Searching by Citation

KeyCite is the citation service that allows you to determine whether cases, statutes, regulations, or administrative decisions are good law and then find other sources that cite them. In West km for Litigation, KeyCite is integrated with your organization’s internal documents so that you can:

Searching by citation allows you to retrieve a list of your organization’s documents that cite a particular Westlaw document. To search by citation, click the KeyCite tab at the top of the page. Select where you want to search using the Library Groups (All) button. This allows you to restrict your search to particular groups of documents. Type the citation to search and press Enter or click the search button.

When typing a citation, include spaces in the format, such as between the volume number, publication, and page number, and between the statutory abbreviation and section number (for example, type 501 us 380, not 501us380).

Viewing Citation Results

Documents matching your search criteria are listed on the Results List. For detailed information on working with results, see Working with Results. In addition to the Results List, KeyCite results include a link to the KeyCite information on Westlaw at the top of the page (). Click the link to go to the cited document.

KeyCite Status Flags

West km adds a KeyCite status flag next to each citation in your document that has available KeyCite information. KeyCite is a citation research service which helps you determine whether your case, statute, administrative decision, or federal regulation is good law and find cases and other sources that cite it. A red, yellow, or blue striped flag; blue H; or green C indicates that KeyCite information is available for the associated document. A KeyCite status flag lets you know immediately the status of a case, statute, regulation, rule, or administrative decision.

Red Flag

In cases and administrative decisions, a red flag warns that the case or administrative decision is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains.

In statutes and regulations, a red flag warns that the statute or regulation has been amended by a recent session law or rule, repealed, superseded, or held unconstitutional or preempted in whole or in part.

Yellow Flag

In cases and administrative decisions, a yellow flag warns that the case or administrative decision has some negative history, but has not been reversed or overruled.

In statutes and regulations, a yellow flag warns that the statute has been renumbered or transferred by a recent session law; that an uncodified session law or proposed legislation affecting the statute is available (statutes merely referenced, that is, mentioned, are not marked with a yellow flag); that a proposed rule affecting the regulation is available; that the regulation has been reinstated, corrected, or confirmed; that the statute or regulation was limited on constitutional or preemption grounds or its validity was otherwise called into doubt; or that a prior version of the statute or regulation received negative judicial treatment.

Blue Striped Flag

A blue striped flag indicates a document has been appealed to the U.S. Courts of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court (excluding appeals originating from agencies).

Overruling Risk Flag

An Overruling Risk warning indicates that a case or administrative decision may no longer be good for at least one point of law based on its reliance on an overruled or otherwise invalid prior decision.

Blue H

In cases and administrative decisions, a blue H indicates that the case or administrative decision has some history.

Green C

In cases and administrative decisions, a green C indicates that the case or administrative decision has citing references but no direct history or negative citing references. In statutes and regulations, a green C indicates that the statute or regulation has citing references.

Red U

Citations that are unverified or that contain potential errors display with an Unverified tag next to them.

KM

In your organization’s documents, the KM icon displays after the citation to show that the cited document is referenced in indexed documents at your organization.

To view detailed KeyCite information about a citation, click its KeyCite status flag.

About Depth of Treatment Categories

West km uses KeyCite depth of treatment bars to indicate the extent to which a citing document at your organization discusses a Westlaw document. The definitions and the number of citing references are West km defaults. Your administrator may have customized these for your organization.

Examined

The citing case, administrative decision, or brief contains an extended discussion of the cited case or administrative decision, usually more than a printed page of text.

Discussed

The citing case, administrative decision, or brief 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 case, administrative decision, or brief contains some discussion of the cited case or administrative decision, usually less than a paragraph.

Mentioned

The citing case, administrative decision, or brief contains a brief reference to the cited case or administrative decision, usually in a string citation.

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