Westlaw tips for associates

Suppose you needed the text of an Internal Revenue Code section, as well as proposed legislative changes, cases and statutes that affect the statute's validity, related administrative decisions and regulations, all varieties of citing references, prior versions of the statute, legislative history documents from key points in the statute's life, and treatises and other secondary sources that analyze the statute.

Where would you start?

In the old days, you had to go to the library and begin a massive hunt. Even in the recent past, you had to run careful searches in a variety of databases.

No longer. On Westlaw, once you've displayed the applicable section of the United States Code Annotated® (USCA®), the game is won.

Click the Links tab for the USCA section you are viewing. Links to a wide variety of resources are displayed. (Be sure to scroll all the way down the tab—many important links are near the bottom.) Click a link on the Links tab; citations and links to full–text documents are displayed in the right frame.

For example, suppose you are viewing 26 U.S.C.A. § 512 and you want to retrieve Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decisions and releases in which the section is applied or interpreted. On the Links tab, click Agency Opinions and Decisions. Citations and links to IRS decisions, advice, and other documents are displayed in the right frame. KeyCite® status flags indicate which documents may no longer be good law.

Resources available from the Links tab typically include the following:

• History: Updating documents, proposed legislation, bill drafts, reports and related materials, credits, and historical and statutory notes.
• Citing References: Citations and links to federal and state cases, administrative decisions, Federal Register documents, secondary sources, briefs and other court documents, citing statutes and court rules, and administrative codes.
• KeyCite Alert: A service that automatically monitors the status of the statute and sends you updates when its KeyCite result changes.
• Table of Contents: A service that allows you to view the statute in the context of the sections surrounding it and to retrieve related sections.
• Versions: Prior versions of the statute.
• Cases: Links to the editorially selected notes of decisions for the statute, as well as to other opinions on Westlaw that cite the statute.
• ResultsPlus®: Legal encyclopedias, American Law Reports, and other secondary sources that discuss related issues.
• Law Reviews, American Law Reports, and Treatises and Forms: Forms and secondary sources that discuss the statute.
• Reports and Related Materials: Committee reports, Congressional Record transcripts, presidential messages, and other legislative history documents.
• Administrative Code: A one-click path to relevant federal and state administrative regulations.

Federal Register: Rules and regulations from the Federal Register that are authorized by the statute or cite the statute.

Agency Opinions and Decisions: IRS private letter rulings, revenue procedures, and other federal and state administrative documents that cite the statute.

For more information or search assistance, call the West Reference Attorneys at 1-800-REF-ATTY (1-800-733-2889).