LexisNexis Academic Tutorials

Use the Shepardize® option in LexisNexis Academic to see if a court ruling is still good legal precedent.

Start by finding a case and viewing the full document.  Then follow these steps:

(1) Click on the Next Steps pull-down menu in the upper-right side of the screen.

(2) Select Shepardize® and click on the blue Go button.

(3) Click on the Restrict By pull-down menu and select All Negative.

(4) Scroll down to CITING DECISIONS, looking for the phrases listed below:

• Overruled by: Sets a precedent that the original ruling is no longer to be considered valid law.
  
  
• Criticized by: Disagrees with the original ruling, but the court lacks authority to overrule it.
  
  
• Distinguished by: Argues that a ruling is valid precedent under one set of facts but not another.
  
  
• Limited by: Sets a precedent that a prior ruling applies only in specific, limited circumstances.
  
  
• Questioned by: Questions whether a prior ruling is still valid precedent, but does not overrule it.

(5) To read the relevant section of a citing case, click on the page number for each citation.

(6) Then slowly scroll through the full text to find a highlighted citation to your original case.