Two preceding Lexis® Search by Topic or Headnotes tutorials demonstrated different ways of finding legal topics. This tutorial shows how you can retrieve all headnotes and additional cases for any legal topic and for any jurisdication.
We'll begin at the search form, in the topic Patent Law > Anticipation & Novelty > General Overview. First, you need to choose a jurisdiction.
To choose a jurisdiction, select the "Select Jurisdiction" drop-down button to display a list of jurisdictions. Select "2nd Circuit – Federal and State Cases, combined" from the list. Then select the "Retrieve All " button to display a list of cases.
Results appear in Digest View, which includes headnotes for the selected topic. The Digest View also shows the most pertinent text from other highly relevant cases. These additional cases are included because they are relevant to the topic, although they may not have a headnote assigned to the topic.
You can display only the cases with headnotes by selecting the "Show Headnotes Only" link. To redisplay all cases for the topic, select the "Exit Headnotes Only" link.
You can also change the order in which cases appear. Normally, cases are displayed in order by Court/Date. Another way to display cases is based on how frequently they are cited in other cases on the list. Let's try that. Click the "Sort by" drop-down. Then select "Frequently Cited." Documents then display with the most frequently cited cases first.
Each case displays the number of cases in which it is cited, and has a "view" link. To display those cases that cite a particular case, select its "view" link. That displays the cases in Cite View. To return to the Frequently Cited list, select the "Exit Citing Cases" link.
You can also display cases with the most extensive discussions on the topic for the selected jurisdiction. To do that, select the "In-Depth Discussion" link.
Lexis Search by Topic or Headnote displays a list of up to 15 cases with good discussions of the legal topic. These cases are sorted in order of relevance. To go back to the answer set, select the "Return to Retrieve all Headnotes" link.
That concludes this tutorial module.
Now you can:
A graphical version of this document also is available.
LexisNexis and lexis.com are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license.
Copyright 2007 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.