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Thomson Reuters Checkpoint

By Chris Dykes
The new and improved Thomson Reuters Checkpoint (previously RIA Checkpoint) was launched this week with a major overhaul of the database's interface. Among the changes include:
  1. Search by citation templates have been consolidated with new templates available in State & Local Practice area.
  2. The table of contents and search options have been moved to the top of the page.
  3. A new feature that informs the user of possible misspelled search terms with suggestions has been added.
  4. The documents tools option (i.e. printing, etc.) has been moved to the top of the document page.
  5. Document display (i.e. font size, etc.) and navigation controls have also been relocated to the top of the document page.
  6. Keyword search can be modified directly from the search results page.
  7. The newsstand collection has been renamed to "news" and there is now a drop-down menu available on the "news" page for quick access to a particular source.
  8. History of searches is now listed by date.
The law library's subscription to Checkpoint contains among others, the following materials:

A. Primary Sources:
  • Internal Revenue Code (IRC)
  • Treasury Regulations
  • Tax Cases
  • Revenue Rulings/Revenue Procedures
  • Agency decisions (i.e. private letter rulings, technical advice memoranda (TAM), etc.)
  • Legislative history materials
  • Archives of IRC (from 1990)
B. Secondary Sources:
  • United States Tax Reporter (USTR), explanations and annotations
  • Federal Tax Coordinator 2d (FTC)
  • Warren, Gorham & Lamont (WG&L) treatises
  • Warren, Gorham & Lamont (WG&L) journals
  • Newsletter library
  • Update with Cym Lowell
  • WG&L Tax Dictionary
C. Citator
  • Citator 2d
Thomson Reuters Checkpoint still has the capability of linking primary sources such as the IRC and Treasury Regulations with relevant legislative history documents, other primary sources, and secondary sources such as the WG&L treatises and commentary from the USTR and FTC. Keep in mind that Westlaw contains many of these secondary sources on its' platform. Checkpoint is available by selecting "RIA Checkpoint Tax" from the drop down menu under "legal databases" on the law library's website. You will need to have the law library's VPN installed in order to access it from your laptop at home.

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