Quick & Dirty Westlaw For Legal Research for Paralegals Part Two

Part Two: Research!!!

OUR EXAMPLE ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation? NOW WHAT?

TWO SEARCH OPTIONS 1)NATURAL LANGUAGE: Throw a bunch of words together, choose a database, and see what happens! 2)TERMS AND CONNECTORS: Find terms Connect them Choose a database

Terms & Connectors

Creating a Terms and Connectors Search

THE FORM: The Westlaw Search Form takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a search on Westlaw.

Steps in Constructing a Search: ITAC Method

I ssue, T erms, A lternatives, C onnectors

ITAC Method (Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors) Clearly state the ISSUE, using legal terminology when possible. Stating your issue as a question is a good way to clarify your thoughts. Is a social host liable for injuries caused by his intoxicated guests?

ITAC Method (Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors) Select a few key TERMS from your issue. Using three to five key terms works well for most issues host injury intoxicated guest or host intoxicated guest

ITAC Method (Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors) Enter reasonable Alternative terms for your key terms. Use acronyms and antonyms as well as synonyms.

ITAC Method (Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors) A term that may seem to have little relationship to a key term may be a reasonable alternative. The host of a party could be a corporation, an association, or a club. hostintoxicatedguest hostessdrunkattendee corporationD.U.I.invitee associationD.W.I. clubsober

ITAC Method (Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors) Add appropriate Connectors to specify the relationship you want each term and its alternatives to have to the other terms and their alternatives. host hostess /p intoxicated or drunk or alcohol /s guest

Steps in Constructing a Terms and Connectors Search 1)Issue is defined in legal terminology 2)Terms that are essential are selected 3)Alternative terms that are reasonable are selected 4)Connectors that connect the terms in reasonable relationships are added

Step- By-Step

Step One: Issue The Issue Statement

STEP ONE 1.Define your issue carefully. a)State it precisely in one sentence. b)Avoid being narrower or broader than is necessary.

STEP ONE 1.Define your issue carefully. EXAMPLE: you are seeking cases on prayer at public school graduations i.TOO BROAD: “when is religion permitted in public schools” ii.TOO NARROW: “may a student say the Lord’s Prayer at a public school graduation”

Step Two: Terms Finding Key Terms

STEP TWO 2.Circle the key terms in your issue statement. a)Key terms are words most closely related to your issue. b)Exclude words so common that they are likely to turn up in many documents unrelated to your issue. c)ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation?

FIND TERMS: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation? ELIMINATE COMMON: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation? WHAT YOU ARE LEFT WITH: prayer or benediction, school, graduation

WHAT YOU ARE LEFT WITH: prayer or benediction, school, graduation

Step Three: Alternative Terms

Step Three Consider whether alternative terms might appear in a relevant document. For example, if your issue involves an attorney, likely alternatives would be lawyer or counsel Consider synonyms (car/automobile) and antonyms (admissible/inadmissible).

Step Three Consider whether alternative terms might appear in a relevant document. Consider also broader or narrower or related terms (car/vehicle/truck/motorcycle...).

Step Three: Our Example List the alternatives to your key terms in the columns below each key term. OUR EXAMPLE: prayer or benediction or invocation school Graduation or commencement

Expanders (Wildcards): Making the Most of Terms

! Expanders: Making the Most of Terms

The Root Expander (!) The root expander (!) retrieves all extensions of words with variant endings (up to 16 characters). Drunk! Retrieves drunk, drunken, and drunkard.

The Root Expander (!) Be careful not to truncate your root term too severely. Depo! Retrieves not only forms of deposition, but also deposit, depositor, deposited, deport, deportation, etc

* Expanders: Making the Most of Terms

The Universal Character (*) The Universal Character (*) is used in place of a letter (like a wild card or a blank tile in Scrabble). dr*nk retrieves drank, drink, and drunk. EXCEPTION: The universal character cannot be used in place of the first letter of a word.

The Universal Character (*) The universal characters can be used at the end of a term to specify how many letters may be added. Example: object** would retrieve object, objects and objected but not objective.

Expanders: Making the Most of Terms More than one expander can be used in a term. s****holder retrieves both shareholder and stockholder. dr*nk! Retrieves drank, drink, Drunk PLUS

Expanders: Making the Most of Terms dr*nk! Retrieves also drinkable, drinking, drunken, and drunkard.

Terms: Automatic Enhancements The singular form of a word automatically retrieves the plural and possessive forms of the word, including irregular forms. Woman retrieves Women (plural), woman’s (possessive) and women’s (plural possessive)

Terms: Automatic Enhancements The plural or possessive, however, will not retrieve the singular. women or woman’s will not retrieve woman. RULE: Use the singular form of a word unless you have a good reason not to.

Terms: Automatic Enhancements Numbers: Search term 415 retrieves 415.5, 415(b), 415(b)(1)(A).

Terms: Automatic Enhancements USE OF NUMBERS RULE: This is helpful when you are looking for mention of a statute that may or may not be cited as a particular paragraph or section.

Terms: Automatic Equivalencies Most accepted variations of the spelling of a term will retrieve other accepted variations: Judgment = Judgement

Terms: Automatic Equivalencies Automatic equivalencies are built into Westlaw. Three = 3 First = 1st New York = NY Avenue = Ave.

Terms: Other Enhancements Hyphenate compound words in your search. A hyphenated term will retrieve the term whether it is one word, two words, or a hyphenated word. good-will retrieves good will, good-will, or goodwill.

Terms: Other Enhancements RULE: If you have any question whether a word might or might not be hyphenated, add the hyphen.

Terms: Other Enhancements Use periods between the letters an acronym to retrieve all variations of the acronym. Periods between letters Spaces between letters Periods and spaces between the letters No period or spaces between letters

Terms: Other Enhancements E.P.A. retrieves E.P.A, E P A, E. P. A., and EPA

Wildcards in Review Use truncation (!) or the universal character (*) to account for variations of key terms. EXAMPLES: discrim! retrieves discriminate, discriminating, discriminated.... kn*w retrieves know or knew. test*** retrieves test, tested, testing, testify... but not testimony or testamentary

BACK TO OUR EXAMPLE

OUR EXAMPLE Use truncation (!) or the universal character (*) to account for variations of key terms. OUR EXAMPLE: prayer (or pray or praying) or benediction or invocation BECOMES pray! or benediction or invocation school Graduation (or graduating or graduate) BECOMES Graduat! or commencement

Step Four: Connectors

STEP FOUR Use connectors to specify the relationship between key terms.

Primer on Connectors

CONNECTORS Connectors are the way to glue different terms together All the connectors are either a form of OR or AND OR AND & /s /p /n

OR “OR” USE: A space EXAMPLE: car automobile vehicle Means: Find a document that has the terms car OR automobile OR vehicle in it.

AND “AND” USE: & EXAMPLE: narcotic & warrant MEANS: Find a document that has the terms narcotic AND warrant in it

More “And” Connectors

MORE “AND” CONNECTORS TERMS IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH USE: /p EXAMPLE: hearsay /p utterance MEANS: Find a document with with hearsay IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH as utterance

MORE “AND” CONNECTORS TERMS WITHIN THE SAME SENTENCE USE: /s EXAMPLE: warrant /s arrest Arrest warrant Warrant of arrest Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

NUMERICAL CONNECTORS /n Search terms within n terms of each other (where n is a number from 1-255): Queens /2 county Queens County County of Queens

CONNECTORS IN BRIEF RULE: All connectors are either OR or AND OR: OR AND: &, /p, /s, /n The difference with the different ands is how much control you want to use

More…

MORE EXACT PHRASE USE: “[Insert phrase]” EXAMPLE: “Rule against Perpetuity”

Using Connectors Effectively

Effectively Using Connectors HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE CONNECTORS Use the [or] connector between alternative. Use the & connector or its variant forms: /p or /s or /#, (where # is a number, e.g., /2) between your groups of ␣␣ ␣ key terms. When in doubt, start with a grammatical connector (/p or /s).

Effectively Using Connectors HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE CONNECTORS Westlaw processes connectors in this order: Or, /n, /s, /p, &

Filing Out The Form

Setting Up The Form Write these key terms in the Terms boxes at the top of the Westlaw Search Form. a.If two or more key terms both relate to only one aspect of issue, list them vertically, as alternatives. b.EXAMPLE TERMS: i.prayer or benediction ii.school iii.graduation

FILLING OUT THE FORM INSERT THE TERMS HERE

FILLING OUT THE FORM CHECK THE CONNECTORS

BACK TO EXAMPLE ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction be given at a school graduation? TERMS: i.Pray! or benediction or invocation ii.school iii.Graduat! or commencement

BACK TO EXAMPLE Terms Pray! /p school /p Graduat! Alternatives or benedictioncommencement or invocation SEARCH QUERY Pray! Benediction invocation /p school /p graduat! commencement

Last Step: Choosing Databases

DATABASES Now that you have determined the TERMS AND CONNECTORS and have a search query, the question is: Where do you look? In Westlaw, you need to search in databases. Databases are various groupings of documents EXAMPLES: New York Statutes US Supreme Court Decision You get to choose where Westlaw looks

DATABASES WHAT YOU WANTDATABASE New York Cases New York Statutes New York Statutes Annotated US Supreme Court Decisions Search for Database SCT Corpus Juris Secundum Search for Database CJS

NOT THERE?

Not Sure How To Do It? WESTLAW

BONUS

Reading Siegel’s New York Practice on Westlaw

Type “Siegel”