Describe West's key-number system and how it simplifies a paralegal's task of researching case law.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

West's key-number system divides all areas of American law into specific categories, or topics, arranged in alphabetical order. The topics are further divided into many subtopics, each designated by a key number, which is accompanied by the West key symbol. The key-number system organizes millions of case summaries under specific topics and subtopics.When paralegals read through any case in a West's case reporter, they will find that a series of headnotes precedes the court's actual opinion. Each headnote summarizes one portion of the opinion. West editors create each headnote and assign it to a particular topic with a key number. Key numbers correlate the headnotes in cases to the topics in digests and can be very useful in finding cases on a particular subject. Once the paralegal finds the key number in a case that discusses the issue being researching, the paralegal can easily find every other case in the state or region that discusses this issue. The paralegal simply goes to the West case digest and locates the particular key number and topic. Beneath the key number, the digest provides case summaries, titles, and citations to cases discussing the issue in the area covered by the digest. When the paralegal finds a case that seems on point, the paralegal knows exactly where to find it because he or she has the citation.?