Shepardizing: What is the general purpose of Shepardizing?

• A. To compress citations into a shorter form
• B. To ensure authorities are still good law
• C. To create cross-references between cases and statutes
• D. To determine a case's popularity

Answer: (B)

Shepardizing is the process of checking whether a cited authority remains good law by tracing how later cases and statutes have treated it. The core purpose is to confirm the current validity and enforceability of authorities, so you don’t rely on something that has been overruled, limited, or repealed. While the tool does reveal related authorities and updates through cross-references, those connections serve to expose the authority’s current status. It’s not about compressing citations or measuring popularity.