How do I use the Research Center?
What is a simple search?
What is an advanced search?
What is a template search?
How do I search with a partial citation?
What content is included in my search result?
How do I view documents in my result?
How do I edit my search?
How do I use the Research Center?
The Research Center allows you to create your own search and select the types of documents your search retrieves, e.g., only statutes or only regulations. To use the Research Center, follow these steps:
Click the Research Center tab if it is not already displayed.
By default, your search retrieves all statutes and regulations. To select another type of document, click Laws and Regulations, Agency Materials, or Cases and Decisions and choose a document type, e.g., Regulations, from the menu that is displayed.
Select a search method by clicking Simple, Advanced, Template, or Find by Partial Citation. The search method available depends on the type of document you select.
Type your search in the text box. (If you use the template, you may be able to enter terms in more than one text box and restrict your search by date or jurisdiction.)
Click Search.
A simple search allows you to use plain English to retrieve relevant documents. To run a simple search, click Simple if it is not already selected; type a description, such as confidentiality of financial records, in the text box; and click Search. You do not need to use complete sentences, quotation marks, or punctuation. A simple search retrieves relevant documents based on how often your terms are used and where they appear in the document.
An advanced search consists of key terms and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms. For example, you can specify that terms appear in the same sentence or paragraph. To run an advanced search, click Advanced if it is not already selected; type a query, such as d.i.d.m.c.a. "depository institutions deregulation and monetary control act" /p “federally related”, in the text box; and click Search. An advanced search retrieves all documents that match your search criteria. For more information about advanced search connectors, click Advanced Search Tips at the Advanced search page.
If you selected Statutes, Regulations, or Cases and Decisions, you can use a template to search using specific information, such as the case citation, the name of a party, the docket number, or the statute's or regulation's citation, and restrict your search by date or jurisdiction. Click Template and enter your search criteria using the text boxes provided.
How do I search with a partial citation?
When you choose Laws and Regulations, Statutes, or Regulations, you can search using part of a document’s citation. Click Find by Partial Citation and type the citation information, e.g., a section number such as 5/360a in the text box. All applicable statutes or regulations with that term in their citations will be listed in the search result. To restrict your search to a specific jurisdiction, click Change and select the jurisdiction before running the search.
What content is included in my search result?
When you use the Research Center, you can select the types of documents you want to search. If you do not select a document type to search, Westlaw Compliance Advisor searches all federal and state statutes and regulations. To narrow your search to a single type of document, click Laws and Regulations, Agency Materials, or Cases and Decisions and choose the document type from the menu.
You can retrieve the following types of documents using the Research Center:
Laws and Regulations contains statutes; regulations and other administrative materials such as decisions, memoranda, and bulletins; and statutory and regulatory surveys, as described below.
Statutes contains the following types of documents:
federal insurance statutes: documents from the United States Code Annotated® (USCA® ) that relate to the financial services industry, including rules of practice and procedure for the Federal Reserve System
annotated statutes from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
Regulations contains the following types of documents:
federal banking regulations: documents from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that relate to the financial services industry
decisions and letters released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
documents released by the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
news releases issued by the several federal agencies that regulate the banking and financial services industries
issuances, agreements, orders, interpretations, articles, and other materials selected by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which oversees the regulation of the national banking system
letters, memoranda, opinions, decisions, orders, regulatory bulletins, thrift bulletins, legal alert memos, and news releases released by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and its predecessor, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB)
mortgagee letters released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which inform lenders of changes in Federal Housing Administration (FHA) operations, policies, and procedures
decisions from the Office of Financial Institution Adjudication (OFIA), which conducts hearings for the OTS, the OCC, the FDIC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
administrative codes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia
50 State Surveys contains banking surveys (documents that compare state statutes and regulations pertaining to banking and include references to the applicable statutes and regulations).
Cases and Decisions contains cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, and bankruptcy courts; the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; the U.S. Tax Court; military courts; related federal and territorial courts; and the state courts of all 50 states and the District of Columbia that relate to the financial services industry.
Office of Financial Institution Adjudication Decisions contains decisions from the Office of Financial Institution Adjudication, which conducts hearings for the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the National Credit Union Administration.
Dockets contains docket information on active and inactive civil and criminal cases filed in state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, and bankruptcy courts.
How do I view documents in my result?
After your search has run, the Results page displays the documents retrieved by your search. A portion of each document containing your search terms is displayed below the document title. To view the complete text of a document, click its title, citation, or number. To hide the search terms or jump to a specific document, select the appropriate option from the Result Options drop-down list at the top of the page and click Go.
If your search retrieves more than one type of document, e.g., both federal and state bills, only the first three documents of each type are displayed. The left frame of the Results page will display a list categorizing the document types retrieved by your search. To view all the documents in a category, click the document type under Result Summary in the left frame, or click View All in the category heading in the right frame. To hide the search terms in the list or jump to a specific document, click Results Options in the left frame and choose the appropriate option from the menu that is displayed.
The current search is displayed in a text box at the top of the Results page. To revise your search, click Edit Search, or type your changes in the text box and click Search.