Terms and ConnectorsSearching

June 3, 2010

Terms and Connectors Searching on Westlaw®

...is based on Boolean logic developed from the theories of

19th century mathematician George Boole. You’ll often hear a

Terms and Connectors search called a Boolean search.

The Searcher’s Quandry

• Relevancy vs. Precision

• You want to retrieve every relevant document

• You want no irrelevant documents in your search results

• With professional searching, you will err on the side of relevancy

HYPOTHETICAL

For our purposes let’s assume you want to retrieve all cases in a database that address

Jones held a St. Patrick’s Day party at his house and invited several friends. One of his friends, Tom, drank too much green beer before leaving the party. Unfortunately he drove. On his way home, Tom hit another vehicle injuring the driver. Even more unfortunate—Tom had no auto insurance. Victim wants to sue Jones.

Steps in Constructing a Search:ITAC Method

(Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors)

1. Clearly state the ISSUE, using legal terminology when possible.

(Stating your issue as a question is a good way to clarify your thoughts.)

Issue

Is a social host liable for injuries caused by his intoxicated guests?

Steps in Constructing a Search:ITAC Method

Terms:Identify 3-5 concepts/terms in your issue

Alternatives:List synonyms

ConnectorsAnd, or, /p /s /n

• Get into the habit of placing your key words in a horizontal line in your mind, if not actually on paper.

• Under each key word add any word that is a reasonable

alternative.

• You can probably think of additional alternatives for the exercise but right now, let’s keep this exercise simple.

host intoxicated guesthostess drunk

alcohol

Terms

Steps in Constructing a Search:ITAC Method

3. Enter reasonable ALTERNATIVE terms for your key terms.

(Use acronyms and antonyms as well as synonyms.)

• A term that may seem to have little relationship to a key term may be a reasonable alternative. The host of a party could be a corporation, an association, or a club.

host intoxicated guesthostess drunk attendeecorporation D.U.I inviteeassociation D.W.I.club sober

Steps in Constructing a Search:ITAC Method

4. Add appropriate CONNECTORS to specify the relationship you want each term and its alternatives to have to the other terms and

their alternatives. Remember you can control the order of processing through the use of

parentheses.

Connectors

(host or hostess) /p (intoxicated or drunk or alcohol) /s guest

Full Text SearchField Searches

• Fields—Restrict areas of document or time limits that are searched

Your Turn

Hypos—Actual Cases

A U.S. Supreme Court involving movie studies suing a company for copyright infringement that distributed free software that allows computer users to share electronic files through peer-to-peer networks. Decided sometime in the past 5 years

Answer

• METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. ET AL. v.

• GROKSTER, LTD., ET AL.

• Can a police officer search a parolee without any suspicion under the 4th Amendment?

Answer

• Samson v. California

• A California appellate court case involving a couple who lived together for approximately 20 years in which wife was seeking money for improvement in husband’s business over that time. The business had something to do with the Mag Light.

Answer

•Maglica v. Maglica, 66 Cal. App. 4th 442, 454 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998)

Secondary Sources

• Definition: Sources that describe and/or explain the law.

NOT the law itself—but an important research tool.

Secondary Sources--Examples

• General/National– A.L.R. American Law Reports– Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)– Practice Books/ Treatises– Law Reviews/Periodicals

• Review Westlaw Tab and identify Secondary Sources

California Secondary Sources

• View California Tab– View California Directory

• Review Directory

Popular California Secondary Sources

• Witkin– Summary of California Law– Procedure– Criminal Law & Procedure– Evidence

• California Jurisprudence

• Practice books/treatises (Rutter, CEB etc.)

• Jury Instructions

Witkin Series

• Searchable Features– Index– Table of Contents– Table of Cases Cited– Tables of statutes/constitutions cited– Full-text--multibase

California Jurisprudence

• Same directory– Find by citation– Table of contents– Full text search

– Example• Act of God section 1

Key Cite

• Citator

• West answer to Shepards

What Is a Citator?

A citator is a tool that shows when and how a particular legal authority has been cited.

It gives you quantitative information (the number of citing references) and qualitative information (the kind of treatment a particular legal authority has received).

Purposes of a Citator

1. For validation: to determine that a case, statute, regulation, or administrative decision is still good law and therefore can be used as the basis of your legal argument.

2. For research: to get citations to other relevant cases, administrative decisions, or secondary sources to support your legal argument.

How to Use a Citator

• Direct History(prior and subsequent history of your legal authority)

• Was your case appealed? Was it affirmed, reversed, remanded?• Is your statute reversed, amended, affected by a pending

legislation?

• Indirect History (or Citing References)(listing of other cases and secondary sources that cite to your legal authority)

• Did a later case overrule, criticize, or distinguish your case?• Are there cases and secondary sources that cite your case?

• Parallel Citations

Example

Armendariz Case: 80 Cal.Rptr.2d 255

Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center,23 Cal.3d 899, 592 P.2d 341, 153 Cal.Rptr. 854, (1979)

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537

Go to Westlaw

In-class Exercise

You represent a client in New Jersey who wants to develop and sell a new line of vitamins. Your client wants to sell them, not through retail stores, but through a multi-level distribution plan. Is this legal in New Jersey? (Ignore any applicable federal laws).

Shepardize or KeyCite this case:

Kugler v. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., 293 A.2d 682 (N.J. Super. Ct. Ch. 1972).

• Is Kugler still good law? • Select 3-4 cases you would read first. Explain your choices.• You are interested in finding cases from any jurisdiction that

mentions pyramid distribution or sales systems, or says fraud can take place even though the victim has not in fact been misled or deceived by the unlawful practice. Explain how you restricted your citator results.

Statutes, Regulations, and Secondary Sources

Citators for statutes typically include:

– Updating documents (e.g., recently passed public laws)– Pending legislation (that may affect the statute)– Historical and statutory notes that describe the legislative

changes that affected the statute

Graphic symbols for statutes:

– Red symbol – recently amended, repealed, ruled unconstitutional, or otherwise preempted

– Yellow symbol – pending legislation, renumbered or transferred, or validity is otherwise called into doubt

Example

• 18 U.S.C.A. § 922

• 8 USCA 1101

• 42 U.S.C.A. § 13981

How Current Are Online Citators?

• KeyCite• Direct History is added within 1-4 hours of receipt of a case.• Overrulings are identified by the editors within 24 hours of

receipt.• Citing cases are listed as soon as the cases are added to

Westlaw.

• Shepard’s• Updated everyday, including weekends and holidays.• All editorial analysis are added within 24-48 hours of receipt of

the case.

Concluding Remarks

• Use a citator as a finding tool early in the research process.

• Always verify the validity of any legal authority that you rely on.

• Do not depend solely on the flags, signals, or graphical symbols; you must read the authority to see if the negative treatment relates to the point of law that you’re relying on.