Shepard's Citations

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In legal research, Shepard's Citations is the best-known citator, a list of all the authorities citing a particular case or statute. The name derives from a legal service begun by Frank Shepard (1848-1900) in 1873, when Shepard began publishing these lists in a series of books indexed to different jurisdictions.

While print versions remain in use, legal research websites such as LexisNexis and Westlaw now permit users to look up citations online, thereby allowing researchers to see if a case has been overturned or reconfirmed by later cases. The electronic versions have the added benefit of being updated quickly after new cases are decided. Although the name is trademarked, it is used somewhat generically by legal professionals to describe citators in general.

[edit] History

Frank Shepard Company began to publish its citators in New York City in 1873. Under the leadership of William Guthrie Packard, the company endured the Great Depression and continued to grow. It moved to Colorado Springs in 1948; in 1951, it adopted the name Shepard's Citations, Inc.[1] It is now owned by the LexisNexis subsidiary of Reed Elsevier.