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:

§ Atlantic (A., A.2d) – Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont

§ North Eastern (N.E., N.E.2d) – Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio

§ North Western (N.W., N.W.2d) – Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Wisconsin

§ Pacific (P., P.2d, P.3d) – Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

§ Southern (So., So.2d) – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi

§ South Eastern (S.E., S.E.2d) – Georgia, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

§ 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:

§ 1^st Circuit – Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico

§ 2^nd Circuit – Connecticut, New York, Vermont

§ 3^rd Circuit – Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands

§ 4^th Circuit – Maryland, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

§ 5^th Circuit – Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas

§ 6^th Circuit – Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee

§ 7^th Circuit – Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin

§ 8^th Circuit – Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota

§ 9^th Circuit – Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

§ 10^th Circuit – Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming

§ 11^th 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:

§ [U] indicates the opinion is unpublished.

§ [W] indicates that the opinion has been withdrawn by the court.

§ [T] indicates that the opinion is a table case.