Legal Research Tools: GlobalCite®

GlobalCite® is a powerful legal search tool available whenever users retrieve the full text of a case, statute, act, or regulation. GlobalCite lists all of Loislaw’s indexed documents that cite the current or 'active' document; its range is comprehensive, and each GlobalCite search spans Loislaw’s entire collection of databases. Usage of our GlobalCite legal search tool is complimentary with all subscriptions to Loislaw.

When users view any document that is cited elsewhere in the Loislaw collection, GlobalCite presents a small popup notice in the lower left corner of the screen.

The GlobalCite popup notice shows the total number of citing documents, the types of citing documents (whether cases, statutes, treatises, or otherwise), and the respective numbers of documents by content type. After a few seconds, the notice disappears, leaving the main document unobstructed.

A GlobalCite launch button appears near the bottom of every View Document screen. This button presents the total number of citing documents in a bold red font, unless GlobalCite finds no citing documents within the Loislaw system (in which case the inactive button will be grayed out).

For any document cited elsewhere on Loislaw, users may click the GlobalCite button to see a comprehensive list of citing documents. To study a list categorized by document type, position the mouse pointer over the GlobalCite button without clicking. Move the mouse pointer over an entry for a given document type (e.g., "Statutes only") and click the link to see a tailored list of citing documents.

Each GlobalCite Results List shows excerpts of the documents retrieved displaying the text where the original document is mentioned. The content of excerpts will vary, depending upon the distribution of hits within the document. GlobalCite displays the hits in context; multiple hits in one document are displayed consecutively. This contextual presentation of search hits in GlobalCite results is called a contextual summary. To remove the contextual summaries and view more results in a single window, click Hide Hits near the bottom of the GlobalCite screen.

Note that subscribers may customize the display of GlobalCite results. Options for arranging the list appear at the top and left of the GlobalCite Results and include several different sorting and filtering protocols. Click one of the following links to change the display of results:

1. Sort cases by level of courts/jurisdiction;
2. All documents/Cases reverse chronological order (which displays the most recent cases first);
3. Cases only–chronological order (which displays cases from oldest to most recent);
4. Statutes only;
5. Treatises only;
6. Other documents (e.g., documents from the Federal Register, bar books, etc.).

Documents that are not typically associated with a single date of issue (for example, statutes or treatise documents) will be evaluated programmatically and scored for relevance. More relevant documents appear higher on the list of GlobalCite results.

Subscribers may find it useful to narrow GlobalCite results by performing word searches within the set of citing documents.

Click Search Within GlobalCite Results near the bottom of the screen to expose a dialog box for this specially targeted search. Type keywords (or keywords and connectors) into the text box. Searches conducted from this area run only within documents retrieved by the most recent GlobalCite execution (i.e., those documents presented in the active results list).

GlobalCite marks the text of citing documents with two special formatting attributes to facilitate browsing. First, the citation of the original document is highlighted with a yellow background in all documents retrieved by GlobalCite. Second, GlobalCite renders 'case treatment terms' in blue font. This feature is especially helpful for interpreting cases that result from GlobalCite. The user can scan for case treatment terms more quickly, and with greater ease, in order to determine the relationship between the original case and the cases citing it. Any mention of terms such as 'reverse,' 'remand,' 'affirm,' etc. might be helpful in determining how a subsequent case treats a prior decision.

The table to the right lists case treatment terms handled by GlobalCite. Each of these words as well as variants of the root term will be affected (e.g., ‘reverse,’ ‘reversed,’ and ‘reversing’ will all appear in blue font). Note that case treatment terms will not be affected when they appear within the title or heading of a case (a title or heading includes the case name, source, citation, and date). The title and heading appear above the contextual summary in the GlobalCite Results List.

Please note that all occurrences of case treatment terms receive formatting emphasis regardless of whether they relate to the originally GlobalCited case. The special marking is not offered as a substitute to a full reading of GlobalCite results. Case treatment terms not listed in the table above will not be marked.

GlobalCite and "recent" () cases

For many jurisdictions, Loislaw offers slip opinions directly in the source format issued by the court, in order to make recent documents available as soon as possible. Sets of "recent" documents are compiled only for case law, and are typically available for browsing from the Choose a Database page. Click the icon to view recent case law.

Please note that "recent" cases accessed under the icon will not yet be available to GlobalCite. A document that appears in a list of "recent" opinions would typically be received from the court either that day or the preceding day. The document is in process at Loislaw, and will be indexed into a permanent collection within 24 to 48 hours. As soon as documents enter a permanent collection, they become available to Loislaw’s GlobalCite and LawWatch services.