Search tips
Type the way you already search on Westlaw or Lexis. If your search contains a connector, it runs as Terms & Connectors; otherwise it runs as plain English. A citation jumps straight to the case, and a case name (X v. Y) searches case names.
Terms & Connectors
| Type | Finds | Example |
|---|---|---|
& AND or a space | Both terms | warrant & automobile |
OR | Either term | physician OR doctor |
"…" | Exact phrase | "clearly established" |
/s w/s | In the same sentence (within about 20 words) | negligen! /s physician |
/p w/p | In the same paragraph (within about 60 words) | "qualified immunity" /p "clearly established" |
/n w/n | Within n words, either order | search /5 seiz! |
+n pre/n +s +p | First term precedes the second within n words | "res" +2 judicata |
% BUT NOT AND NOT | Exclude what follows | "strict liability" % product |
not w/n | First term, but not within n words of the second | damages not w/5 punitive |
! | Root expander: any ending | negligen! → negligent, negligence… |
* ? | One character | wom*n → woman, women |
( ) | Group terms | (car OR automobile OR vehicle) /s search! |
Order of operations follows Westlaw and Lexis: OR first, then proximity connectors, then &, then BUT NOT. So negligen! /s physician OR doctor means negligen! in the same sentence as physician or doctor.
Plurals and possessives are found automatically. Sentence and paragraph boundaries are approximated by word distance (20 and 60 words), so /s and /p can occasionally reach across a short sentence break.
Field searches
| Field | Westlaw / Lexis style | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Case name | ti( ) name( ) | ti(miranda & arizona) |
| Judges on the panel | ju( ) judges( ) | ju(sotomayor) |
| Opinion author | writtenby( ) au( ) | writtenby(scalia) & "original meaning" |
| Syllabus / headnotes | sy( ) he( ) | sy("equal protection") |
| Docket number | docket( ) | docket(70-18) |
| Court name | court( ) | court("ninth circuit") & "fair use" |
Plain English
Ask a question or list concepts: when may police search a car without a warrant. Question words are dropped, every concept must appear (most of them, for longer searches), and cases that use your words as a phrase rank higher. Results lean toward opinions that later courts cite often.
Citations and case names
Type a citation such as 410 U.S. 113, 347 U.S. 483, or 556 U.S. 662, 678 to go straight to the case (a pin cite scrolls to that page). Lowercase or missing periods (410 us 113) and short forms (410 U.S. at 153) work too. Type a name like Brown v. Board of Education to search case names, most-cited first.
Reading a case
- Copy citation copies a Bluebook-style citation with the case name in italics (in Word and Google Docs).
- Select any passage to copy it as a quotation with a pin cite, using the star-paging markers (*153) in the text.
- Citations inside an opinion link to the cited case. Gray links mean the cited case is not in this database.
- n / p jump between your search terms. c copies the citation.