[blindlaw] ; Determining Page Numbers when Reading Cases in WestLaw Next

[Laura Wolk]

Hi Krista,

I will tell you my strategy, but I'm sure others use different ones.

As Amy explained, the text of a Westlaw case has the pagenation to
multiple reporters.  These are usually called parallel citations.
There can be two or sometimes three different reporters, and they are
listed at the top.  To distinguish the reporters, different numbers of
asterisks are placed next to the page numbers associated with each
respective reporter.  Westlaw cases use a system of star pagenation,
i.e., instead of having a one-to-one correspondence between a page in
Westlaw and a print page as you noticed, the case will just mark where
the pages for the various reporters change as you read through the
case.

The relevant report from the West National Reporter system is **ALMOST
ALWAYS**  the reporter to which you will cite, and it **ALMOST
ALWAYS** has one asterisk next to it for purposes of star pagenation.
The most common exception to this, at least in my experience, would be
citations to recent Supreme Court opinions.  Those opinions take about
five years to make it into West's U.S. reports, meaning that recent
opinions are typically cited to the Supreme Court Reporter.  Normally,
that reporter is marked by two stars, but in instances where there is
no citation to the U.S. reporter yet, it is marked with only one. As
an example, compare NLRB v. Noel Canning, 134 S. Ct. 2550 (not yet
printed in U.S. reports) with Blair v. United States, 250 U.S.
273.

My strategy for pinciting is clumsy, but it works. I simply find the
text I want, then doa control+f and search for the next asterisk.
making sure it is marked with the proper number of asterisks, I just
count back by one.  This method has its pitfalls.  The most
frustrating one is when you're citing something from the last page of
the case.  The most common mistake deals with making sure you know
when you're citing a footnote.  But, with practice, I have become
quite quick at it.  I've heard West has a "copy with citation"
feature, but I've never used it.

I hope this is helpful.  This is written pre-coffee, so please feel
free to contact me offlist if anything is confusing.

Best of luck,
Laura

On 12/7/16, Aimee Harwood via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> At the top of the case you'll find the list of reporters. Note the number of
> stars preceding your preferred reporter. That will indicate the page number
> for that particular reporter. Hope that helps.
>
> Aimee
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Dec 6, 2016, at 11:30 PM, krista erickson via BlindLaw
>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Everyone,
>> I've been using WestLaw Next to find and read cases for a class
>> research project. We are limited to the cases we can cite in the
>> project and have to pinpoint citations. Do any of you have suggestions
>> for easily determining the correct page numbers that text from a case
>> would appear on if reading cases in actual hard-bound books? The
>> numbers preceeded by * in WestLaw Next don't appear to directly
>> correspond to actual page numbers. Thanks.
>> Krista
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlindLaw mailing list
>> BlindLaw at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlindLaw:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/awildheir%40gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlindLaw mailing list
> BlindLaw at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlindLaw:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/laura.wolk%40gmail.com
>