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Print Shepard's:
- Decide which unit of Shepard's to use. Select either Shepard's
United States Citations for U.S. Supreme Court cases, the Federal
Reporter division of Shepard's Federal Citations for court
of appeals cases; or the Federal Supplement division of Shepard's
Federal Citations for district court decisions.
- Locate the most recent paper supplement for the Shepard's unit.
It should generally be no more than a couple of months old. On the
cover, there is a listing of all supplements and bound volumes that
constitute a complete set, identified with the words "What Your
Library Should Contain." You usually will need to consult a bound
volume and at least one paper supplement. The supplements are not
cumulative so you may need to consult more than one. If in doubt about
which bound volume(s) you need, examine the spines to determine the
coverage of each volume.
- Beginning with the most recent supplement, look for the listing
of citations to your case. (Recent series of Shepard's print the name
of the case above the citation list). Be certain you are looking at
the correct listing for your citation (don't look for a Federal Reporter
3d case in the list for Federal Reporter 2d).
- As you begin to look up the listed cases, remember that Shepard's
lists the internal page cite - that is, the exact page in the citing
opinion where the case you are Shepardizing is mentioned or discussed.
- Shepard's has a unique shorthand for the citing sources. If you
cannot tell what reporter or other source is being referred to in
the citation list, consult the Tables near the front of every Shepard's
volume.
- Look first for the history and treatment codes which should attract
immediate attention, such as o for overruled or r for reversed. If
you see such codes, look up those cases first. In the more likely
event that you don't see these codes, it is usually wise to start
by looking up the most recent citing cases first and working your
way backwards. Use the treatment codes as a guide to which citing
cases might be most important, but remember that the codes are assigned
by the editors at Shepard's and not by the judge writing the opinion.
A case which bears no code may still have implications for the precedential
weight of the opinion you are Shepardizing.
- Particularly if the case you are Shepardizing has been cited many
times, or if the case has many issues, it may assist you to use the
embedded headnote numbers in the Shepard's listing. To do this, choose
the headnotes from the case you are Shepardizing which are most pertinent
to your issue and record their numbers (not the key number - just
headnote number 1, 2 etc.). Then look for the cases in the Shepard's
list which have the number(s) embedded in the citation.
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