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Navigating WestLaw for Efficient Legal Research

Learn the organization of WestLaw and improve your navigation skills. Review Supreme Court cases and find relevant information for your research. Understand the federal court structure and different court reporters. Explore legal citations and parallel citations. Perform keyword searches on WestLaw efficiently.

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Navigating WestLaw for Efficient Legal Research

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  1. Provide details on Westlaw (what’s in it) • Review the organization of WestLaw in order to learn how to navigate our way around. • Review and dissect a case from the Supreme Court (become efficient at evaluating the relevance of a case and how to find additional information based on cases)

  2. Federal Court Structure • U. S. Supreme Court • U. S. Court of Appeals • U. S. District Courts • Agency Rulings (FCC, EPA, etc.) • State Courts

  3. Court Reporters • U. S. Supreme Court United States Reports (U.S.), and others • U. S. Court of Appeals Federal Reporter (F. 3d and F. 2d) • U. S. District Courts Federal Supplement (F. Supp) • Agency Rulings (FCC, EPA, etc.)

  4. Legal Citations The basic form of a legal citation is: 438 U.S. 726 Where: 438U.S.726 volume source page Typically, you will also see the name of the case: F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 US 726 (1978)

  5. Legal Citations (cont.) The format will be the same no matter if it is a statute: 18 U.S.C.A. § 1464 (title 18, United States Code Annotated, section 1464) or journal article: 46 FCLJ 267 (volume 46, Federal Communications Law Journal, page 267)

  6. Parallel Citations Parallel citations are multiple citations for the same case, each one pointing to a different source (called reporters). F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation 438 U.S. 726 98 S.Ct. 3026 3 MLR 2553 (United States Reports) (Supreme Court Reporter) (Media Law Reporter)

  7. Parallel Citations (cont.) While each reporter will give the complete decision of the court, those published by private publishers provide additional/editorial materials (added value) in addition to the court decision. F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation 438 U.S. 726 98 S.Ct. 3026 3 MLR 2553 (Government Printing Office) (West Publishing) (BNA) (Official Version) (Private Publisher) (Private Publisher)

  8. Keyword Searching in Westlaw Find federal court cases dealing with the right of a high school to censor its school newspaper

  9. Keyword Searching in Westlaw Find federal court cases dealing with the right of a high school to censor its school newspaper censorship AND “high school newspaper” searching All Federal Cases = 70 Cases

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