Introduction

This is a brief research guide for use with the Shepard's Citations Services. Shephards are a citator system used for U.S. Legal research. Shephards contain lists of authorities that have cited to an individual case, statute or other legal authority.  Shephards are invaluable in finding out if a case is still good law, whether it has been overturned, questioned, reaffirmed, followed, or cited by other cases. Shephards are an invaluable resources not only in finding out if your case law is still valid but also find cases that may be similar to yours.

For over 125 years, Shepard's Citations Service has been the industry standard for case and statute validation. The following can be Shepardized:

• Federal and state case law
• United States Code sections
• Statutes from all 50 states
• Regulations, including the Code of Federal REgulations
• United States and State constitutional provisions
• Court rules
• Law Review articles from selected publications
• Individual United States patents

Shepard's Citations in Print:

Shepard's consists of the following:

• Complete citations and relevant histories of each case
• A multivolume general index and individual topic indexes
• Annual pocket parts are published to supplement the volumes

Shepard's consists of a multi-volume set of books with multiple sets based on the reporter series. 

Federal Shephards

State and Regional Shephards

Shepard's Citations is a citator that provides a list of all the authorities citing a particular case, statute, or other legal authority. It is available online only in Lexis Advance. 

*Requires password.

KeyCite is the citation research service available in Westlaw Next.  This citation research service provides information to determine whether a case, statute, administrative decision, or regulation is good law. In addition, KeyCite retrieves citing references to the document, including cases, administrative materials, secondary sources, and briefs and other court documents.

**Requires password.