Federal & California Courts & Case Reports: The Basics

Real World ResearchNovember 12, 2008

Marlene Harmon & Dean C. Rowan, Reference Librarians

The California Courts

Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, California Courts– Supreme Court & Courts of Appeal opinions– Superior Court web sites– California Judicial Branch fact sheet– Court Statistics Reports

NCSC, Court Structure Chart

CA Superior Courts

No published rulings, with one exception: Appellate Division decisions are selectively

published in Cal. App. Supp. "[T]he appellate division of the superior court has

appellate jurisdiction in causes prescribed by statute.”--Cal Const art VI, §11(b)

California Civil Appellate Practice, 3rd ed. (CEB 1996-), §§ 10.2 et. seq., for more on App. Div.

Print Sources for California Cases

Official– LexisNexis California Reports, now in its 4th

series CA Supreme Court

– LexisNexis California Appellate Reports, now in its 4th series

CA Courts of Appeal Appellate Division of CA Superior Courts

– LexisNexis California Official Reports (advance sheets)

Print Sources (cont.)

West– California Reporter, now in its 3rd series

CA Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal

– Pacific Reporter, now in its 3rd series At one time combined CA Supreme Court and Courts of

Appeal with other Pacific region states’ courts’ opinions Post-1959, includes only Supreme Court from CA

Alternatives & Staying Current

Daily Journal Daily Appellate Report– Full text of all published opinions of SCOTUS, 9th

Cir. (inc. Bankruptcy), Cal., Cal. App., Cal. AG– Selected US District Courts in CA, State Bar

Court

Daily Journal California Court Directory, monthly supplement

California Rules of Court

Title 8, Appellate Rules, Division 5, Publication of Appellate Opinions

– Rule 8.1105. Publication of appellate opinions – Rule 8.1110. Partial publication – Rule 8.1115. Citation of opinions – Rule 8.1120. Requesting publication of unpublished opinion

s

– Rule 8.1125. Requesting depublication of published opinions

Commercial Electronic Sources

Westlaw & LexisNexis Loislaw VersusLaw Fastcase Cal Law

– Free news headlines, but full decisions require subscription

Westlaw

CA Reported Cases CA-CSR– Approx. 9% of Ct. of App. opinions published

CA Unreported Cases CA-CSU– No headnotes

Trial court orders CA-TRIALORDERS CA State Bar Court decisions, 1990- CA-CS CA Attorney General Opinions CA-AG

LexisNexis

CA Published Cases, Combined Published CA Court of Appeal Cases Unpublished CA Court of Appeal Cases CA State Bar Court Decisions, March 1990- CA Attorney General Opinions, Jan. 1960-

Free Electronic

VersusLaw, Findacase– CA Supreme Ct. 1930, Cts. of App. 1944

Public Library of Law PreCYdent

– January 2000-

Cal. Office of the Attorney General

Legal Opinions, Monthly Report, Search “As the chief law officer of the state, the California

Attorney General provides legal opinions upon request to designated state and local public officials and government agencies on issues arising in the course of their duties. The formal legal opinions of the Attorney General have been accorded ‘great respect’ and ‘great weight’ by the courts.”

For Future Reference

Advanced Legal Research syllabus, Fall 2008, California Cases and Depublication

Federal Court Structure

Supreme Court: United States Supreme Court Appellate Courts: US Courts of Appeals

– 12 Regional Circuit Courts of Appeals– US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit– US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit

Trial Courts: US District Courts– 94 Judicial Districts– US Bankruptcy Courts– US Court of International Trade– US Court of Federal Claims

Federal Court Structure (cont.)

Other Federal Courts (Courts of Special Jurisdiction)– Military Courts (trial and appellate)– Court of Veterans Appeals – US Tax Court– Federal Administrative Agencies and Boards

Court Structure Chart District and Circuit Boundaries

Finding the Court Decisions1. Universe of Published Print Decisions

Published vs. Unpublished Decisions– With the exception of the US Supreme Court, only about

16% of federal decisions are published.– All US Supreme Court decisions are published.

This brief video by West demonstrates the process of preparing a newly issued opinion for publication and online access.

US Supreme Court– United States Reports (official reporter)– United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer’s Edition– West’s Supreme Court Reporter– US Law Week (BNA)

1. Universe of Published Print Decisions (cont.)

US Courts of Appeals– West’s Federal Reporter, now in its 3rd Series

US District Courts– West’s Federal Supplement, now in its 2nd Series

Courts of Special Jurisdiction– West’s Bankruptcy Reporter– Federal Claims Court Reporter– West’s Veteran’s Appeals Reporter– United States Tax Cases

How to Find Print Decisions

Using Print Sources:– Digests

West – National Reporter System – State and Federal Cases

– Editorial Enhancements in Print Decisions Headnotes & West’s Key Numbers – tie into the digests

2. The Ever Expanding Universe of Online Case Law: The Big 2

Using Online Sources to Find Cases:– 1970s Mead Data Central (became Lexis)

Full text of federal case law goes electronic on subscription database (not the Internet)

Neat (seemingly) Universe of print case law began to explode

– West slow to catch up, but eventually did– Huge databases, moved far beyond just case law– Sophisticated search engines– Breadth of coverage

The Big 2 (cont.)

Using Online Sources to Find Cases (cont.):– Editorial enhancements

Headnote and key number searching (the digests online)

Links to full text briefs, treatises, encyclopedias Citators

– Lexis and Westlaw are the “Big 2” 5 Star, Full Service Legal Databases

– COST!

Beyond the Big 2

Lexis and Westlaw aren’t the only game in town

Increasing numbers of alternative commercial and free sources of case law:– Loislaw– VersusLaw– Fastcase

Beyond the Big 2 (cont.)

Alternative commercial and free sources of case law– Smaller databases– Fewer or different editorial enhancements – And cheaper – market to smaller firms, solo

practitioners

Court and Law School Websites (Mostly free)

PACER– Access to federal court docket and case

information– Can find court decisions, though not its primary

function – Fee based, but cheap– Best accessed through a particular court’s web

site

Court and Law School Websites (Mostly free) (cont.)

Several Law Schools also publish decisions of selected courts

– Cornell (LII – Legal Information Institute)– Georgetown– Emory– Washburn

The Law Library of Congress’s website links to all of the court opinion sites as well as to the Law School Sites

US Supreme Court opinions most readily available

More Free Internet Sites

Findlaw LexisOne AltLaw Justia The Public Library of Law PreCYdent Coverage and features vary for each site

Additional Resources for Information about the Federal Courts

Judicial Conference of the United States– Principal policy making body of the US courts

Administrative Office of the US Courts– Central Support for the entire federal judicial

branch.– Carries out policies of the Judicial Conference– Annual Reports, statistical information about

caseloads