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Legal Research

What is Shepardizing?

To Shepardize a citation is to ascertain the subsequent treatment of a legal decision, thus putting its precedential value in a complete context. The term originates from the common historical use of Shepard’s Citation Service to track the treatment of specific decisions. 

Source: Legal Information Institute 

Once you have found a case that is relevant to your research, you should verify that it is still considered "good law." Meaning that it has not been reversed on appeal by a higher court or it has not been overruled by the same court or a higher court, or that its authority has not be altered by legislation. 

Source: Nexis Uni 

How to Shepardize a case using Legal Databases

Google Scholar "How Cited" Feature

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