The University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law
Don't forget to check annotations and citations to your primary authorities to verify whether they have been suspended, overruled, or otherwise have negative history or treatment. For codified sources including statutes and regulations, you need to determine if there are any pending changes that may impact your answer if enacted. Remember, research is an iterative process. Be prepared to run through the above steps until you are satisfied that your answer is complete, accurate, and well supported.
Make sure you pay attention to negative citation signals. However, remember that just because the case might have been flagged doesn't mean you can't use it. Be sure to confirm that the negative treatment corresponds to the points of law relevant to your interest. Each major database has a citator that enables you to search citing cases by type (positive or negative treatment to the case) and depth of treatment. You should use those to focus your research on the most important cases.
Also, make sure to pay attention to what sources your case cites. A key case or statute may have been cited by other cases and parallel lines of precedent can develop.
Lastly, these databases develop new features all of the time. In 2023, Westlaw added a "Cited Wtih" feature that helps researchers locate cases that are cited alongside a case. Keep an eye out for these new developments and make sure you stay up-to-date with them
Users can create custom alerts on Bloomberg, Lexis+, and Westlaw. These alerts can be used to monitor KeyCite and Shepard's citations to a case, save and receive periodic updates based on a saved search, and a variety of other uses. In general, creating a custom alert can be as simple clicking on a "bell" icon on Westlaw and Lexis or click "Create Alert" on Bloomberg Law after running a search or opening a document.
More information for each database is provided below