USING SHEPARD’S & KEYCITE EFFECTIVELY

Melissa SieversLibrarianRFK Main LibraryMelissa.Sievers@usdoj.gov202-305-8780

• 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?