Winning Research Skills - Westlaw

Fundamentals of Case Law
greater dancer, there is no correct answer. You should always bring your own judgment to bear
on the issues presented in a case.
Attorneys
Immediately preceding the text of the opinion you will find the names of the attorneys of record,
along with the name of the firm with which the attorney is associated and the city where the
attorney works. On Westlaw, the Westlaw Profiler feature allows you to click the name of an
attorney in a document you are viewing to access biographical information about the attorney
(where available).
Opinion
The actual text of the decision in a case is called the opinion. An opinion is a court’s written
explanation of why it did what it did. The structure of an opinion generally includes a
description of the nature of the case, a statement of the issues presented, the facts, the errors
assigned, and a dispositional section.
When the case is heard by a panel of judges, you may find other opinions after the majority’s
statement. A dissenting opinion is written by a single judge or a minority of judges who disagree
with the result. There may also be concurring opinions when a judge or judges agree with the
result of the main opinion but not with the reasoning. In complex cases, a judge may concur in
part and dissent in part. Especially in U.S. Supreme Court cases, sorting out all the separate
opinions can be difficult. But because of the doctrine of precedent, it is important to do so.
You may also encounter a few other kinds of opinions, such as per curiam opinions and
memorandum decisions. A per curiam opinion is an opinion written anonymously that includes
the reasoning of the entire court. Such opinions are generally short and are weak precedent.
Memorandum decisions report routine decisions.
In any opinion, portions of the text do not resolve the issues in dispute. Judicial opinions
sometimes contain jokes, diatribes, poetry, moralizing exhortations, or inspirational musings.
Everything that does not significantly contribute to the resolution of a particular legal issue
before the court is dicta. You will find that dicta, though not binding precedent, may be
persuasive. That is, dicta may still be helpful to your case. It can give you insight into the
thinking and intent of the court and the court’s views on issues that may arise in the future.
Dicta can also be entertaining.
The last paragraph in a majority opinion is the mandate of the court. It states, often in a single
sentence, what action the court is taking. For example, the court may indicate that the decision
of the lower court is affirmed, reversed, remanded, modified, or dismissed.
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