Comm 325: Media Law – Library Resource Guide

FINDING FEDERAL & STATE CASES AND LEGAL PRECEDENT

Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis)

Intro: Shepards United States Citations lists relevant cases/materials that occur after a case decision is handed down from the courts and that have a direct bearing on that particular statute or case. It lists all subsequent cases that cite the subject case. It also tells whether a case has been followed or overruled, which is the most critical notation.

Shepardizing serves two purposes: (1) to determine the case or statute's current validity and (2) to find more similar cases. Most of the time Shepards will indicate whether a case is "still good law."

To access Academic Universe (LexisNexis):

-         From the Library Homepage  http://library.uwsp.edu/

-         Click on “Article Databases by Subject”

-         Click on “Communication”

-         Click on “Academic Universe (Lexis Nexis)” from the list

-         This will take you directly to the database and search interface in Lexis Nexis

Searching Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis):

-         From here, click on the “Legal” tab on the top of the page

-         Click on “Federal & State Cases” on the left hand side of the page

-         If you have the case name (e.g., A&M Records v. Napster, Inc.) you can enter one or both names in the field box marked “Case Name.” Alternatively, you can enter the citation number if you have that information

-         If you don’t have the case name or citation number, you can always do a natural language search using keywords to retrieve relevant cases to your query or research (e.g., “copyright infringement” and music).

 Result List

-         Scan the list of results from your search for the case you entered

-         This can be confusing because there may be a number of results with the same name (appeals, lower court decisions, motions, etc.)

-         Even a more recent opinion of a case should make reference to previous decisions or the original case that was entered

-         Click on one of the cases to review the case law.

 Shepardizing a Case

-         From the original federal or state case, you can either click on the “next step” drop down menu at the top right of the page and choose “Shepardize,” or you can copy the case citation to access Shepard’s Citations (e.g., 284 F.3d 1091)

-         This will give you the Shepard’s summary of the case, including (typically) prior history, subsequent history, citing decisions, law reviews and periodical citations.

-         Go to this link http://wiki.lexisnexis.com/academic/index.php?title=Shepard's_Citations for a description of Shepard’s citations, reading a Shepard’s report and what the Shepard’s signals mean.