Finding Banking Case Law

The tools for finding banking case law are similar to tools used to find case law on any topic. Also, the process is the same at the state and federal court levels.

  • Use a digest, a collection of case summaries arranged by
    subject area. There are digests for almost every type of case
    reporter. For example, most states have a digest found, at
    Pappas Law Library, near the state case reporter. For federal
    cases, there are West's Federal Practice Digest (Law Indexes
    and Annex) and West's Supreme Court Digest (Pappas).
    Additionally, you can search digests online via Westlaw and
    LexisNexis.
  • Search the full-text of cases on LexisNexis or Westlaw in the
    banking case law databases.
  • Take note of citations to useful cases you find in secondary
    source research    .
  • Shepardize or Keycite interesting cases to find other related
    cases.
  • If you are researching a line of cases that interpret a statute,
    use an annotated statutory code to find additional cases
    related to the statute.

Databases of Banking Case Law

  • LexisNexis (password required)
    • Federal and state case law: BNKNG; MEGA
    • Federal case law and agency materials: BNKNG; OMNI
    • State case law: BNKNG; STCASE
  • Westlaw (password required)
    • Federal case law: FFIN-CS
    • State case law: MFIN-CS

News Sources

If you are researching a very recent or even a pending decision, news sources and looseleaf services may be the best resource, as publication of cases may be somewhat delayed.

Court Documents

Consult Strategies for Finding Court Documents for information on finding briefs, dockets, interlocutory orders and other case related documents.

Page maintained by David Bachman
Last updated: August 2007