Legal information is constantly being updated. When you are researching a piece of law, like a case, you will need to keep up to date with what is going on with that particular piece of legal information. For this, you can use a legal citator, either in print or online.
Citators are valuable to help you determine whether a case is still "good law," or overruled by another decision, or whether a statute has been found unconstitutional. Citators achieve this by listing all citing references to the case or statute that you are researching. In other words, it lists all pieces of law (cases, statutes, etc) that have discussed, mentioned or impacted your case, either positively or negatively, since that ruling.
Shepard's Texas Citations
To check for citing references in print, you will use Shepard's Texas Citations series. To use the print citator, you will need the case citation for the case that you are researching.
Important: be sure to check all available supplements to find all of the citing references your case! To make sure that you check everything, look for the paperback supplement with the most recent date and look at the list of books on the cover under "What Your Library Should Contain." This will list each of the volumes and supplements that you need to be sure to check.
To check for citing references in print, you can use Shepard's Texas Citations series. To use the print citator, you must start with a case citation for the case that you are researching.
Find the bound volume that includes the reporter series that you need.
Example: 329 S.W.3d 104 = volume covering South Western 3rd series, vol. 329
Use the reporter name at the top middle of the page to find the section for the appropriate reporter series
Example: South Western Reporter, 3d
Use the volume numbers listed in the corner of each page to locate the appropriate volume number for your citation.
Then, on the relevant page, look for the heading with the correct volume number.
Example: Vol. 329 of South Western Reporter, 3d
Under the volume heading, look for the page number from your citation. Under the page number, you will see the party names (if it is the first appearance in Shepard's) and then a list of citations. The listed citations are the works that cite the case that you are researching.
Shepard's bound volumes are only as up to date as when they were published. When checking citations, it is important to find all information up to as recently as possible. Shepard's updates using colored paperback Supplements. Depending on the time of year, these updates may include a Quarterly Update (yellow) and a Monthly Update (red).
Locate the appropriate volume of the yellow Quarterly Supplement.
Just like in the bound volumes, open the Quarterly Supplement and look for the reporter name, the volume and then the page number.
If nothing appears, it means that as of the date on the quarterly supplement, nothing new had cited your case.
Check the shelves for a red monthly supplement. In between the yellow quarterly supplements, Shepard's updates its citator series with Monthly Supplements that have a red cover.
TIP: There should only be one monthly supplement on the shelf. Locate the newest volume (by date) on the shelf. Check the cover of the book. It will have a heading that says "What Your Library Should Contain." Check this to make sure that you are looking in all of the updates that you need to properly shepardize your case.
Just like in the bound volumes and the Quarterly Supplement, open the Monthly Supplement and look for the reporter name, the volume and then the page number.
If nothing appears, it means that as of the date on the supplement, nothing new had cited your case.
The online citator subscribed to by LSC-North Harris Library is KeyCite. Like the print citators, KeyCite tracks the citing cases (cases that cite the case that you are researching). Since online content is updated daily, there are no supplements to check to make sure that you are getting the latest information.
(click on images to view larger)
Treatment = indicates how that case affected your case (the case that you are researching). Westlaw will list all negative treatment first, and then all other treatment in date order.
Depth = how much that case talks about your case. The more the green bar is filled in, the more your case was discussed.
Headnote(s) = which points of law were discussed in regards to your case