1. Researching the Law from the Newsroom SLA 2004 Annual Conference June 9, 2004

2. Biographical Sources Martindale-Hubbell –With a history spanning more than 133 years, the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Network is currently powered by a database of over one million lawyers and law firms in 160 countries.

5. Biographical Sources West’s Legal Directory: http://lawyers.findlaw.com http://lawyers.findlaw.com

8. Biographical Resources Federal Judicial Center: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf –The Federal Judges Biographical Database provides information about all judges who have served on the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court and other life-tenured courts since 1789.

10. Legal Authorities Primary: legal material issued directly from any branch of government Examples: statutes, regulations, decisions, court rules Secondary: Contains commentary on primary authority (and maybe also the text of the primary authority, in full or in part) Examples: legal encyclopedias, treatises, law reviews Mandatory: an authority that must be followed in your court absent cogent public policy reasons Persuasive: an authority that need not be followed in your court

11. The Courts Federal Courts U.S Supreme Court Appellate Courts 12 circuits organized by region Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Trial Courts 94 Federal districts, including a bankruptcy court U.S. Court of Federal Claims Court of International Trade

12. The Courts – Some Statistics * US Courts of Appeals 56,534 cases filed in 2002 (+.8% over 2001) 39,536 cases pending at the end of 2002 (-2.6% from 2001) US District Courts – Civil Cases 265,091 cases filed in 2002 (+4.2% over 2001) 265,321 cases pending at the end of 2002 (+6.5% over 2001) US District Courts – Criminal Cases 63,515 cases filed in 2002 (+.1% over 2001) 52,713 cases pending at the end of 2002 (+9.7% over 2001) *http://www.uscourts.gov/library/statisticsalreports.html

13. Court Documents: Why Do You Need Them? Only 3.2% of federal civil cases make it to trial completion Only 11% of federal criminal cases make it to trial completion

14. Court Documents PACER: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ –Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index.

18. Court Documents U.S. Party/Case Index (on PACER) –The U.S. Party/Case Index is a national index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. A small subset of information from each case is transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index server each night located in San Antonio, Texas at the PACER Service Center. The system serves as a locator index for PACER. You may conduct nationwide searches to determine whether or not a party is involved in federal litigation.

19. Court Documents – Other Resources Courtlink: http://courtlink.lexisnexis.com http://courtlink.lexisnexis.com Mealey’s: http://www.mealeys.com/http://www.mealeys.com/ CourtExpress: http://www.courtexpress.com/ http://www.courtexpress.com/

23. Caselaw

24. Case Reporting - Federal Supreme Court: US Reports, L.Ed.2d, S. Ct. Courts of Appeals (Circuit courts): Federal Reporter (F., F2d, F3d) Trial Courts (District Courts): Federal Supplement (F. Supp.)

25. Caselaw Reading citations Citation Information (Bluebooking) http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/ McNeil v. Economics Laboratory, Inc., 800 F.2d 111, (7th Cir. Ill. 1986) Party namesVolume # Reporter abbreviation Page #Court Date

26. Caselaw – US Supreme Court Versions of opinions: –Bench Opinions. On days that opinions are announced by the Court from the bench, the text of each opinion is made available immediately to the public and the press in a printed form called a "bench opinion." –Slip Opinions. Several days after an opinion is announced by the Court, it is printed in a 6" x 9" self-cover pamphlet called a "slip opinion." –Preliminary Prints. These are brown, soft-cover "advance pamphlets" that contain, in addition to the opinions themselves, all of the announcements, tables, indexes, and other features that make up the U. S. Reports. –Bound Volumes. The opinions and other materials contained in the preliminary prints are published in this series of books. Prior to publication, all of the opinions and other materials that make up each volume undergo a final editing and indexing process.

27. Caselaw – Where to Find It US Supreme Court: Official Slip Opinions: http://www.supremecourtus.govhttp://www.supremecourtus.gov Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.eduhttp://www.law.cornell.edu LexisONE: http://www.lexisone.com/ (Click on “Find Cases for Free”)http://www.lexisone.com/ US Circuit Courts: Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.htmlhttp://www.uscourts.gov/links.html Federal Courts Finder: http://law.emory.edu/caselaw/http://law.emory.edu/caselaw/ US District Courts: Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.htmlhttp://www.uscourts.gov/links.html Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/districts.htmlhttp://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/districts.html

28. Caselaw – Where to Find It Regional Legal News Sources: American Lawyer Media publications: http://www.lawcatalog.com/http://www.lawcatalog.com/ (see Newspapers) Lawyers Weekly publications: http://www.lawyersweekly.com/

31. Caselaw - Unreported Unreported decisions are judicial opinions that have not been published in any official or near-official case reporter. They are also called "unpublished decisions," "unreported opinions" and "unpublished opinions.“ Federal unreported decisions may be found on Lexis and Westlaw. Unreported decisions from state cases may be found in a local/regional legal newspaper or on Lexis or Westlaw. Opinions can also be retrieved from the relevant court.

32. Shepardizing Determine the current status of a case, statute, or other legal authority Find statute annotations and law review articles that have cited your case

34. Criminal Information Corrections Connection: http://www.corrections.com/links/viewlinks.asp?Cat=30 http://www.corrections.com/links/viewlinks.asp?Cat=30 The Virtual Chase: Criminal Records http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/criminal_records.html http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/criminal_records.html

35. Government Materials Branch of GovernmentWork Product ExecutiveExecutive Orders; Proclamations LegislativeSession laws; statutes; legislative histories JudicialCourt decisions AdministrativeRegulations; administrative decisions; rules

36. Legislative Research THOMAS: http://thomas.loc.gov/ http://thomas.loc.gov/ –Acting under the directive of the leadership of the 104th Congress to make Federal legislative information freely available to the Internet public, a Library of Congress team brought the THOMAS World Wide Web system online in January 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress.

38. Need Answers? Zimmerman’s Guide: http://www.lexisone.com/zimmermanguide/index.html http://www.lexisone.com/zimmermanguide/index.html –An online legal encyclopedia providing definitions, examples, explanations and useful links The Virtual Chase How-To Guides: http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/how_to_guides.html http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/how_to_guides.html –An annotated guide to sources of information on various types of legal research Public Law Libraries: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/sccll/ http://www.aallnet.org/sis/sccll/ –AALL State, Court and County Libraries SIS

39. Researching the Law from the Newsroom SLA 2004 Annual Conference June 9, 2004