WHAT IS A CASE?

WHERE DO I FIND CASES?

EDITORIAL ENHANCEMENTS

WHICH CASES SHOULD I READ?

WHAT IS A CASE?

When lawyers and law professors refer to "cases," they typically mean the written opinions of appellate court judges. Although "the law" includes cases, statutes, administrative rules and decisions, local ordinances and other documents, most of your law school education will involve studying appellate court decisions. Opinions from appeals courts can be crucial to under standing a given legal issue because such opinions are binding on lower courts deciding similar issues in the future. Accordingly, appellate court opinions are usually published in print, online or both.

WHERE DO I FIND CASES?

The National Reporter System®

Published cases can be found in the volumes of West’s National Reporter System. This system consists of three main subdivisions:

state court reporters, divided into seven regional reporter series (e.g., North Western Reporter®)

federal court reporters—Federal Supplement® (primarily U.S. district courts), Federal Reporter® (U.S. courts of appeals) and Supreme Court Reporter® (U.S. Supreme Court)

special federal court reporters—Bankruptcy Reporter® Federal Rules Decisions®, Military Justice Reporter®, Federal Claims Reporter™ and Veterans Appeals Reporter™

Westlaw®

Any case published in West reporters (as well as many that aren’t) can be retrieved on Westlaw, the computer-assisted legal research service from West. Cases appear on Westlaw within days, and sometimes hours, of their release by the courts. Use the online Westlaw Directory to learn which materials are available.

If you know the citation of a relevant case (typically consisting of the volume and page numbers and the abbreviated name of the print reporter, e.g., 911 P.2d 376), you can enter the citation and retrieve the case.

A published case retrieved on Westlaw will include all editorial enhancements, such as the headnotes and synopsis, that would appear with the opinion in a print reporter. In addition, Westlaw provides the page numbers used in the print reporter, as well as the precise locations of the page breaks.

EDITORIAL ENHANCEMENTS

Cases reported in West’s National Reporter System or on Westlaw feature several "editorial enhancements" created by West attorney-editors. Editorial enhancements typically include

a synopsis—a paragraph-length summary of the facts, procedural posture and main holding(s) of an opinion

headnotes—sentence-length summaries, each condensing a point of law discussed in the case

key number classifications—assignment of each point of law to one or more West topics, subtopics and classification numbers (key numbers). You can use these topics and key numbers in West digests to find other cases discussing similar points of law

WHICH CASES SHOULD I READ?

The law student rarely needs to ask this question: your professor and casebook editors have already determined which cases you need to study in order to pass your law school exams.

In the law office (including law school clinical programs and clerkships), however, it is a different story. It is likely no one will identify the cases you need to read. You will probably be given only a fact situation (and, if you’re lucky, a legal issue). It will then be up to you to separate the handful of relevant cases from the hundreds of thousands of irrelevant ones.

Getting Started

Unless you are already familiar with the area(s) of law that pertain to your issue, you will need background information before you start searching for cases. The followingsecondary sources are ideal for quickly familiarizing yourself with a topic.

Legal Encyclopedias and Annotated Law Reports

You might start with a multi volume legal encyclopedia such as American Jurisprudence 2d(Am Jur® 2d) or Corpus Juris Secundum® (CJS®). These publications cover the entire body of American law. They also cite a large number of published cases supporting a given point of law, and they are updated annually. CJS, in addition, provides West topics and key numbers that you can use in case digests published by West (see below).

American Law Reports (ALR®) contains cases followed by exhaustive "annotations": encyclopedic essays on the general topic discussed in each case. These annotations contain many citations to cases and secondary materials. ALR is updated annually with supplementary inserts.

Law Student Texts

Nutshells—For general exposure to a topic, use an easy-to-read condensed text such as one of West’s Nutshell Series®.

Hornbooks—For a more detailed treatment of the subject, including suggested Westlaw queries, go to one of West’s Hornbook Series® such as Prosser and Keeton’s Hornbook on Torts, 5th ed. or Friedenthal, Kane and Miller’s Hornbook on Civil Procedure, 3rd ed.

Concepts and Insights—The new Concepts and Insights Series provides concise conceptual insights into areas of the law crucial to the understanding of a topic.

Not only do these secondary materials give you the background you need to research primary authority (like case reporters) effectively, but they are also a good initial source of citations to relevant cases, statutes and other materials.

Key Number Digests

Key number digests are compilations of headnotes created by West attorney-editors. The headnotes are assigned West topic headings and key numbers from the West Key Number System®, West’s outline of American law, and printed in a digest, a comprehensive collection of headnotes.

If you have a relevant topic or key number, or you know what legal terms and concepts courts have used when discussing your issue, you can conduct an exhaustive search in West’s key number digests for published opinions discussing points of law touching on your issue. A detail of West’s® Federal Practice Digest® 4th is shown at right.

Westlaw

You can also use Westlaw as you would the digest outline: look for topics and key numbers by using the Key Number Center, which contains a comprehensive outline you can expand or contract as necessary. You can then search for cases containing one or more specific topics or key numbers. In the alternative, you can search for cases containing certain key terms. See the print publication Discovering Westlaw for details.

Westlaw is available through WestMate® software or on the World Wide Web at lawschool.westlaw.com.