COURT DOCUMENTS ONLINE
Mary M. McCormick
FSU Law Library, Spring 2005
Federal Courts
U.S Supreme
Court
Appellate
Courts
12 circuits
organized by
region
Trial Courts
94 Federal
districts, including
a bankruptcy
court
Court of
Appeals for
the
Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of
Federal Claims
Court of
International
Trade
Federal 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
Federal 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
• Only 15% of federal district court decisions are
reported
• Only 50-70% of federal appellate court
decisions are reported (varies by Circuit)
Federal Court Documents: Why Do You Need Them?
• Almost all federal and state trial court
decisions, and 30-50% of all federal and state
appellate court decisions are unreported
• Documents filed by the parties with the courts
can be very useful for many reasons
Docket Sheets v. Documents
• Many courts now post docket sheets
• Docket sheets are a chronological table
of contents to a court file
• Sample Docket Sheet
• Fewer courts post documents filed with
the Court
Docket Sheets
• Answer the questions
• Has my client been sued but not served?
• Who else has sued the party my client
wants to sue?
• Serve as a current awareness tool
• Who is suing who
• Hot topics in litigation
Docket Sheets
• Provide information about clients and
potential clients
•
•
•
•
Is the client litigious?
Has the client filed for bankruptcy?
Has the client been involved in fraud?
Has the client filed a legal malpractice
action?
• Has the client been sued for attorney’s
fees?
Docket Sheets
• Provide information about potential hires
• Routine background checks
• Bankruptcy
• Debt
• Fraud
• Conflicts between firm and prospective
hire’s existing clients
Filed Documents
• Fewer courts permit electronic access to
documents filed with the court
• Filed Documents can include
• Sample pleadings
• Missing pleadings
• Background information on the types of
cases heard by particular judges
• Types of cases opposing counsel usually
deals with
• How judge typically rules on motion for
summary judgment
Federal Courts Online
• PACER: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ Public Access
to Court Electronic Records
• Electronic public access service that allows
users to obtain
•
•
•
case information
Docket information
Documents
• From federal courts
•
•
•
Courts of Appeal (not all courts of appeal)
District and Bankruptcy courts
U.S. Party/Case Index (not all courts)
PACER Home Page
Florida Courts on Pacer
Federal Court Documents
• U.S. Party/Case Index (on PACER)
• National index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and
appellate courts
• A small subset of information from each case is
transferred each night to the U.S. Party/Case Index
server 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.
PACER: U.S. Party-Case Index
State Court Documents
• Some state courts now load filed pleadings
and other court documents, too.
• Leon County Clerk of Court
•
•
•
Dockets
High-profile cases
Online interactive court forms
• Other Florida courts
•
Docket information and high-profile cases only
pursuant to Florida Supreme Court Administrative
Order AOSC04-4
Florida Supreme Court Documents
• Florida Supreme Court Briefs and
Records Project
• Florida law school consortium database
of briefs and opinions
• Maintained by FSU College of Law
Library
Other Court Resources
•
•
Courtlink: (Lexis front-end to PACER, permitting better searching of
the PACER databases)
Mealey’s: http://www.mealeys.com/ (Lexis publications in (mostly)
litigation areas, with some court documents
CourtExpress: (front end for PACER and a document delivery
service)
Legal Dockets Online
•
WestDocket
•
• DOCK-FL-SDCT
• DOCK-DCT-ALL
Westlaw Lawsuit Filings
• LS-FL
• LS-ALL
•
•
Why Use Commercial Services?
• PACER searching is clunky; commercial
services have enhanced searching
capability
• PACER doesn’t offer document delivery
if the court doesn’t participate in
Electronic Court Filing (ECF)
Additional Resources
• LLRX: ttp://www.llrx.com/courtrules/
• Findlaw:
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
• Google: www.google.com (use party
names or docket number)
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.
Caselaw – Where to Find It for Free
US Supreme Court:
Official Slip Opinions: http://www.supremecourtus.gov
Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu
LexisONE: http://www.lexisone.com/ (Click on “Find Cases for Free”)
US Circuit Courts:
Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html
Federal Courts Finder: http://law.emory.edu/caselaw/
US District Courts:
Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html
Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/districts.html
Caselaw – Using Legal Newspapers
Regional Legal News Sources:
American Lawyer Media publications:
http://www.lawcatalog.com/ (see Newspapers)
Lawyers Weekly publications:
http://www.lawyersweekly.com/
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
http://www.lawbulletin.com
Need Answers?
• Zimmerman’s Guide:
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
• An annotated guide to sources of information on various types of
legal research
• Court documents guide:
http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/dockets.html
• Public Law Libraries:
http://www.aallnet.org/sis/sccll/
• AALL State, Court and County Libraries SIS
Need Answers?
• LLRX: Court Rules, Forms, and Dockets
• http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/