Each month we will be bringing you a few tips and tricks for making your research with Casemaker that much more efficient. This month — archived session laws, saving searches, emailing documents, and more. For more Casemaker tips and tricks follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and via the Casemaker blog.
Archived Data
The blue navigation bar on the homepage provides you with an Archive. Clicking Archive will allow you to select Administrative Code, Session Laws, or Statutes then the jurisdiction you wish to see the archives for. This is a great way to see previous versions of code and statutes or older session laws. It also helps you see statutes that may have been repealed.
Administrative Code Archives
Did you know you can find Administrative Codes in the Casemaker archives? To find these codes, visit the Casemaker home page by clicking on Home in the upper right or the Casemaker logo in the upper left. Now you should see the list of states. Above that list of states is a blue bar with a tab for Archive. Next click on Administrative Code then on the state you wish to view.
Browsing Statutes In Casemaker
Browsing statutes is another great way to research your issue. At times, you may not know the exact citation for the statute that is relevant to your issue. On other occasions, you may want to see the surrounding statutes as well. Instead of searching, we can browse the statutes.
Start by clicking on the jurisdiction you wish to view from the list of states on the homepage. Then click on Statutes. From there you can drill down in the Statute library to find what you need. Clicking on Titles, then on Subtitles, then Chapters and so on. There is a trail at the top of each page indicating what level of the hierarchy you are on. This can help you get your bearings in complicated statutes titles with many layers.
Clicking on the links that have [Combined] at the end will lead you to pages where the entire chapter or section is on one page – saving you the time of clicking between the contained portions of code.
Citing References
While it is great to get that green thumbs up or red thumbs down from Casecheck+ to tell you if a case has been treated negatively in subsequent cases – it is also nice just to have a list of what actually cited the case you are reading. This is where Citing References comes in. When you are reading a case, you will notice in the bar above the case a link for Citing References. This will provide you with a list of cases that have cited this case. Links to these cases are included and will take you directly to the portion where the case you are researching is involved. When you pull up the list of Citing References you can narrow the results by keyword or jurisdiction using the menu on the left as well.
Citation Format and Autocorrect
Casemaker uses the Bluebook citation format. Casemaker also will auto-correct your citations for you. For example, if you enter 567 f3d 1120 in the search bar, Casemaker will correct your entry to 567 F.3d 1120. If you need to disable this for any reason, simply check the Turn off Autocorrect box before performing your search.
Make a Note of it.
You can add notes to any document you find in Casemaker. The note is unique to your account and cannot be seen by anyone else. When you are viewing a document you can add a note by clicking the “Notes” dropdown in the light gray bar and then selecting “Add Note.” A new window will appear and you can type in what you wish. Once you are done typing click save. The note is the stored at the top of the document. You can use the same notes menu to determine if notes or visible or hidden. Clicking the pencil icon on the note will allow you to edit the note and to delete it permanently click the “x” icon.
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