Paralegal Certification PrepLegal Research and WritingEasy
A paralegal is conducting legal research for a federal appellate case and needs to find a specific opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The citation provided is 'Smith v. Jones, 245 F.3d 123 (5th Cir. 2001)'. Which part of this citation indicates the volume number where the case can be located?
- AF.3d
- B245
- C123
- DSmith v. Jones
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. 245
The volume number in a legal citation specifies the particular book in the reporter series where the case opinion is published. In the provided citation, '245' refers to this volume number.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. This indicates the reporter series (Federal Reporter, Third Series), not the volume number.
- C. This represents the starting page number of the case within the specified volume, not the volume number itself.
- D. This refers to the names of the parties involved in the case, not the volume number.
Volume Number in Citation
The volume number in a legal citation indicates the specific book within a reporter series where a case opinion is published.
- Always precedes the reporter abbreviation.
- Essential for locating the physical or digital copy of the case.
- Typically a whole number.
Memory trick: Party names, then Volume, Reporter, Page, followed by Court and Year, make up the citation's clear path.