How to cross-cite Westlaw and LEXIS cases?
Answer varies, but is essentially the same at its core, depending on whether you’re citing a published or an unpublished opinion. Unpublished: If you have a “valid” (i.e., Bluebook) cite, you have all the information you need – exactly as abdulf pointed out. All you need to cross-reference is at least one party’s name, court, and date opinion was issued. Having the docket number would pretty much guarantee you’ve got the right case, but I do this all the time without the docket number. If you’re asking how to positively cross-reference between services with only one piece of data, then the docket number is the unique identifier you’re looking for – except that it’s unique for that jurisdiction only (i.e., more than one court could have cases with the same docket number such as 08-1099). So, unless the searcher knows what court the case is in, you’d have to provide more than one piece of data. Which gets you back to abdulf’s answer – which is really just the proper Bluebook cite for unp
