Shepardizing in the United States
Introduction
Shepardizing is an important (and, usually, last) step in legal research.
The difficulty in finding applicable legal decisions and the even greater difficulty in exploring cases’ subsequent treatment during the Early Republic period led directly to the creation of the first citator, an early precursor to Shepard’s Citations. (See Patti Ogden, “Mastering the Lawless Science of Our Law”: A Story of Legal Citation Indexes, 85 Law Libr. J. 1, 2-7 (1993)).
Comprehensive topical case research was made possible later in the Nineteenth Century with the advent of the more comprehensive Shepard’s Citations and the national reporter and digest system of John B. West (and some other reporters from other vendors).
Shepard’s was a publisher (now part of LexisNexis) that publishes a series of books called Shepard’s Citations. The books contain lists of citations. By looking up a given citation in the Shepard’s service you can find citations to all the cases (and selected other materials) that reference the original citation. The process of looking up these citations is known as “Shepardizing.”
Shepard’s reports were particularly used for determining if a case is still good law. The editors include “signals” that tell you if a case has been overturned, questioned, etc.
Once upon a time, people Shepardized using books. You can still do this if you have the books available, though fewer and fewer libraries stock them. However, Shepardizing online is easier, faster, more accurate and more up-to-date. You Shepardize online through Lexis.com, through Get & Print (if you know the citation) or through BriefCheck (which pulls the citations from Word documents).
Free (Poor Man’s) “Shepards”
in 2006, Hilyerd wrote that, in “some circles an even lower cost alternative is mentioned for checking to see if a particular opinion is still part of the law of a jurisdiction. This method is known as the ‘poor man’s Shepard’s.’ It consists of using free case law databases such as
LexisOne to determine if the courts in a jurisdiction are still relying on a particular opinion in their newer opinions. This is done by using the name of the opinion the researcher wishes to check as a search term in the database and seeing if new opinions can be located. While this method is available, it is very sloppy research and should only be used if no access is available to other methods.” (Hilyerd, W.A. Education Law Research: Using the Law Library: A Guide for
Educators. Part VI: Working With Judicial Opinions and Other Primary Sources.
35 Journal of Law & Education 67 January 2006.)
Legal Materials
KeyCite on Westlaw – Westlaw offers an alternative citator called KeyCite. KeyCite is a usefully souped-up version of Shepard’s that groups your results by the extent to which they discuss your case.
For a comparison of Shepard’s and KeyCite, see Tobe Liebert’s New Shepard’s v. KeyCite: How Do We Compare? (1999), William L. Taylor’s “Comparing KeyCite and Shepard’s for Completeness, Currency and Accuracy,” 92(2) Law Library Journal 127 (Spring 2000), Diane Murley’s Comparison of Features of Shepard’s on LexisNexis and KeyCite on Westlaw (2006), The Case for Curation: The Relevance of Digest and Citator Results in Westlaw and Lexis (2012) and the New Jersey Law Librarians Association’s Three citators: a brief test (2011).
BCite on Bloomberg Law – Bloomberg Law released a citator called BCIT in 2008 that was renamed “BCite” in 2011. BCite compared unfavorably to Shepard’s and KeyCite in a test discussed in the NJLLA LIB-LOG blog (see Three citators: a brief test).
Makeshift citators – LOIS, Fastcase and Google Scholar each allow you to automatically locate other cases in their database that cite to your case. While these are not comprehensive citators, they do make it easy to find additional cases at no charge.
See Also
Case Pulls
Federal Cases
State Cases
Shepardizing: Open and Free Legal Research of US Law
Federal Primary Materials
The U.S. federal government system consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, each of which creates information that can be the subject of legal research about Shepardizing. This part provides references, in relation to Shepardizing, to the legislative process, the federal judiciary, and the primary sources of federal law (cases, statutes, and regulations).
Federal primary materials about Shepardizing by content types:
Laws and Regulations
US Constitution
Federal Statutory Codes and Legislation
Federal Case Law and Court Materials
U.S. Courts of Appeals
United States courts of appeals, inclouding bankruptcy courts and bankcruptcy appellate panels:
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Connecticut, New York, Vermont)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, California, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming)
- Case law related to Shepardizing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Alabama, Florida, Georgia)
Federal Administrative Materials and Resources
Presidential Materials
Materials that emanate from the President’s lawmaking function include executive orders for officers in departments and agencies and proclamations for announcing ceremonial or commemorative policies. Presidential materials available include:
Executive Materials
Federal Legislative History Materials
Legislative history traces the legislative process of a particular bill (about Shepardizing and other subjects) for the main purpose of determining the legislators’ intent behind the enactment of a law to explain or clarify ambiguities in the language or the perceived meaning of that law (about Shepardizing or other topics), or locating the current status of a bill and monitoring its progress.
State Administrative Materials and Resources
State regulations are rules and procedures promulgated by state agencies (which may apply to Shepardizing and other topics); they are a binding source of law. In addition to promulgating regulations, state administrative boards and agencies often have judicial or quasi-judicial authority and may issue administrative decisions affecting Shepardizing. Finding these decisions can be challenging. In many cases, researchers about Shepardizing should check state agency web sites for their regulations, decisions, forms, and other information of interest.
State rules and regulations are found in codes of regulations and administrative codes (official compilation of all rules and regulations, organized by subject matter). Search here:
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Alabama Administrative Code.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Alaska Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Arizona Administrative Code, Secretary of State's Office.
- Information related to Shepardizing in Arkansas Administrative Rules, Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the California Code of Regulations
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Colorado Code of Regulations and the Online Register, Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Connecticut eRegulations System
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Delaware's Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the D.C. Municipal Regulations and D.C. Register
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Florida Administrative Code and Administrative Register, Department of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Administrative Rules, Lt. Governor of the State of Hawaii.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Idaho Administrative Code, Idaho Office of the Administrative Rules Coordinator.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Administrative Code, Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Indiana Administrative Code.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Iowa Administrative Code (titles) and Shepardizing in the PDF content of rules.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Kansas Administrative Regulations, Kansas Secretary of State (search also Shepardizing here)
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Kentucky Administrative Regulations
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Louisiana Administrative Code, State of Louisiana, Division of Administration
- Information related to Shepardizing in Maine Rules by Department, the Department of the Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), Division of State Documents
- Information related to Shepardizing in Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR), the Massachusetts Court System
- Information related to Shepardizing in Michigan Administrative Code, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Office of Regulatory Reinvention
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Minnesota Administrative Code, Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Mississippi Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Missouri Code of State Regulations, Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Administrative Rules of Montana, Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Nebraska Rules and Regulations, Nebraska Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Nevada Administrative Code, Legislature Law Library
- Information related to Shepardizing in the New Hampshire Administrative Rules, Office of Legislative Services
- Information related to Shepardizing in the New Jersey Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the New Mexico Administrative Code, Commission of Public Records, State Records Center and Archives
- Information related to Shepardizing in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
- Information related to Shepardizing in the North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC), Office of Administrative Hearings
- Information related to Shepardizing in the North Dakota Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Ohio Administrative Code, Legislative Services Commission
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Oklahoma Administrative Code, Oklahoma Secretary of State
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR), Secretary of State
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Pennsylvania Code Online (official publication rules and regulations), Pennsylvania Reference Bureau
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Rhode Island Final Rules and Regulations Database, State Archives. Four rulemaking agencies are not included
- Information related to Shepardizing in the South Carolina Code of Regulations, South Carolina Legislature.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the South Dakota Administrative Rules, Legislative Research Council
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Effective Rules and Regulations of the State of Tennessee (Official Compilation), Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Texas Administrative Code, Secretary of State
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Utah Administrative Code, Utah Department of Administrative Services, Division of Administrative Rules
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Vermont Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Virginia Administrative Code, Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System (LIS)
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC)
- Information related to Shepardizing in the West Virginia Code of State Rules, Secretary of State.
- Information related to Shepardizing in the Wisconsin Administrative Code
- Information related to Shepardizing in Wyoming administrative rules, Secretary of State
State opinions of the Attorney General (official written advisory opinions on issues of state law related to Shepardizing when formerly requested by a designated government officer):
Tools and Forms
Law in Other Regions
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