A case note should let another reader reopen the decision and locate the passage supporting the writer’s account. Keep that source beside the note from the first reading. When the draft reaches an editor, a precise reference is more useful than a folder of downloads with similar filenames.

The same habit helps with a student case brief or a publication’s research file. A news report can help you discover a decision, but preserve a separate reference to the decision itself. Record a source you could not open as unread, rather than treating its search preview as a checked passage.

Build a source record before drafting

Start with the case name and the court’s identifying number or citation. Add the decision date and the address of the source you opened. Record the date you accessed it, especially if you may return to an updated page or a different version of a document.

Keep a short status beside the record: found, read, or ready for editorial review. Define those labels for your own project. “Read” can mean that you have checked the passage used in your draft; it should not imply that you have verified every later development affecting the case.

If you already use Notion for your research, this guide to keeping notes in a searchable Notion database provides a modest starting point. Adapt its note titles and Type property to your work. A title containing the case name and issue is easier to recognize than “Research notes 4.” The database organizes your record; you still have to read the source.

A compact record might contain:

• The decision’s identifying details and source link.
• The passage used, with its paragraph or page reference.
• Your explanation, clearly separate from any quotation.
• An unresolved question and the person checking it.

Separate the quotation from the proposition

Copy a quotation exactly and check it against the document you will cite. Then write your explanation in a separate block. Keeping those two forms apart makes it easier for an editor to spot a paraphrase that has accidentally acquired quotation marks, or a quotation that no longer supports the sentence around it.

Record paragraph numbers when the decision supplies them. If you use a page reference, distinguish the printed page number from the PDF viewer’s count when they differ. A colleague opening the file should not have to guess which “page 12” you meant.

Keep any unresolved attribution visible. For example, ask whether a passage records a party’s submission or the court’s own reasoning, and leave the draft on hold until the context answers that question. A note-taking app cannot decide that distinction for you.

Hand over the note with its open questions

Before review, open the source link from the note and find each passage again. Check that the draft’s case details agree with the source record. Mark a broken link or an unavailable document explicitly so the editor can decide the next step without assuming the check is complete.

For a team already working in Notion, the vendor’s team notes documentation explains custom properties and views, plus links between related databases. NotionSolutions offers further guidance on organizing that workspace. Add structure only when it helps a reviewer find a source or an outstanding question; a small research file may need no more than clearly named pages.

This record supports checking a draft against the material you read. Assessing subsequent developments and the decision’s relevance to a particular legal issue remains a separate research task. Send the editor the source record with any such checks still outstanding, identified by name.