Photo credits: Carlos Alberto Gómez Iñiguez, David Guenther, and Ximena Ibañez on Unsplash
Imagine this: you file a brief that relies heavily on the Washington State Court of Appeals case Bigfoot v. Sasquatch. The facts and holding of Bigfoot essentially mean that your client wins. However, during oral argument the judge pointedly asks you why you are relying on Bigfoot when it was overruled by the Washington Supreme Court in Skunk Ape v. Yeti. You had no idea that Bigfoot was overruled and, as such, have no good counter-argument and ultimately lose the case. This unhappy scenario illustrates the importance of verifying that any authority you rely upon, whether it be a case, statute, or regulation, is still valid. Check out this real life example of how important it is to validate.
As demonstrated above, the question of whether a case, statute, or regulation is "good law" is of utmost importance when you are making legal arguments. Primary authority are no longer considered "good law" when:
So where do you go to determine this information? Enter the citator.
A citator is a research tool that identifies sources that refer to a particular case, statute, or regulation.
Citators have two main functions: validation and research. The validation function helps you determine the current status of a case, statute, or regulation - i.e., whether or not is is still "good law." The research function helps you find other legal materials (cases, statutes, secondary sources, etc.) to help answer your research question. Below are some examples of these functions:
Validation
Research
The two major online citation services are KeyCite (on Westlaw) and Shepard's (on Lexis). A third and more recent addition to the citation service options is Bloomberg Law's BCite. All three of these services use symbols to visually indicate certain things about a case or statute, wuch as whether it has positive or negative subsequent treatment. Note that while Westlaw's KeyCite and Lexis' Shepard's are available for both cases and statutes, Bloomberg's BCite currently only exists for case law.
Details about each platform's citator are discussed in the sections that follow. For additional information about using citators, check out the following CALI lessons (visit the law student restricted databases page if you need the CALI authorization code):
Shepard's is the citation service offered through Lexis. Shepard's relies on a variety of symbols to act as visual cues regarding the status of a cases, statutes, or regulations. Below are explanations of what each symbols means (as set forth by Lexis):
Additional information about Shepard's on Lexis is available in the Shepard's Signal Indicators and Treatments brochure.
KeyCite is the citation service offered through Westlaw. KeyCite relies on a variety of symbols to act as visual cues regarding the status of a case, statute, or regulation. Below are explanations of what each symbols means (as set forth by Westlaw):
Yellow Flag |
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Red Flag |
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Striped Flag |
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Orange Circle |
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For a brief introduction to KeyCite,check out this video:
BCite is Bloomberg Law's citator for case law. BCite's Indicators exist at both the "Composite Analysis" and "Case Analysis" levels. The "Composite Analysis" is a "visual representation of the Direct History and Case Analysis portions of BCite, displaying the overall status of the case." The "Case Analysis" "summarizes the analysis of the main opinion by cases that subsequently cite the opinion." Below are charts outlining the available indicators for each.
For additional instruction on finding court opinions on Bloomberg Law and using BCite, see this page or check out the following tutorial video: