Library
Westlaw Campus - Case Law Searching
Searching by litigants
- Upper left-hand corner, under FIND
- If too many results:
- Browse for Supreme Court citations in list of results, i.e., look for “U.S.” , or
- Click Edit Search – Use Date Restrictions or Field Restrictions (year), or
- Click Locate in Result (type in date or other identifying keyword)
Searching by citation
- Upper left-hand corner under FIND
Finding cases and other material related to a specific case or related to a specific legal issue within a case
With a case on the screen, click on:
- Full History - all cases and court documents citing that particular case
- Direct History - traces case history in a graphical format; includes prior & subsequent history
- Citing References - all cases, secondary sources, administrative materials, and court documents that refer to the case or discuss legal issues relevant to the case. Depth of treatment is indicated by number of green stars. Can be overwhelming - see limits at bottom of screen.
- KeyCite This Headnote - clicking on this limits Citing References to those discussing a particular headnote (legal issue)
- Type the name of the case (lochner v. new york) into the Quick Search box using Natural Language, limit search to law reviews, American Jurisprudence, etc.
- Click on a key number in a Headnote
Cases and other material on a general topic
- Type topic into the Quick Search box and limit to law reviews, cases, etc.
- Browse the West Key Number System by clicking on KeySearch on the home page
Good law? Bad law?
Status flags warn you that history is available for your case
A red flag indicates that the case or administrative
decision is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains.
A yellow flag indicates that the case or administrative
decision has some negative history but hasn’t been reversed or overruled.
A blue H indicates that the case or administrative
decision has some history.
A green C indicates that the case or administrative
decision has citing references but no direct or negative indirect history.
Depth of treatment stars
Depth of treatment stars in your KeyCite result show the extent to which the citing case discusses your case, based on these categories:
(Examined)
The citing case contains an extended discussion of the cited case, usually more than a printed page of text.
(Discussed)
The citing case contains a substantial discussion of the cited case, usually more than a paragraph but less than a printed page.-
(Cited)
The citing case contains some discussion of the cited case, usually less than a paragraph. 
(Mentioned)
The citing case contains a brief reference to the cited case, usually in a string citation.
This page maintained by C. Ross. Last updated September 18, 2006.