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Understanding Citations

Learn how to work with case citations in Second Seat.

Citation Format​

Second Seat provides citations in standard format:

  • Court of Appeals: People v. Smith, 35 N.Y.3d 123 (2020)
  • Appellate Division: People v. Jones, 189 A.D.3d 456 (2d Dept. 2020)
  • Trial Courts: People v. Brown, 68 Misc.3d 789 (Sup. Ct. Kings Co. 2020)

Citation Verification​

Second Seat automatically verifies citations in AI responses. Each citation shows a verification status:

  • Pending - Citation is queued for verification
  • Verifying - Verification in progress
  • Verified - Citation confirmed against an authoritative source
  • Review - The citation needs a human look. The row says why — the quoted language couldn't be confirmed in the opinion (quote unsupported), or the deciding court is in a different state than your jurisdiction (out of jurisdiction)
  • Not Found - Citation could not be verified in our database

Case-law verification runs three checks — existence, quote / pin-cite support, and jurisdiction — and non-precedential decisions carry an Unpublished badge. Chat verification uses your firm's default jurisdiction to decide what counts as out of state. For a full breakdown of what each verdict means, see How to read the results.

Viewing Citation Details​

Click on any citation to see more information:

  • Case name - Full case title
  • Citation - Volume, reporter, and page number
  • Year - Year of decision
  • Court - The court that issued the decision
  • External link - Access the full case text

Citations appear in a collapsible panel below the AI's response. The panel automatically expands and scrolls into view once verification is complete, so you can review the results immediately.

Verifying Citations​

Even with automatic verification, always confirm AI-provided citations:

  • Check that the holding is correctly stated
  • Verify the case hasn't been overruled
  • Read the full case for complete context

Building Your Research​

Use citations to:

  1. Start with the AI's suggestions
  2. Read the full cases in Westlaw/Lexis
  3. Check citing references for more recent cases
  4. Shepardize to confirm good law