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, statute, or other legal authority. 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. Among lawyers in the United States, the verb Shepardizing refers to the process of consulting Shepard's (or another citator) to see if a case has been overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases.

The Shepard's Citations booklets in hard copy format are extremely cryptic because of the need to cram as much information about as many cases in as little space as possible. While print versions of Shepard's remain in use, their use is declining. Shepard's was purchased by LexisNexis in 1996. Today, LexisNexis users can easily Shepardize citations online; all cases displayed on LexisNexis show an icon in the upper left corner indicating the status of the case as citable authority. The icon itself, when clicked, brings up a full Shepard's report for the case in plain English. The electronic version has the added benefit of being updated quickly after new cases are decided. Although the name is trademarked, it is informally used somewhat generically by legal professionals to describe citators in general. Shepard's is not available on Westlaw, which includeds a similar tool called Key Cite.

[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.