Legal Research Database Citation Exporter

WHAT IT DOES

This script scans legal research database pages—Westlaw, LexisNexis, CourtListener, and others—for case citations, statutes, and legal references including case names, citation numbers, court, date, and relevance. It displays a floating panel showing a formatted citation list with case and statute counts. The script extracts citation data from the page, organizes citations by format (Bluebook, ALWD, or plain text), and provides a one-click export function to save citations as plain text, CSV, or RIS (for reference managers). Users can copy formatted citations to clipboard and select which citations to export. All citation snapshots are stored per domain locally for tracking over time.

WHERE IT RUNS

Works on any legal research database page—Westlaw, LexisNexis, CourtListener, Fastcase, or any page displaying case citations, statutes, or legal references. The script detects citation patterns using legal citation formats (volume, reporter, page, court, year) and statute citations (U.S.C.), making it compatible with most legal research platforms.

HOW TO USE

The panel appears automatically when you visit a legal research page. It detects citations and shows a summary with total citations, cases, and statutes. The citation list shows each citation with its type, case name, citation number, court, and date. Choose your export format: Plain Text (.txt), CSV (.csv), or RIS (.ris). Select the citation style: Bluebook or Plain Text. Click "Export Citations" to download the file. Click "Copy to Clipboard" to copy the formatted content directly. The Bluebook style formats citations with case name, volume, reporter, page, court, and date. Save your format and style preferences for future visits. The history section shows recent citation snapshots. Use "Clear History" to reset stored snapshots for the current domain. The panel automatically saves a snapshot each time you visit, building a history of your legal research citations.

TECHNICAL MECHANISM: LEGAL CITATION EXTRACTION WITH PATTERN MATCHING AND MULTI-FORMAT EXPORT

The script uses a comprehensive detection strategy. First, it scans the page text for case citation patterns using a regex that matches "Case Name, Volume Reporter Page (Court Year)" format (e.g., "Smith v. Jones, 123 F.3d 456 (9th Cir. 2020)"). It extracts the case name (using "v." pattern), volume, reporter abbreviation, page number, and court/year information from the parentheses. Second, it scans tables for citation-like content, looking for case names with "v." in one cell and citation numbers in another. Third, it scans for statute citations using the pattern "Title U.S.C. § Section" (e.g., "42 U.S.C. § 1983"). The Bluebook citation formatter constructs a citation from the extracted fields. The RIS formatter generates RIS entries with type (case/statute), title, journal (volume reporter page), publisher (court), and year. Each citation is stored with its type, case name, volume, reporter, page, court, date, and citation number. Snapshots are capped at 30 entries per domain. Export preferences (format and style) are stored per domain using GM_setValue.

THE PANEL

The citation exporter appears in a draggable, resizable panel that remembers its position per site. The panel shows citation summary, list, format selector, style selector, and export buttons. Drag by the header to reposition, collapse to a compact icon with a click, and resize using the bottom-right corner. The panel snaps to screen edges for tidy placement and closes with the Escape key. All settings—export format, citation style, and panel position—persist per website using GM_setValue, so your view returns exactly as you left it.

PLEASE NOTE

This script requires the free BotGentz extension to run. The script relies on common legal citation formats—if a database uses a non-standard format, citation detection may be incomplete. The Bluebook formatter is a simplified version and may not match all Bluebook rules. The script does not access your legal database account credentials—all data is read from the visible page and exported locally. The statute citation detection uses U.S.C. format; other statutory formats may not be detected. All data is stored locally in your browser via GM_setValue and never transmitted. The script is designed for exporting citations, not for modifying or uploading data to legal research databases.