Boley Blog

Shepard's Citator 150th Anniversary

Ever wonder how cases were checked for validity prior to digital citators like Shepard's on Lexis+ or KeyCite on Westlaw Precision? In honor of Shepard's 150 years of publishing its citator Shepard's Citations, the library has a display that will take you through the 4 steps for checking a case in print. An attorney took these steps for each case cited in a brief. Before computers easily 80% of your research time was spent shepardizing cases.

There are many articles and books dedicated to this process and perfecting and comparing the digital processes of Shepard's and KeyCite. We suggest:

A Record of Fifty Years of Specializing in a Field that is of First Importance to the Bench and Bar of the United States- this ebook is a look at the first 50 years. Many of the pictures have been digitized here.

Making History With Shepard's Citations- a current look back at Shepard's.

Mastering the Lawless Science of our Law- Patti Ogden's masterful tracing of citators.