NFPA Paralegal Core Competency Exam (PCCE)Legal ResearchEasy
A paralegal is reviewing a federal district court opinion that cites a U.S. Supreme Court case. To ensure the Supreme Court case is still good law and has not been overturned or negatively affected by subsequent rulings, which online tool should the paralegal primarily use?
- AGoogle Scholar's 'How Cited'
- BFastcase's Authority Check
- CLexis Advance's Ravel Law
- DWestlaw's KeyCite
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Westlaw's KeyCite
KeyCite is Westlaw's citator service, specifically designed to check the precedential value of cases, statutes, and other legal authorities by showing citing references and negative treatment.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Google Scholar's 'How Cited' feature provides citing references but lacks the detailed negative treatment analysis of professional citators.
- B. Fastcase's Authority Check is a citator service, but KeyCite (Westlaw) and Shepard's (LexisNexis) are the most widely recognized and comprehensive tools for this purpose in the U.S. legal market.
- C. Ravel Law (now integrated into Lexis Advance) focuses on visualizing case relationships but is not the primary tool for validating authority.
KeyCite
Westlaw's citation research service used to determine if a case, statute, or other legal authority is still good law and to find citing references.
- Indicates negative treatment (e.g., overruled, reversed, criticized)
- Shows citing cases, statutes, and secondary sources
- Provides history of the legal document
Memory trick: KeyCite is the key to knowing if a case is still right.