Legal Research and Filing Flashcards

What is 'Westlaw' used for in legal research?

Answer: Searching case law, statutes, regulations, and other legal materials

Westlaw is a comprehensive online legal research database that provides access to case law, statutes, regulations, law review articles, and other legal materials.

What does 'Shepardizing' a case mean?

Answer: Verifying that a case is still good law using citation research tools

Shepardizing refers to using Shepard's Citations (on LexisNexis) to verify whether a case is still valid law by checking if it has been overruled, distinguished, or criticized.

What is the 'hierarchy of legal authority' in US law?

Answer: Constitutional law > statutes > regulations > case law

In the US legal system, the Constitution is the supreme law, followed by federal and state statutes, then agency regulations, with case law interpreting all of these sources.

What is 'PACER' used for by legal professionals?

Answer: Accessing federal court case records and electronic filings

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is the federal judiciary's online system that provides public access to court dockets and documents from federal district, appellate, and bankruptcy courts.

What is a 'headnote' in a published court opinion?

Answer: A numbered summary of a key legal point from the case

Headnotes are numbered editorial summaries appearing at the beginning of a published court opinion that identify and briefly summarize each legal point addressed in the decision.

What is 'primary authority' in legal research?

Answer: The law itself, including constitutions, statutes, regulations, and court decisions

Primary authority consists of the law itself—constitutions, statutes, regulations, and binding court decisions—as opposed to secondary sources that merely explain or analyze the law.