Quick and Dirty
Westlaw For
Legal Research
for Paralegals
Customizing Westlaw
①Go to TABS
②CLICK on “Add Westlaw Tabs”
③Add New York Tab
Doing
Research
on Westlaw
Finding Things
On Westlaw
Finding Things On Westlaw
 You are looking for law
 Two ways to find it:
1) QUICKIES: Retrieve it by the cite;
or
2) RESEARCH: Find it by a query
Quickies
 You can do this if you know the cite
 An attorney asks you to get a copy of:
 CPLR 3211
 People v Price, 14 NY3d 61 (2010)
 You can do the equivalent of getting the
law off of the Westlaw bookshelf: Find by
citation
Quickie 1
 FIND BY CITATION
 Gets a document (case, statute,
secondary source)
 TYPE: 367 US 643
Your Turn 1
 FIND: “384 US 436”
 WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CASE?
Your Turn 2
 FIND: “34 AD3d 1249”
 WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CASE?
Find Statutes
 FIND STATUTES: New York Penal Law
§ 120.00
 In the “Find by Citation” box, type the
statute citation
 FORMULA: <state abbreviation>
<statute title> <section number>
Find Statutes
 FIND STATUTES: New York Penal Law
§ 120.00
 In the “Find by Citation” box, type the
statute citation
 FORMULA: <state abbreviation>
<statute title> <section number>
 TYPE: “ny penal law 120.00"
Your Turn 1
 FIND: New York’s Domestic Relations
Law § 170
Your Turn
 FIND: New York’s CPLR 3211
Quickie 2
 KEYCITE BY CITATION
 Is a case or statute good law?
 Retrieve more recent cases
 TYPE: 367 US 643
You Found The Law!
 Is all law on Westlaw “good law”?
 NO!
 When a case get reversed, it does not
disappear
 When a case gets overruled, it does not
disappear
 When a statute is found unconstitutional,
it does not disappear.
Is This Case Good Law?
 KeyCite: Kopsachilis v 130 East 18
Owners Corp., 43 AD3d 744
 In the “KeyCite this Citation” box,
type the cite: 43 AD3d 744
KeyCite Status Flags
RED FLAG
 the case is no longer good law for at least one
of the points of law it contains.
YELLOW FLAG
 the case has some negative history but has
not been reversed or overruled.
BLUE H
 indicates that the case has some history.
GREEN C
 case has citing references but no direct history
or negative citing references.
THE STAR TREATMENT:
Depth of Treatment Stars
EXAMINED
 The citing document contains an extended
discussion of the cited case or administrative
decision, usually more than a printed page of
text.
DISCUSSED
 The citing document contains a substantial
discussion of the cited case or administrative
decision, usually more than a paragraph but
less than a printed page.
CITED
 The citing document contains some
discussion of the cited case or
administrative decision, usually less than a
paragraph.
MENTIONED
 The citing document contains a brief
reference to the cited case or
administrative decision, usually in a string
citation.
Your Turn To KeyCite 1
 KEYCITE: Rose v Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corp., 53 AD3d 80
Your Turn To KeyCite 2
 KEYCITE: People v Hunter, 41 AD3d
885
Research!!!
OUR EXAMPLE
 ISSUE: May a prayer or benediction
be given at a school graduation?
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
 POWER: Terms and Connectors
searching is the most powerful and
precise way to search Westlaw.
 CONTROL: Using these techniques
allows you to take full control of the
powerful search engines built in to these
systems.
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.
Step One:
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:
Find The
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?
 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?
 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:
Westlaw
Forms
STEP THREE
3. 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
Step Three:
Alternative
Terms
STEP FOUR
4. 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 FOUR
4. Consider whether alternative terms
might appear in a relevant document.
 Consider also broader or narrower or
related terms
(car/vehicle/truck/motorcycle...).
STEP FOUR: OUR EXAMPLE
5. List the alternatives to your key terms
in the columns below each key term.
 OUR EXAMPLE:
i. prayer or benediction or
invocation
ii. school
iii. Graduation or commencement
Step Six:
Use Wildcards!
STEP SIX
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character
(*) to account for variations of key terms.
EXAMPLES:
discrim!
retrieves
kn*w
test***
retrieves
retrieves
discriminate, discriminating,
discriminated....
know or knew.
test, tested, testing, testify...
but not testimony or
testamentary
STEP SIX: OUR EXAMPLE
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character
(*) to account for variations of key terms
*
!
STEP SIX: OUR EXAMPLE
6. Use truncation (!) or the universal character
(*) to account for variations of key terms.
 OUR EXAMPLE:
i.
pray! or benediction or invocation
ii. school
iii. Graduat! or commencement
Step Seven:
Connectors
STEP SEVEN
7. 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
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
EXACT PHRASE
 USE: “[Insert phrase]”
 EXAMPLE: “Rule against Perpetuity”
Step Eight:
Using
Connectors
Effectively
STEP EIGHT
8. 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).
STEP EIGHT
8. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE
CONNECTORS
 Westlaw processes connectors in this
order:
 Or, /n, /s, /p, &
Step Nine:
Filing Out the
Form
FILLING OUT THE FORM
INSERT THE TERMS HERE
FILLING OUT THE FORM
INSERT THE
ALTERNATIVES 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
Alternatives
Terms
Pray!
or
benediction
/p
school
/p
Graduat!
or
commencement
or
invocation
SEARCH
QUERY
Pray! Benediction invocation /p
school /p graduat!
commencement
Step Ten:
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 WANT
DATABASE
New York Cases
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