We’ve put together a few
search tips to increase the efficiency of your research.
Search Operator Guide – The ultimate guide for creating on-point searches.
Regional Reporters and Federal Circuits
·
Regional Reporters – The
regional reporters include opinions from the following states:
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Atlantic (A., A.2d) – Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Maine,
Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont
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North Eastern (N.E., N.E.2d) – Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New
York, Ohio
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North Western (N.W., N.W.2d) – Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Wisconsin
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Pacific (P., P.2d, P.3d) – Alaska, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, Wyoming
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Southern (So., So.2d) – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi
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South Eastern (S.E., S.E.2d) – Georgia, N. Carolina, S.
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
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South Western (S.W., S.W.2d, S.W.3d) – Arkansas, Kentucky,
Missouri, Tennessee, Texas
- Federal Circuits – The Federal Circuit Courts hear appeals
from the Federal District Courts in the following states:
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1st Circuit
– Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico
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2nd Circuit – Connecticut, New York, Vermont
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3rd Circuit
– Delaware, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands
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4th Circuit – Maryland, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Virginia,
West Virginia
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5th Circuit – Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
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6th Circuit
– Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio,
Tennessee
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7th Circuit
– Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
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8th Circuit
– Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota
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9th Circuit
– Arizona, California, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Northern Mariana
Islands
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10th Circuit – Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah,
Wyoming
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11th Circuit – Alabama, Florida, Georgia
Shortcut Searches – Certain fields in
VersusLaw documents are tagged, allowing those fields to be searched upon.
These fields are cite (citation), parties (any and all parties), court, docket, dated (the opinion’s decision date), and author (judge rendering the opinion).
- By citation. To search for a specific case using the
opinion’s citation, enter it in the Search Query box using (cite
contains xxx) where the citation is entered in its proper format. For
example, searching in the Supreme Court library for New York Times Co.
v. Sullivan, 84 S. Ct. 710, 376 U.S. 254 (U.S. 03/09/1964), enter (cite
contains 376 U.S. 254) in the Search Query box. The NY Times opinion
will be the only one returned. NOTE: always use parentheses and “contains”
must always be plural.
- By party name. To search for all opinions containing a
specific name, using the same pattern as above, enter the party name using
(parties contains xxx). For example, using our NY Times example
above, to find all opinions in the Supreme Court library where New York
Times is a party, enter (parties contains new york times). This
will return 27 documents if no date range is specified. NOTE: “parties”
and “contains” must always be plural.
- By court. To find opinions on a specific subject and decided in a specific
court, enter a search using (court contains xxx) and subject. For
example, to search for cases involving environmental protection in
Florida’s State Appellate Court, Fourth District, enter (court
contains fourth district) and environmental protection. This search
results in 17 documents if no date range is specified. NOTE: use
parentheses, “contains” must always be plural, and remember that
VersusLaw’s default operator is “adjacent” – the search engine will search
for the phrase “environmental protection” in the search above.
- Other searches. Other Shortcut Searches you might want to
employ using the same formula are: (docket contains xxx) to follow
a specific opinion when the citation may not have been released as yet; (dated
contains month dd, yyyy) – (dated contains May 23, 2002); and (author
contains xxx) to review opinions by a specific judge.
Sort Results (Premium and Professional
Plans)
- Use the Sort function to arrange your
results list by date. Click on Date at the top of the date
column. The first click arranges opinions descending, with the most recent
at the top. The second click arranges opinions ascending, with the oldest
opinion at the top of the list.
- Use the Sort function to arrange your
results list by jurisdiction if you’re searching in more than one library.
Click on Jurisdiction (top left above results list). The
first click arranges the results list alphabetically by jurisdiction; the
second click arranges the results list in reverse alphabetical order by
jurisdiction.
- Use the Sort function to arrange your
results list alphabetically by party name. Click on Description
(top center above results list). The first click arranges the results list
alphabetically; the second click arranges the results list in reverse
alphabetical order.
Narrow Search
- Use the Date Range function to narrow
your search to a particular date range. Fill in the Date Range query boxes
located just below the Search Query box with the appropriate date range.
For example, if you only want to see opinions issued since 2004, enter 01/01/2004
in the Date From box and enter the current date in the Date To query box.
Use the typical mm/dd/yyyy format. NOTE: Leaving the “To” date box
empty will default to 10/10/2010, our infinity date.
Validate Research
- Find whether an opinion has been discussed in
subsequent opinions by entering the citation for the opinion in the Search
Query box. For example, searching in the Supreme Court library and
entering 376 U.S. 254 in the Search Query box will
find all U.S. Supreme Court opinions discussing New York Time Co. v. Sullivan,
84 S. Ct. 710, 376 U.S. 254 (U.S. 03/09/1964). (Hint: if you then sort the list in reverse
chronological order (see Sort Results above), the original opinion will be
at the top of the list.)
Results List Glossary
- The Results List is organized on 3 columns by Jurisdiction
(the library or libraries in which the search was done), Case
Description (the case short name, often including the citation or
docket number and the decision date), and Date (the date the
opinion was decided).
- In some jurisdictions, a set of characters
precedes the opinion’s short name:
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[U] indicates the opinion is unpublished.
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[W] indicates that the opinion has been withdrawn
by the court.
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[T] indicates that the opinion is a table case.