Legal Support Legal Research and Filing

Question 1

What is 'Westlaw' used for in legal research?

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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

Question 2

What does 'Shepardizing' a case mean?

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Constitutional law > statutes > regulations > case law

Answer

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.

Question 4

What is 'PACER' used for by legal professionals?

Accepted Answer

Accessing federal court case records and electronic filings

Answer

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.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

A numbered summary of a key legal point from the case

Answer

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.

Legal Support Practice Test

Legal Support Practice Test

Legal Support Legal Research and Filing