Legal Research and Writing

    A Westlaw subscriber has several options for saving a case.  The subscriber can print the case, email the case, save the case, and fax the case.  Most of these functions are available in a Lexis  public terminal at the Sacramento County Public Law Library.  On public Westlaw terminals at the Yolo and Sacramento county law libraries the email, fax, and download functions are not available.  Cases can, however, still be downloaded from a public Westlaw terminal.  Not only can this be handy for the person who does not have his or her own subscription to Westlaw, it can be handy for the person who subscribes to a California only plan, but who needs to save a case not available in that plan.

    Note that Westlaw has two print options, "Quick Print," and "Print."  "Quick Print" allows one to print in HTML format to an attached printer.  But "Print" gives the user two options.  Using the drop-down menu the user can choose between HTML and PDF format.  If you choose PDF format, and click on the print button in the dialog box, Adobe Reader will appear.  After your case comes up in Adobe Reader, you can then click on the save icon in Adobe Reader to save your case.

    If you are using a law library's terminal, you can save the case on a flash drive.  If you do, make sure that you check the flash drive for viruses when you next plug it into your own computer.  

    The Sacramento County Public Law Library has a very nice service.  It has a wireless network to which you can connect your laptop.  This allows you to download the case directly onto the hard drive of your laptop.  In order to do this, however, you will need to disable any pop up blocker in your browser.