Law 792-PP: Advanced Legal Research: Searching

Boolean - a system for representing logical statements 

Natural Language (NL) - in theory, the ability of a system to understand human speech. In reality, a search mode that permits normal human language in a search query. The system processes the NL query to attempt to understand the question and return relevant results. Results of NL searches are often fixed in number, and ranked by relevancy.

Syntax - the structure and order of all the elements in your query (i.e., the order of your terms and connectors).

AND - A Boolean connector for a mandatory term (e.g., fall AND sidewalk will only find cases that contain both words)

OR - A Boolean connector for an optional term, often used to connect synonyms (e.g., slip OR fall OR trip will find cases that contain any of those words)

NOT - A Boolean connector for a term that should be excluded (e.g., fall NOT ice will find cases involving falls that do not contain the word ice)

AND NOT - Lexis' version of the NOT connector (note: Lexis wisely suggests that a NOT connector be at the end of your search)

& - alternate way to express the AND connector

% - alternate way to express the NOT / BUT NOT connector in Westlaw

/n - A proximity connector for a mandatory term that must appear within n words of the first term. (e.g., slip /5 ice will only find cases that contain a phrase that contains both terms separated by 5 or fewer terms). Note that /n can be replaced with /s to restrict to the same sentence, or /p to restrict to the same paragraph.

near/n - A proximity connector for a mandatory term that must appear within n words of the first term, and the order of the terms is flexible.

A client falls on icy steps leading into a bookstore, and injures her ankle. You want to find cases that will help you build an argument for holding the bookstore liable for her injuries (and cases that will help you counter any arguments to the contrary).

How do you search? How many of those specific terms are necessary?

How do legal research systems interpret this search query? If you don't know the answer, you're ceding all control of your search to the system.

Results in all states:

Westlaw: 53 
Lexis: 10,000+
Bloomberg Law: 1

Why such a stark difference in results?  Surely it's not because Lexis has thousands more cases on this issue than Westlaw.

Each system has its own algorithms and syntax structure. Check the settings and preferences of each database if you have questions about how the systems interprets the search.

Nearly all searches will involve multiple facts and/or concepts. Our slip and fall example involves at least three different concepts, and we need cases that include them all:  a slip/fall injury, on icy or slippery surface, on a business' property.

With a Venn diagram, you can see how these three concepts overlap in multiple ways:

At each of the four overlapped areas, we find a different set of cases:

• At the overlap between "slip & fall injury" and "icy/slippery", we'd find cases about falls on city streets, or on a neighbor's sidewalk.
• At the overlap between "slip & fall injury" and "business premises", we'd find cases about falls in grocery store aisles left wet, for example.
• At the overlap between "icy/slippery" and "business premises", there's no injury -- so no liability!
• Finally, at the overlap between all three concepts, we'd find the cases we're looking for.

Your searches need to be constructed with these overlaps in mind.

Boolean Searches:

When you build a search query, you're telling the system which concepts are critical for you. 

Begin with a short query, and build by adding connectors. The "OR" connector is permissive: use it to separate synonyms or related concepts, of which you'd accept either.  The "AND" connector is a requirement that the term that follows be included in all results.

(slip OR fall) AND (business premises) AND (icy OR slippery)

This example allows for cases to use the term slip OR the term fall to describe the incident. It requires that cases use the phrase "business premises". And then it requires that cases use either the term icy OR the term slippery.

Once you see your results, you can (should) consider revising the search with more ANDs to reduce the number of results, or more ORs to increase the number. A better search might alter the middle set of terms to (business or store or premises), for example. You may need to repeat this process several times, especially throughout your first year. 

Building an effective search query requires an understanding of the language likely to be used in the documents you seek. If you have a limited understanding of premises liability issues, for example (perhaps not even being familiar with that term), it may take more iterations of your search query. 

Effective Terms and Connectors Searching

1. Grammatical connectors where possible (i.e., Lexis and Westlaw)

• More efficient to start narrow (term /s term) than broad (term and term)
• Don’t worry about +s or +p

2. Numerical connectors still better than “and”

• Necessary for best use of Fastcase
• Remember:
  • same phrase, use W/3 – W/5
  • same sentence, use W/15
  • same paragraph, use W/50
• Synonyms

• Remember antonyms too (inadmissib!, unconstitution!)

Examples:

constitution /s applies apply! applic! operat! restrain! restrict! limit! /s military

adv: mex! /s "civ. code" or "civil code" /s 1910 /p limitation or laps! or repose

• Be alert for synonyms to add to your search (iterative searching)

4. Truncation –know the truncation character for your database

Westlaw & Lexis – exclamation mark (!); most other databases – asterisk (*)

5. Default connector –know how it works in your database

• Usually it’s “and” but on Westlaw it’s “or”
• Lexis treats a space as if it creates a phrase; e.g., employment discrimination searches only for “employment discrimination”

6. Parentheses  –know when you need them

• Examples:
  (("capital punishment") OR ("death penalty")) AND (drug OR "lethal injection")
  dog AND (rabies OR rabid)

7. Field/segment searching

• Useful for narrowing searches
• Secondary sources –use title field to increase relevance
• Cases –use fields such as synopsis, digest, holding to increase relevance

8. NOT connector –Use rarely

• Best use: screening out documents retrieved in previous search
  Example:
  “limitation of actions” /s “medical malpractice”
  then  “statute of limitations” /s “medical malpractice” NOT (“limitation of actions” /s “medical malpractice”)