Yale Law School

Lillian Goldman Law Library

Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

1
Researching Case Law

Creating an Issue Statement for Research / Search String:

5Ws Plus: Who, What, When, Where, Why, Legal Theory, Relief, Procedural
Posture (use whats appropriate).

TAPP: Things, Actions, People, and Places.

List synonyms and antonyms.
Characterize people and parties (e.g. grandparents instead of grandmother,
nanny, or grandma).
Revise by examining your search results: Are certain words bringing up
irrelevant concepts or cases? Are there terms of art that should be included
in your search string?

Useful Boolean Connectors and Expanders

And Use to connect two different
words or concepts.
President and emergency
or Use to connect synonyms. power or authority
supervision or control
/s Dictates that the words
appear in the same sentences
President /s power

/p Dictates that the words
appear in the same
paragraph
Congress /p policy
/n Dictates that the words
appear within a certain
number of words of one
another.
President /50 authority

! Wild card; use at the end of a
word.
president!= presidential,
president
Use for phrase searching Executive order
* Universal character Dr*nk= drink, drunk, drank
( ) Use parentheticals to dictate
order and keep like concepts
together
(mill or plant or factory)

In the Westlaw Next Search box, you must use adv: or the advanced search options

Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

2



One Good Case Research Method:

With one good case you can find other, on-point authority by
1. Using the Headnotes to find an on-point Topic/Key Number. Topic/Key Numbers
represent a narrow point of law contained in the case. Using the
Headnote/Topic/Key Number will lead you to other cases from all jurisdictions
that share the same narrow point of law.
2. Using the cases and other authority cited by the court by referring to the Table
of Authorities or using the hyperlinks in the case.
3. Use the Citator (Shepards / Citing References/ Bcite) to find additional
authorities.
4. Use the terms and concepts contained in the case to build additional search
strings.

Lexis Advance Headnote:




Westlaw Next Headnote:









Narrow Topics

Topic (Broad)
Brings you directly into the case at that point.
Narrow point of law from the case
Brings you directly into the case at that point.
Topic (Broad)
Key Number: follows the k and corresponds to the narrow issue of law.
Narrow point of
law from the case.

Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

3
Hints for Using Headnotes
Use the narrowest topic (in Lexis Advance) or the Topic and Key Number (in
Westlaw Next) to take you to more cases that share the same, narrow point
of law.
Adjust your jurisdiction.
Receive a list of headnotes from cases (in Westlaw Next) or cases (in Lexis
Advance) that share the same narrow point of law.
Search within the results for a specific keyword/term/concept.

Citating

1. Use a Citator to confirm you have good law and to find more cases.
2. Determining that you have good law is a two-prong analysis:
(a) How have subsequent, other courts treated your case?
(i) Note: depth of treatment
(ii) Note: jurisdiction
(iii) Note: flags/symbols interpret
(b) What happened to your case as it progressed through the system? Overruled?
Affirmed? Remanded? etc.
3. Use a citator to find additional relevant cases because the citator lists all cases that
cite your case. (Shepards / Citing References).

To Citate in Westlaw Next
Citating in Westlaw involves interpreting flags or symbols that are attached to each
case. The most common are



1. Use the History Tab. Review the subsequent appellate history (What happened to
your case subsequent to the decision at hand? Was the judgment affirmed? Was the
judgment reversed? Was an appeal dismissed? Was certiorari denied or granted?).
Direct history is listed on the left.
Previous history is what happened to your case before the decision at
hand (for purposes of citating, its not important but it may provide some
context to the procedural history).
Subsequent history is what happened to your case after the decision at
hand. This is important for determining whether you case is good law.
Graphic in center, right shows all history.

Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

4



Use the drop-down menu to specify previous or subsequent history.

2. Use the Negative Treatment Tab to determine whether any courts in the relevant
jurisdiction (consider: mandatory authority / binding precedent) have said anything
negative about your case as to relevant issue (Did subsequent courts from the
jurisdiction decline to extend? Distinguish? Question?)
Focus on the issues: Use the Headnotes in the column on the right to
determine what issue(s) the case listed is treating your case.
Focus on jurisdiction. Does negative treatment come from a court in
another jurisdiction? Are the decisions from that court binding?
Read the decisions to determine how negative the treatment really is. For
example, distinguished by is considered negative treatment, it doesnt
typically impact the validity of prior cases.



3. Use Citing References to find more on point cases.
Focus on the Headnotes to find the cases that discuss the relevant issues.
Use Search within Results to search for relevant words and concepts
(consult your issue statement).
Filter by Jurisdiction, Depth of Treatment, and Headnote Topics (left)



Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

5

Citating on Lexis Advance
Similar to Westlaw Next.



1. Click the Shepardize button on the right.
2. Review the Appellate History.
3. Review the Citing Decisions.
Narrow by Analysis (how other courts have treated or analyzed your
case)
Narrow by Jurisdiction (to focus on the relevant jurisdiction).
Narrow by or look for relevant Headnotes number to focus on the
relevant issues.

For more on learning to research a legal issue, see Introduction to Legal Research
Handout available on the Small Group website.


Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

6
I. Draft an issue statement for research:

Use 5Ws Plus (Who, What, When, Where, Why, Legal Theory, Jurisdiction, Procedural
Posture) or TAPP (Things, Actions, People, Places) to identify keywords and concepts.

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________


II. Locate Secondary Material:

A. Treatises

Concepts for searching (more general; select the more broad terms/concepts
from your issue statement):

__________________________________________________________________

Find a treatise using the Law Library Treatise Finder:

__________________________________________________________________

Find a treatise using Morris (law library catalog):

__________________________________________________________________

B. ALRs

Concepts for searching (select general and specific concepts from your issue
statement):

__________________________________________________________________

Find an ALR in Lexis Advance or Westlaw Next:

__________________________________________________________________





Yale Law School
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Fifth Hour Legal Research / Fall 2014
JGK rev. 9.14.14

7


C. Law Review Articles

Concepts for searching (more specific; select the more specific terms/concepts
from your issue statement):

__________________________________________________________________

Find a law review article using Google Scholar (Settings / Library Links / Yale
University Library):

__________________________________________________________________

III. Locate Case Law

A. Jurisdiction:
_______________________________________________________________

B. Search Strings:

_______________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

C. Relevant Case(s):

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

D. Topic and Key Numbers:

__________________________________________________________________

E. Citating for good law:

__________________________________________________________________

F. Citating for more cases:

__________________________________________________________________