Field Searches
Fields on Westlaw
• Most documents on Westlaw are divided into segments
called fields.
• Field searching adds even more precision to a Terms and
Connectors search.
• The names and number of fields that a document contains
depends on the type of database. A case law database has
different fields than a statute law database. For example,
there is no judge field in a statutory database.
Fields on Westlaw
• Most fields are entered in the search as a two-letter
abbreviation. For example, the abbreviation for the title
field in case law is ti.
• The abbreviation of the field is immediately (no space)
followed by parentheses.
• A Terms and Connectors search within a field is
constructed in the same way as a as search that is not
restricted to a specific field except that the terms are
entered within the parentheses.
di( “probable cause” /p stop! /p car automobile vehicle)
Fields
• Knowing which fields a database contains and what
information is in each field can greatly increase the
efficiency of your search.
• The terms must be in the specified field(s) or the document
will not be retrieved.
• The following slide will show some of the fields in a case
law database and their abbreviations that would be used in
a search.
You can access a Fields
list from the Search page
on westlaw.com.
Case Law Fields
on Westlaw
Fields
Fields
This is the template that
appears when you access the Fields list. You can
use this template or just enter the search directly into the search
text box. These are just some of the fields in a case law database.
Case Law Title Field
• You need to retrieve a case. All you know is that one
party’s name is Bush and the other party’s name is Gore.
• ti(Bush & Gore) requires that both the terms Bush and
Gore appear in the portion of the document that contains
the names of the parties, the title field.
• The & connector can be used here because the field is so
small the two terms will necessarily be close together. The
search would be equally effective if /s or /p had been used
as the connector.
Case Law Synopsis and Digest Fields
• A combination of fields can be searched. Just put a comma
between the fields.
• The sy,di combination field is a favorite of law students
because it searches both the synopsis and the digest fields
in one search and insures that in the cases retrieved the
issue is central to the case.
sy,di(wrongful! /5 terminat! discharg!)
sy,di(“product liability” /p danger! defect! /p airbag)
Case Law Synopsis and Digest Fields
• The headnote and synopsis fields are prepared by West
attorney-editors
– using consistent and current legal terminology
– using descriptive terms instead of proper names
– adding alternative terms for ambiguous, regional or
outdated words
• Examples:
– Tenant is used instead of Mr. Blake or plaintiff
– Aspirin is used instead of Bufferin or Tylenol
– Intoxicated is used instead of tipsy
A headnote and synopsis field search retrieves many online
reporter cases that you would otherwise miss.
Case Law Fields on Westlaw
Title Field
Synopsis Field
Topic Field
Headnote Field
The Digest Field is a combination
of the Topic and Headnote fields.
A Case Law Field Only on Westlaw
Words and Phrases Field
• The Words and Phrases (wp) field is used when you need
to find a judicial definition of a word or phrase in the body
of the case. No documents are retrieved that discuss the
word or phrase without defining it.
• You will first see the definition in a headnote. Jump from
the headnote to the body of the case to see the court’s exact
wording of the definition.
wp(“constructive discharge”)
The Date Restriction Field
• The date restriction (da) field is available in databases in
which the documents are dated, such as case law,
administrative decisions, and journals and law review
databases.
• You can require documents after a date,
before a date, between two dates or on a
specific date.
• The added date (ad) field is
used only to determine when
documents were added to
Westlaw.
Date
Multiple Field Searching in Case Law
• What if you only know that one party’s name is Smith, that
Smith’s attorney’s name is Brown and that the case was
decided after 1990?
• ti(smith) & at(brown) & da(aft 1990) is the focused
search that would retrieve the case (assuming you are in
the correct database).
• Notice the & connectors between the fields. This is an
example of one of the times the & connector must be used.
Without the & connectors, your search would retrieve
documents with Smith in the title field or Brown in the
attorney field or all documents decided after 1990.
Statutory Law Fields
There are not as many fields in a statutory
law database. Most of these fields are not available in
case law databases.
Statutory Law Fields: the Citation,
Prelim and Caption Fields
• The citation (ci) field contains the statute’s citation.
ci(42 +3 198*)
will retrieve the following sections in Title 42:
198 and 1980 to 1989.
• pr,ca is a useful combination of fields in a statutory
database. The pr, or prelim, field is the statute’s heading;
the ca, or caption, field contains the specific title of that
statute.
pr,ca(“title 11” & exemption)
Statutory Fields on Westlaw
Caption Field
Prelim Field
Caption Field
Citation Field
Statutory Law Fields: The Substantive
Document Field
• The substantive document (sd) field contains all the fields
that are not enhanced by West Group attorney-editors (the
“official” segments of the statute).
• The sd field includes the prelim, citation, caption, text, and
credit fields.
• Annotations are not included in the sd field.
Combining Unrestricted Searches and
Field Searches
• Many searches are a combination of unrestricted or freetext searches (words can be found anywhere in the
document) and field searches.
“dying declaration” /p time hour minute second day /p
admiss! inadmissible admit! & ju(jackson)
• This search retrieves cases addressing a dying declaration
and how long it can be asserted before death and be
admissible according to Judge Jackson’s previous
decisions.
Fields
Your Turn
You need cases since 1980 that discuss the Environmental
Protection Agency regulations concerning underground
storage tanks for which Judge Clifford wrote the appellate
decision. Use the Maine Case (ME-CS) database and
construct an effective search using both free text searching
and field searching.
Hint: A case might use the phrase underground gasoline tank
or underground oil tank or underground storage tank.