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Search Reference

Connectors and Special Characters
      Connectors
      Root Expander
      Universal Character
      Automatic Plurals and Equivalent Terms
      Search Box Rules
      Compound Words
      Abbreviations
      Common Words
Field Restrictions
      Litigation Field Restrictions
      Transactions Field Restrictions
      Annotation and Library Group Field Restrictions
      Profile Field Restrictions
Dates
Include or Exclude Terms

Connectors and Special Characters

Connectors

Use connectors to specify the relationships that must exist between the terms in your retrieved documents.

Connector

Symbol

Retrieves
AND & Both search terms in the same document:
narcotics & warrant
OR (space) Either search term or both terms:
car automobile
Grammatical Connectors /s Search terms in the same sentence:
design /s defect
/p Search terms in the same paragraph:
hearsay /p utterance
+s The first term preceding the second within the same sentence:
palsgraf +s island
Numerical Connectors /n Search terms within "n" terms of each other (where "n" is a number):
person** /3 jurisdiction
+n The first term preceding the second within "n" terms (where "n" is a number):
20 +5 1080
Phrase " " Search terms appearing in the same order as in the quotation marks:
"attractive nuisance"
BUT NOT % Documents not containing the term or terms following the % symbol:
r.i.c.o. % "puerto rico"


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Root Expander

To retrieve words with variant endings, type the root expander (!).

Type:

To retrieve:
object! object, objected, objection, objecting


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Universal Character

To represent one variable character, type the universal character (*).

Type:

To retrieve:
jur** jury, juror (but not jurisdiction)


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Automatic Plurals and Equivalent Terms

By default, searches retrieve plural forms and equivalent terms. To find the exact term you specify in the search, type the # symbol in front of the term.

Type:

To retrieve:
#damage damage (not damages)
#willful willful (not wilful)


For a list of equivalent terms for jurisdictions, see Equivalent Terms for Jurisdictions.

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Compound Words

If your search term is a compound word, use its hyphenated form to retrieve all variations.

Type:

To retrieve:
good-will goodwill, good-will, good will


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Abbreviations

If your search term is an abbreviation, type it with periods and without spaces to retrieve all variations.

Type:

To retrieve:
h.i.v. H.I.V., H. I. V., HIV, H I V


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Search Box Rules

When using the search box at the top of the West km interface, the following rules apply:

The following connectors and special characters in a search trigger a terms and connectors search:

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Common Words

These common words are not searched unless they are included in a phrase. You search for a phrase by placing it in quotation marks.

about
above
after
also
although
an
and
as
at
be
because
before
between
but
by
either
for
from
further
here
 however
if
in
into
mr
now
of
on
or
other
out
over
since
such
than
that
the
then
there
 therefore
these
this
those
through
thus
to
under
until
upon
what
when
where
whether
which
while
with
within
without
 

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Field Restrictions

Litigation Field Restrictions

Field

Abbreviation

Examples

Attorney (Lit)

at

at(nelson)

Company

comp

comp(microsoft)

Court

co

co(united states supreme court)

Doc Type

docty

docty(brief)

Expert

ex

ex(martinez)

Judge-Primary

jp

jp(anderson /3 barry)

Judge-Secondary

js

js(halbrooks)

Jurisdiction

jur

jur(federal)

Law Firm (Lit)

lf

lf(bendini & lambert)

Litigation Doc Title

docti

docti("dole food" /5 patrickson)

 


Note: To search for a judge's name in both judge fields simultaneously, type jp,js(judgename), e.g., jp,js(halbrooks).

The court, doc type, and jurisdiction fields are phrase indexed, so you must search for the terms exactly, including punctuation and spacing. As an alternative to typing the complete exact phrase, you can use the root expander (!) at the end of the term, e.g., docty(memo!).

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Transactions Field Restrictions

Field

Abbreviation

Example

Transactional Doc Title

tdocti

tdocti(purchase /5 agreement)

Clause Title

clti

clti("partner liability")

Defined Term Title

dtti

dtti(seller)

Attorneys

at

att(john /3 smith)

Law Firm

tlf

tlf(peterson /5 office)

Governing Law

gl

gl(california)

Parties

par

par(citran & cornell)

 


Note: Depending on the data from your organization's DMS, the Governing Law field can contain different variations of a jurisdiction name, such as California, State of California, or CA. When you sort result lists by this field, variations can cause results from the same jurisdiction to be grouped separately (e.g., California before State of California).

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Annotation and Library Group Field Restrictions

Field

Abbreviation

Examples

Exemplar Documents
and Exemplar Forms

exem

exem(1)

Use one of these values in the parentheses:

0 = no marking
1 = exemplar document marking
2 = exemplar form marking

Notes

annos

annos(power +3 attorney)

Results with Notes

com

com(true)

Use one of these values in the parentheses:

true = has notes
false = has no notes

Library Group

lg

lg("ny office")

 

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Profile Field Restrictions

Field

Abbreviation

Examples

Abstract

abst

abst("motion to dismiss")

Author

au

au(john /3 maxwell)

Client ID

cid

cid(1587)

Client Name

cn

cn(reardon)

Client-Matter ID

cmid

cmid(1587-2228)

Client-Matter Name

cmn

cmn(reardon & pritchard)

DMS Doc Type

dt

dt(brief or memo!)

DMS Number

dn

dn(32027)

File Name

ti

ti(nevada & blueson)

Matter ID

mi

mi(1587-2228)

Matter Name

mn

mn(pritchard)

Created Date

cd

specific date: cd(1/14/2011)
after: cd(aft 1/14/2011)
 before: cd(bef 1/30/2011)
 after & before: cd(aft 12/12/2007 & bef 1/1/2011)

Modified Date

md

specific date: md(2/14/2011)
 after: md(aft 2/14/2011)
 before: md(bef 2/27/2011)
 after & before: md(aft 12/12/2007 & bef 1/1/2011)

Custom 1
Custom 2
Custom 3

cus1
cus2
cus3

cus1(antitrust)
cus2(expert!)
cus3("form-agrmt-lit")

Custom Bool
Custom Date
Custom Int

cusb
cusd
cusi

cusb(search! /3 seiz!)
cusd( aft 12/31/2012 )
cusi(84927)
 

Note: The availability of fields depends on your organization's metadata.

Note: The Created Date and Modified Date fields are not inclusive when you search a range of documents. For example, if you search for documents modified after 1/1/2010, documents modified on January 1, 2010, won't be retrieved.

Note: The data in custom fields depends on the DMS fields that your administrator has mapped. The examples shown assume Custom 1 is mapped to a practice area field, Custom 2 is mapped to a document sub-type field, and Custom 3 is mapped to a form type field.

These field restrictions are available only when you search your organization's documents. When simultaneously searching WestlawNext documents and your organization's documents, (1) these field restrictions are not available, and (2) field restrictions you have specified for your WestlawNext documents are converted to regular terms when you search your organization's documents.

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Dates

Dates are recognized when entered in any of the following formats:

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Include or Exclude Terms

This text box:

Uses this rule:

All of these terms

& (AND) is the default connector for terms separated by spaces

Any of these terms

OR is the default connector for terms separated by spaces

This exact phrase

quotation marks enclose terms separated by spaces

Exclude documents that have

% (BUT NOT) is placed before the entered terms;
OR is the default connector for terms separated by spaces
 

If connectors or special characters are entered that are inconsistent with the defaults, the defaults are overridden.

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