Source: http://gallagherlawlibrary.blogspot.com/2018/10/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 17:01:27+00:00

Document:
Using citators is important. You want to find out whether something has happened to your case on appeal or whether, years later, it was overruled by another case. And you also want to find how much it's been cited by other cases and how they've used it.
. . . or get into more depth with the Shepardizing YouTube playlist from LexisNexisLawSchools.
The tort of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy is an exception to the general rule that at-will employees can quit or be fired for any reason. Gardner v. Loomis Armored, Inc., 128 Wash. 2d 931, 935 (1996). In Weiss v. Lonnquist, 173 Wash. App. 344 (2013), the Court of Appeals said that a discharged attorney couldn't claim the tort because she had an effective alternative: filing a bar association complaint about her boss's allegedly improper conduct.
If you're looking at Weiss v. Lonnquist on Westlaw, you'll see a new icon, an exclamation point in an orange circle. This is a new feature of KeyCite that alerts you a case that overruled a case your case relies on.
The court didn't mention Weiss v. Lonnquist. BUT WEISS RELIED ON THE THREE CASES THAT WERE MENTIONED. So before you relied on Weiss for its statement of the rule, you would sure want to know about the newer case.
Westlaw's programmers have created an algorithm that looks for cases that rely on an overruled case, not just any case that cited it. In this example, the algorithm worked very well.
Sometimes it's hard to get a handle on what changes have been made to statutes over time. You can look at the credits at the end to see the citations to amending statutes—but what's the difference between today's statute and the statute that was in effect two, three, or ten years ago?
Westlaw Edge has a new feature that helps us sort out the changes.Suppose you're looking at 26 U.S.C.A. § 164, the part of the Internal Revenue Code that allows taxpayers to deduct some state and local taxes from their federal tax bill. You can see in the credits at the end that the section dates from 1954 and has been amended a couple of dozen times.
It might take a lot of plodding to figure out the differences between any two versions.
But now there's the Compare Versions feature!
If you click on the Compare Versions button, you'll get a "redline" version showing what has changed since the last version—in this case the version that was effective between Dec. 18, 2015, and December 21, 2017.
It leaps out at you that § 164(b) has a new subsection, 164(b)(6), putting a lid on the amount that a taxpayer can deduct for state and local taxes.
That's pretty handy. But what if you wanted to look at older changes?
If you paste a comparison into Word, you'll find that it's just like Word's compare documents feature. You can omit the redlining by choosing Simple Markup and see it again by choosing All Markup (in the Review tab of Word's ribbon).
Try out this new feature. It's handy!
By the way, in January all law student Westlaw users in the country will have access to this new feature in Westlaw Edge. We are one of the law schools that got the new features in September.
The library will now be closing at 4:30 on Fridays. Please remember that this now means that the circulation desk will also be closing at 4:15, and the Reference Office will be closing at 4:00. This change will be going into effect immediately.
The Friday before exam week, December 7, we will remain open until 6.
All other hours remain unchanged. Thank you for your understanding.
Due to staffing issues, the law library is closing 3 hours early on Friday, Oct. 12th. The library will close at 3:00 pm on that day.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 164
 § 164