quick and dirty westlaw for legal research for paralegals
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Quick and Dirty Westlaw For Legal
Research for Paralegals
Customizing Westlaw
① Go to TABS
② CLICK on “Add Westlaw Tabs”
③ Add New York Tab
Doing Research on
Westlaw
Finding Things On Westlaw
Finding Things On Westlaw
You are looking for law
Two ways to find it:
1) QUICKIES: Retrieve it by the cite; or
2) RESEARCH: Find it by a query
Quickies
You can do this if you know the cite
An attorney asks you to get a copy of:
CPLR 3211
People v Price, 14 NY3d 61 (2010)
You can do the equivalent of getting the law off of the Westlaw bookshelf: Find by citation
Quickie 1
FIND BY CITATION
Gets a document (case, statute, secondary source)
TYPE: 367 US 643
Your Turn 1
FIND: “384 US 436”
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CASE?
Your Turn 2
FIND: “34 AD3d 1249”
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CASE?
Find Statutes
FIND STATUTES: New York Penal Law § 120.00
In the “Find by Citation” box, type the statute citation
FORMULA: <state abbreviation> <statute title> <section number>
Find Statutes
FIND STATUTES: New York Penal Law § 120.00
In the “Find by Citation” box, type the statute citation
FORMULA: <state abbreviation> <statute title> <section number>
TYPE: “ny penal law 120.00"
Your Turn 1
FIND: New York’s Domestic Relations Law § 170
Your Turn
FIND: New York’s CPLR 3211
Quickie 2
KEYCITE BY CITATION
Is a case or statute good law?
Retrieve more recent cases
TYPE: 367 US 643
You Found The Law!
Is all law on Westlaw “good law”?
NO!
When a case get reversed, it does not disappear
When a case gets overruled, it does not disappear
When a statute is found unconstitutional, it does not disappear.
Is This Case Good Law?
KeyCite: Kopsachilis v 130 East 18 Owners Corp., 43 AD3d 744
In the “KeyCite this Citation” box, type the cite: 43 AD3d 744
KeyCite Status Flags
RED FLAG
the case is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains.
YELLOW FLAG
the case has some negative history but has not been reversed or overruled.
BLUE H
indicates that the case has some history.
GREEN C
case has citing references but no direct history or negative citing references.
THE STAR TREATMENT: Depth of Treatment Stars
EXAMINED
The citing document contains an extended discussion of the cited case or administrative decision, usually more than a printed page of text.
DISCUSSED
The citing document contains a substantial discussion of the cited case or administrative decision, usually more than a paragraph but less than a printed page.
CITED
The citing document contains some discussion of the cited case or administrative decision, usually less than a paragraph.
MENTIONED
The citing document contains a brief reference to the cited case or administrative decision, usually in a string citation.
Your Turn To KeyCite 1
KEYCITE: Rose v Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 53 AD3d 80
Your Turn To KeyCite 2
KEYCITE: People v Hunter, 41 AD3d 885
Research!!!
OUR EXAMPLE
ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction
be given at a school graduation?
TWO SEARCH OPTIONS
1) NATURAL LANGUAGE:
Throw a bunch of words together,
choose a database, and
see what happens!
2) TERMS AND CONNECTORS:
Find terms
Connect them
Choose a database
Terms & Connectors
CREATING A TERMS AND CONNECTORS SEARCH
POWER: Terms and Connectors searching is the most powerful and precise way to search Westlaw.
CONTROL: Using these techniques allows you to take full control of the powerful search engines built in to these systems.
CREATING A TERMS AND CONNECTORS SEARCH
THE FORM: The Westlaw Search Form takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a search on Westlaw.
Step One: The Issue Statement
STEP ONE
1. Define your issue carefully.
a) State it precisely in one sentence.
b) Avoid being narrower or broader than is necessary.
STEP ONE
1. Define your issue carefully.
EXAMPLE: you are seeking cases on prayer at public school graduations
i. TOO BROAD: “when is religion permitted in public schools”
ii. TOO NARROW: “may a student say the Lord’s Prayer at a public school graduation”
Step Two: Find The Key Terms
STEP TWO
2. Circle the key terms in your issue statement.
a) Key terms are words most closely related to your issue.
b) Exclude words so common that they are likely to turn up in many documents unrelated to your issue.
c) ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
FIND TERMS: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
FIND TERMS: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
ELIMINATE COMMON: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
FIND TERMS: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
ELIMINATE COMMON: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
WHAT YOU ARE LEFT WITH: prayer or benediction, school, graduation
WHAT YOU ARE LEFT WITH:
prayer or benediction,
school,
graduation
Step Three: Westlaw Forms
STEP THREE
3. Write these key terms in the Terms boxes at the top of the Westlaw Search Form.
a. If two or more key terms both relate to only one aspect of issue, list them vertically, as alternatives.
b. EXAMPLE TERMS:
i. prayer or benediction
ii. school
iii. graduation
Step Three: Alternative
Terms
STEP FOUR
4. Consider whether alternative terms might appear in a relevant document.
For example, if your issue involves an attorney, likely alternatives would be lawyer or counsel
Consider synonyms (car/automobile) and antonyms (admissible/inadmissible).
STEP FOUR
4. Consider whether alternative terms might appear in a relevant document.
Consider also broader or narrower or related terms (car/vehicle/truck/motorcycle...).
STEP FOUR: OUR EXAMPLE
5. List the alternatives to your key terms in the columns below each key term.
OUR EXAMPLE:
i. prayer or benediction or invocation
ii. school
iii. Graduation or commencement
Step Six: Use Wildcards!
STEP SIX
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character (*) to account for variations of key terms.
EXAMPLES:
discrim! retrieves discriminate, discriminating, discriminated....
kn*w retrieves know or knew.
test*** retrieves test, tested, testing, testify... but not testimony or testamentary
STEP SIX: OUR EXAMPLE
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character (*) to account for variations of key terms
* !
STEP SIX: OUR EXAMPLE
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character (*) to account for variations of key terms.
OUR EXAMPLE:
i. pray! or benediction or invocation
ii. school
iii. Graduat! or commencement
Step Seven: Connectors
STEP SEVEN
7. Use connectors to specify the relationship between key terms.
Primer on Connectors
CONNECTORS
Connectors are the way to glue different terms together
All the connectors are either a form of OR or AND
OR
AND
• &• /s• /p• /n
OR
“OR”
USE: A space
EXAMPLE: car automobile vehicle
Means: Find a document that has the terms car OR automobile OR vehicle in it.
AND
“AND”
USE: &
EXAMPLE: narcotic & warrant
MEANS: Find a document that has the terms narcotic AND warrant in it
MORE “AND” CONNECTORS
TERMS IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH
USE: /p
EXAMPLE: hearsay /p utterance
MEANS: Find a document with with hearsay IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH as utterance
MORE “AND” CONNECTORS
TERMS WITHIN THE SAME SENTENCE
USE: /s
EXAMPLE: warrant /s arrest
Arrest warrant
Warrant of arrest
Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
NUMERICAL CONNECTORS
/n
Search terms within n terms of each other (where n is a number from 1-255):
Queens /2 county
Queens County
County of Queens
CONNECTORS IN BRIEF
RULE: All connectors are either OR or AND
OR:
OR
AND:
&, /p, /s, /n
The difference with the different ands is how much control you want to use
MORE
EXACT PHRASE
USE: “[Insert phrase]”
EXAMPLE: “Rule against Perpetuity”
Step Eight: Using
Connectors Effectively
STEP EIGHT
8. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE CONNECTORS
Use the [or] connector between alternative.
Use the & connector or its variant forms: /p or /s or /#, (where # is a number, e.g., /2) between your groups of ␣␣ ␣key terms. When in doubt, start with a grammatical connector (/p or /s).
STEP EIGHT
8. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE CONNECTORS
Westlaw processes connectors in this order:
Or, /n, /s, /p, &
Step Nine: Filing Out the
Form
FILLING OUT THE FORM
INSERT THE TERMS HERE
FILLING OUT THE FORM
INSERT THE ALTERNATIVES HERE
FILLING OUT THE FORM
CHECK THE CONNECTORS
BACK TO EXAMPLE
ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?
TERMS:
i. Pray! or benediction or invocation
ii. school
iii. Graduat! or commencement
BACK TO EXAMPLE
Terms Pray!/p
school/p
Graduat!
Alternatives
or or
benediction commencementor
invocation
SEARCH QUERY
Pray! Benediction invocation /p school /p graduat! commencement
Step Ten: Choosing
Databases
DATABASES
Now that you have determined the TERMS AND CONNECTORS and have a search query, the question is: Where do you look?
In Westlaw, you need to search in databases.
Databases are various groupings of documents
EXAMPLES:
New York Statutes US Supreme Court Decision
You get to choose where Westlaw looks
DATABASES
WHAT YOU WANT DATABASE
New York Cases New York Cases
New York StatutesNew York Statutes Annotated
US Supreme Court Decisions
Search for DatabaseSCT
Corpus Juris SecundumSearch for DatabaseCJS
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