George Mason University Law Library

Fall 2014

Case reporters

Case reporters Cases are published chronologically in

books called reporters

It is generally not possible to use reporters to do research

West publishes most of the reporters Regional reporters for state cases Federal reporters for federal cases

West Case Reporters Federal

S.Ct. ○ Supreme Court

decisions F., F.2d, F.3d

○ Decisions of U.S. Courts of Appeals

Fed. App’x ○ “Unpublished”

decisions of the Courts of Appeals

F. Supp, F. Supp. 2d ○ U.S. District Courts

(trial courts)

Regional (for states) A., A.2d N.E., N.E.2d N.W., N.W.2d P., P.2d, P.3d S.E., S.E.2d So., So. 2d, So. 3d S.W., S.W.2d, S.W.3d See next slide

Parallel citation Sometimes cases appear in more than

one reporter Then they have a parallel citation:

Thomas v. Commonwealth, 279 Va. 131, 688 S.E.2d 220 (2010)

For open memo, you need to use S.E.

and S.E.2d. For Virginia reporters, check star pagination

at Lexis Advance

Anatomy of a case

Case name

Parallel citation to Virginia Reports

Court presiding Background and holdings written by West editor.

Date decided

Anatomy (cont.)

Headnotes, numbered and labeled with Topic names and Key Numbers.

Anatomy (cont.)

Attorneys appearing in the case.

Judge who authored opinion.

Court’s opinion.

What can you cite?

The text of the Judge’s opinion only!

Not: Summary Background Headnotes Syllabus Etc.

Star Pagination Cases are published electronically.

WestlawNext Lexis Advance Bloomberg Law Other specialty services (E.g., Fastcase)

But Bluebook still assumes that you are looking at and citing to the books.

Use star pagination to figure out what the page numbers are in the books.

WestlawNext star pagination

Lexis Advance star pagination

Choose the reporter

Lexis Advance (cont.)

Digests

Using a digest to find cases

Digests Topic + key number ○ E.g., Criminal Law k. 778 (Presumptions and Burden

of Proof) Each section (key number) has summaries of

cases discussing that point of law

Digests are arranged like Legal Encyclopedias ○ Many volumes divided alphabetically by Topic ○ Each topic divided into sections (called keys) ○ Index volumes (“descriptive word index”)

Digests online at Westlaw

Topic and key number system

Link from a good headnote using the topic and keynumber system to find more cases

Topic is “jury”

Key number is 131(4) re Extent of examination

Headnote number is 16.

Extent of examination is the “title” or “label” of key number 131 (4).

Or, Browse the Digest

This is the list of West topics. It has more than 400 topics. You can click on a topic to see the next level of that topic’s outline. You can search the headnotes from the search bar.

Full-text searching for cases

Full-text searching Find cases by searching the full text

Terms & Connector/Advanced Natural language/Plain language

Can limit a little before search Jurisdiction

Can heavily post-search filter Date Court Additional Terms

First, remember to brainstorm for keywords & consider jurisdiction

Who, What, When, Where, How

TARP Thing or subject matter Cause of Action or ground of defense Relief sought Parties involved

When you get your results Filter your results after the search

Revise

Edit search, or Search Within, as needed

Once you find a good case, then use the digest system to find more like it

Take notes, highlight, folder, etc. cases that you think you will use

Westlaw and Lexis Tools Headnote view

Research Tools

Folders Highlighting Taking Notes Example: 279 Va. 131

History

25

CALI Lessons

Anatomy of a case http://www.cali.org/lesson/834

How to find case law using the digests

http://www.cali.org/lesson/588

Introduction to Search Logic & Strategies http://www.cali.org/lesson/1121