Using Key Cite and Shepard's as a validation and research tools
Key Cite and Shepard's as validation tools
As you have found case law on your issue, it is essential to ensure that the cases are still good law. Please note that although a case may have been overruled or overturned, it may have been on a different issue of law than the one for which you are using it. The two fastest ways to check that your case is still good law is online, using either Westlaw’s Key Cite service or Shepard's on Lexis. For more information on using Westlaw’s Key Cite service, click here. For more information on using Lexis’ Shepard's service to verify that your cases are still good law, click here.
Shepard's for Research:
When using Shepard's on Lexis to find more cases, make sure that you have clicked on the option to use Shepard's for Research. This option will retrieve, in Full View, all cases that cite your main case, as well as any additional sources that cite your case. This includes citing references of law reviews, statues, treatises, and ALR annotations to your case, in addition to your case's prior and subsequent history. Additionally, when using Shepard's for Research, you will be provided with a summary of the cases and other secondary sources citing to your case, categorized by the type of treatment given to your case: positive or cautionary analysis, distinguished, etc.
If the Shepard's for Research list is too long to handle, you can filter your results in several ways. You can choose to view only negative analyses (select the "All Neg" link) of your case or only positive analyses (select the "All Pos" link) of your case. You can also use custom restrictions by clicking on the "custom" link at the top of your Shepard's for Research result. From there, you can restrict your results to show only those citing references with the particular analyses, headnotes, or jurisdictions that you wish to review regarding your decision. You can also limit your list by using the Focus feature - just select the Focus feature and enter those terms you wish to search for in the search box, and then select the Focus button. Only those results that include your Focus search terms will then be displayed.
Key Cite as a Research Tool:
Unlike Shepard's, Key Cite does not provide you with a "summary" of citing references to your case. However, it does provide status flags with each of the citing references. These status flags alert you immediately to the status of a case citing your case. Purple quote marks inform you of a citing reference directly quoting your case. You can limit results by viewing particular headnotes, jurisdiction, date, locate terms, document type, or depth of treatment of the citing reference to your case. You can also set up a "Key Cite Alert" to track your case and receive updates of cites to your case on a frequent basis.