the results by headnote. You can select all cases under a
topic or click “Specify” to choose specific headnotes.
Finding More Cases
In Lexis Advance, click on “Citing Decisions”, then use “Narrow By”
to limit by headnote
Finding More Cases
Click the headnote that addresses your legal issue. If you do not
know which headnote is relevant, you can either click “View text of
headnotes”, or hover over the line for a pop-up.
Finding More Cases
Now you are only viewing the 113 cases
that cite Martin for the legal issue addressed in
headnote 10.
Live Examples
Conclusion
Quiz!
True or False: A red stop sign or flag means the case is bad law. Quotation marks indicate that the citing case directly
quotes your case. A researcher can rely on Shepard’s as the final word
on the precedential value because it’s what judges rely on.
A decision made at the appellate level is mandatory for a lower court to follow.
Quiz!
Short answer: What does a yellow triangle mean in Shepard’s? What do 3 bars in KeyCite mean? If you want to find more cases in KeyCite or Shepard’s,
what do you want to limit by to get a list of cases for your specific legal issue only?
Should you use just KeyCite if you like it better?
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Westlaw 24 hour assistance Research 1-800-386-9378 Technical 1-800-WESTLAW
Lexis 24 hour assistance 1-866-836-8115
Need help? Ask a Librarian!
http://dojnet/jmd/lib/research/askalibrarian.php
Training at DOJ Libraries
Legal Research Series Learn About Legislative History (NYA) – October 9 Administrative Law (NYA) – October 22 Court Dockets, Part 1 (NYA) – October 29 Apps for Legal Research (PHL) – October 30 Court Dockets, Part 2 (online) – November 5 Court Dockets, Part 1 (L St.) – November 13
Final Questions?