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

Fri Dec 9 09:29:46 UTC 2016

Hello Shannon,

I use Lexis and Westlaw mobile primarily on my iPhone and iPad. I have discovered that a double tap and hold at the top of the case on the court information just under the case name will bring up a couple "Menu Items" similar to what pops up when you highlight text on your phone or iPad. One option is coffee with citation. Oh wait, that is copy with citation isn't it! Guess I'm the one in need of coffee with my citations. Lol! Any way... back to what I was saying.  I always make sure to select my preferred   reporter before I double-tap and hold to copy the citation.  For your viewing pleasure, I have included a sample of what the above or sa. The first line is just a capital W and capital L.  My expert guess is that for Westlaw :-). There's a blank line followed by the citation. The mobile version does not include any formatting such as underlines or italics nor is there a period at the end of the parenthetical. All other punctuation and spacing appear  to be ok.

WL

Com. v. Kling, 731 A.2d 145 (Pa.Super.,1999)

Once I've decided to use a case, I like to go ahead and prepare different forms of the citation in a file. I find it much easier to copy from my file containing all the cases and their corresponding short citations and paste the correct citation or short citation into my document. In doing this, I only have to change the pinpoint when necessary. My previous roommate gave me that little gem of an idea.

Hope this helps.

Aimee

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 7, 2016, at 3:14 PM, Shannon Dillon via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Has anyone used the copy with citation Laura briefly mentions at the
> end of her explanation?  The last time I asked Thompson West about it,
> it was not accessible.  I think you have to select with the mouse.  I
> can't remember exactly the steps now but it was not something I was
> able to simulate at the time.  Does anyone have another experience?
> 
> 
>> On 12/7/16, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 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
>>>> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> SHANNON L. DILLON
> 
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