Service of Process Questions

We often field queries about Service of Process (NRCP Rule 4) at the reference desk. The folks at the First Judicial District Court in Carson City have developed a nice handout called Service of Documents that addresses many of those questions.

Nevada Court Rules

Nevada court rules are available on Nevada Legislature's website. The legislature's version conforms to the print edition of the NRS, which as of today's writing is the 2007 Reprint with 2008 Revision 2 replacement pages (notated (2008) R1 in the footer of each replacement page).

Court rules are not searchable, but they are indexed in the Nevada Revised Statutes. The index is quite voluminous, but here's a trick to navigate it. To find the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure, select a section of the alphabet, such as "C" for civil procedure and when the page loads, click on Edit Find, type a text string such as CIVIL PROCEDURE in all capital letters in the box, and click on the "Match Case" check box (in Firefox) or click on Edit Find and then click on the "Options" drop down list (in Internet Explorer) to jump to that index term. In this case, the Rules of Civil Procedure are not on the C index page, but there is a "see" entry with a link to the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure.

CIVIL PROCEDURE, NEVADA RULES OF (See NEVADA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE)

Since the Court Rules on the legislature's page are only as current as the print NRS, researchers are advised to check the Court's website for administrative orders amending the rules. In the NRCP example, there four orders (ADKTs 276 order dated 2/6/09; 426 order dated 2/6/09; 405 order dated 4/29/09 and 388 order dated 11/17/09) which have not yet been incorporated in the legislature's online version.

Motion to Show Cause

We've had an upswing in requests for sample motions to show cause. The Washoe County Family Self-Help Center has a form (M-8) but it only available from the Self-Help Center (and is not on the website). Fortunately, the Clark County Law Family Self-Help Center also has a sample motion (Packet 110) available on its Custody page, under "Custody Motion Packets."

As always, this information is provided as a courtesy only and private counsel is recommended for legal matters.

Changes coming to Westlaw and Lexis

West and Lexis have been revamping their services. West debuts WestlawNext on February 1st and New Lexis will be released later this year.

Attorney and legal blogger Robert Ambrogi had the opportunity to use WestlawNext and says:

This is no mere cosmetic redesign. WestlawNext completely changes the search interface and the search engine behind it. In fact, the change is so dramatic that West has given its new search engine its own name: WestSearch. This new search engine does not just look at the terms you enter, a West executive said. Rather, it tries to identify the issue of law based on the terms you searched.

Less is known at this point about New Lexis. The February ABA Journal has an article on both Westlaw and Lexis and includes the following regarding New Lexis:

“Our new search engine is radically different,” says Marty Kilmer, vice president for new product strategy at LexisNexis. “Under the old system you had to know what you wanted to search. You had to drill down to find the right databases.”
....
An early preview of the New Lexis opens with a simple query box. Boolean search terms—like “Roe and Wade” or “Scalia or Roberts”—are a thing of the past. Users can type a simple query with natural language, a la Google or Yahoo. Queries can be filtered by jurisdiction, type of content or other restrictions. The search engine, like Google, has artificial intelligence that will help pull more relevant results.