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Nexis Uni

A How-To Guide on Using Nexis Uni

When Should You Use Nexis Uni?

Nexis Uni is a comprehensive legal database that provides access to cases, secondary sources, regulations, and statutes at the state and federal levels. 

Use Nexis Uni when you are conducting legal research and need access to:

  • State & Federal cases
    • Cases - the written opinions of the appellate and lower court judges.
  • State & Federal statutes
    • Statutes - the laws passed by a state legislature or the United States Congress.
  • State & Federal regulations
    • Regulations - include regulations published by state and federal agencies. An example is the Code of Federal Regulations.
  • State & Federal Court Rules
    • Court Rules - the rules that govern the practice and procedure in the various courts (state, appellate, supreme). An example is the Federal Rules of Evidence. 
  • Federal Register
    • The official journal of the United States federal government that publishes government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday with the exception of federally observed holidays. 
  • Business Information
    • Nexis Uni's Company Dossier provides access to publicly available general information, financial information, corporate family tree structure, and analyst reports. 
  • Jury Instructions
    • Jury Instructions - The legal rules jurors should follow when deciding a case. 
  • Forms
    • ​Legal forms used within different practices of law
  • Administrative Decisions & Guidance
    • ​Rules, decisions, or guidance enforced by administrative agencies. 

Shepard's Report®​ is an integrated tool that provides an analysis identifying if a case, statute, or regulation is still considered good law. 

General Search Tips

In Nexis Uni, you can conduct searches in natural language or by using Boolean terms and connectors. 

Boolean Operators and Connectors

  • AND/& -  Connects keywords together. 
    • Example: criminal AND procedure; criminal & procedure
  • OR - Use with synonymous terms; searches for either word within search results.
    • Example: procedure OR process
  • AND NOT/ANDNOT/ BUT NOT/ BUTNOT - excludes sources that include the specified term(s) from the search results.
    • Example: capital AND NOT gains; capital ANDNOT gains; capital BUT NOT gains; capital BUTNOT gains
  • pre/n - specifies that the first term must precede the second term within the same sentence
    • Example: criminal pre/3 procedure
    • You may also use +n; onear/n.
  • pre/p- specifies that the first term must precede the second term within 75 words of each other..
    • Example: criminal pre/p procedure
    • You may also use +p. 
  • pre/s - specifies that the first term must precede the second within approximately 25 words of each other. 
    • Example: criminal pre/s procedure
    • You may also use +s.
  • w/n or /n  - specifies that search terms need to appear within a specified number of terms of each other.
    • Example: breach w/5 contract
    • Example: breach /5 contract
  • w/p or /p - Specifies that the search terms must appear within approximately 75 words of each other. 
    • Example: retirement w/p benefit; subcontract or sub-contract /p architect
    • You may also use w/para. 
  • w/s or /s - specifies that search terms appear within approximately 25 words of each other. 
    • Example: earnings w/s taxation; earnings /s taxation
    • You may also use w/sent.
  • w/seg - specifies that search terms appear in the same segment (i.e. headline, body, etc.) or within 100 words of each other. 
    • Example: unreported w/seg income. 
  • near/n - specifies that the search terms appear with # words of each other. This value can be expressed by any number. This connector is helpful when you want to join words and phrases that express parts of a single idea or closely associated ideas. Each search term may appear first.
    • To search for terms in approximately the same phrase -> use the near/3 - near/5 range.
      • Example: Richard near/3 Branson
    • To search for terms in approximately the same sentence -> use near/25.
      • ​Example: breach near/25 contract
    • To search for terms in approximately the same paragraph -> use near/75.
      • Example: earnings near/75 taxation
  • onear/n - specifies that the first term precedes the second by not more than # of words. This is useful when a different word order significantly alters meaning. 
    • Example: summary judgment is significantly different from judgment summary. 
      • summary onear/3 judgment
    • You may also use pre/n or +n.
  • atleast# - specifies that a term or terms appear "at least" so many times in a document. This is useful when you need to find documents that contain an in-depth discussion on a topic. 
    • Example: atleast10(FOIA)
  • ! - symbol for root expander that searches for multiple endings.
    • object! retrieves object, objected, objection, and objecting. 
  • * - symbol for searching for words with variable characters.
    • withdr*w retrieves withdraw and withdrew. 
  • ? - symbol used to find different spellings of a word by replacing a character anywhere within the word. 
    • This symbol cannot replace any of the first three characters of the word.
    • Do not use this symbol at the end of the word - Use the ! or * symbols instead. 
    • Use only one ? in your search term.
    • Example: wom?n find woman and women.