To Shepardize a citation is to ascertain the subsequent treatment of a legal decision, thus putting its precedential value in a complete context. The term originates from the common historical use of Shepard’s Citation Service to track the treatment of specific decisions. The importance of Shepardizing was highlighted to a national audience during an oral argument in the trial of O.J. Simpson.
[Last updated in June of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]