Knowledge & Research Consultant Research Tip : Finding Additional Authority from a Relevant Case

Did you know you have three efficient ways to find additional authority from within a relevant case? Shepardize by Headnote, More Like This Passage, and the Legal Issue Trail can all lead you to additional relevant cases when you are starting from a key case.

1. Use Shepardize by Headnote to find authority that has cited to the exact point of law from the case you’re interested in. This feature is available on Lexis, Lexis+, and Lexis+ AI:

2. Use More Like This Passage to search across all of Lexis+ for passages like the one you are interested in. This feature is available in Lexis+ and Lexis+ AI. When you find a part of the case that cites to authority, just click the magnifying glass that appears in the right-hand margin:

You can then receive recommendations for the entire passage or select a particular part of the passage:

Once you click More Like This Passage, you’ll get recommendations from other cases that discuss similar concepts and issues. You can also change your jurisdiction or select multiple jurisdictions to focus on. Secondary source recommendations are now available as well!

3. Utilize the Legal Issue Trail to find additional case law that has discussed the same legal issue from your case. This feature is available in Lexis, Lexis+, and Lexis+ AI. Scroll down along the right-hand margin of the case and turn on the Legal Issue Trail switch:

In Lexis, you’ll need to expand the “About This Document” section to access the Legal Issue Trail and select “Activate Passages”:

In Lexis+ and Lexis+ AI, you scroll down the right-hand margin and toggle the Legal Research Trail switch:

Activating the Legal Issue Trail puts a purple box around every section of the opinion that discusses a legal issue and cites to authority: 

Clicking inside that box will take you to all the cases your case has cited for the legal issue and cases that have since cited to your case for the same legal issue. Make sure to avoid clicking on a hyperlink within the box as that will take you to that citation: