Arkansas VersusLaw — Back to the Basics 1. 2. 3.
Select your library Choose your search terms Provide for variations of those search terms using VersusLaw wildcards:
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Structure your search using VersusLaw connectors:
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And Or Adj
w/* and not
Run your search Analyze the results Edit the search if necessary to obtain better results
Another way to search by date is to use the Dated field restriction. You can use this method to retrieve all decisions from a particular day. For instance, Arkansas Court of Appeals opinions are published every Wednesday. To retrieve all cases decided on May 14, 2008, you would: 1. Choose AR State Content 2. Choose Appellate Opinions 3. Type in the search: (dated contains May 14, 2008) [Remember to include the parenthesis; “dated” must have the “d” and “contains” must have the “s”] 4. The results screen shows all cases decided on that date [23 cases total] To narrow your search for cases on a particular topic, for instance, Workers Compensation cases, add more search terms: (dated contains May 14, 2008) and workers compensation [Note the “and” connector between the two phrases, and the “adjacent to” connector between “workers” and “compensation.”] Now our results list is down to four cases – only the cases that deal with Workers Compensation and that were decided on May 14, 2008. Two of those cases are unreported. You can choose to further restrict the search to return only reported cases using the “AND NOT” connector:
(dated contains May 14, 2008) and workers compensation and not DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION [Note: Simply include “designated for publication” and not “not designated for publication.” Arkansas VersusLaw sees the second “not” as a syntax error; since published opinions do not contain the phrase “designated for publication,” the search works to return only published cases.] Now our results list is down to two cases – only the cases that were decided May 14, 2008, that deal with Workers Compensation, and that are published. Conclusion For Arkansas attorneys, Arkansas VersusLaw is a valuable and inexpensive research tool (free to Arkansas Bar Association members). Using field restrictions, date limitations, and the All Federal Courts library in conjunction with “Include All State Appellate Courts,” attorneys can do much more than look up cases; they can take their Arkansas VersusLaw research experience to the next level. Cathy Underwood is a legal editor and a full-time paralegal instructor at Pulaski Technical College. She has served as Director of Publications for the Arkansas Bar Association and has edited handbooks for that organization for the past twenty years. She also trains Association members on how to use Arkansas VersusLaw. Vol. 43 No. 3/Summer 2008 The Arkansas Lawyer
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