Instantly verify whether your case, statute, administrative decision, or regulation is good law, and get citing references
KeyCite combines our 125-year tradition of editorial excellence with our leading-edge technology to bring you the most current content.
About search terms
On other systems, if you don’t phrase your query using the same words as the authoring judge, you won’t retrieve relevant cases. For example, you use "renter" and the judge uses "tenant." Terms vary from judge to judge and you aren’t able to find what you need.
With Westlaw, this can’t happen. In both the headnotes and the case synopses, attorney-editors insert synonyms, antonyms, expanded legal meanings, terms of art, general terms, and other terms you're likely to use so your query delivers what you need.
Checking a Document in KeyCite
KeyCite is the citation research service from West. Using KeyCite, you can quickly determine whether a case, statute, administrative decision, or federal regulation is good law and find cases and other sources that cite it.
To check a document in KeyCite, do one of the following:
At the Home page, type a citation in the Check this citation in KeyCite text box and click GO. For details about entering a citation, see Tips for Entering a Citation.
At the Home page, click Check a Citation Using a KeyCite Template, type citation information in the appropriate text boxes, and click GO. See Checking a Document in KeyCite Using a Citation Template for details.
Click the KeyCite status flag, when available, at the top of a displayed document. See KeyCite Status Flags for details.
Note: You can also click KeyCite this headnote from the headnote of a displayed case; see Viewing Citing References from a Case Headnote for details.
The KeyCite result for the document you requested is displayed. When applicable, KeyCite status flags are displayed next to documents in the KeyCite result. You can click these flags to view the KeyCite results for those documents also. See KeyCite Status Flags for details.
Note: If you are having charges for this service billed to your Westlaw account, your KeyCite results are displayed in westlaw.com.
To view the full text of a document in your KeyCite result, click its hypertext link.
From your KeyCite result you can do the following:
Related Topics
KeyCite Status Flags
Finding a Document
Viewing Citing References from a Case Headnote